The impact of organization size on enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in the US manufacturing sector

The key finding from this study is that companies of different sizes approach ERP implementations differently across a range of issues, and the benefits differ by company size.

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have experienced a phenomenal growth in the last 5 years and at present they are pervasive in the US manufacturing sector. This paper describes an attempt to chronicle this phenomenon through a series of case studies and an extensive survey. Manufacturing companies ranging in size from a few million dollars in annual revenues to over a hundred billion dollars are included in this study. The key finding from this study is that companies of different sizes approach ERP implementations differently across a range of issues. Also, the benefits differ by company size. Larger companies report improvements in financial measures whereas smaller companies report better performance in manufacturing and logistics.