Software-driven changes to business processes: an empirical study of impacts of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems at the local level

This paper explores the impact of software-driven process changes on manufacturing organizations. As packaged systems, rather than those developed for an individual company, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems demand more than ever before that organizational subunits adapt their business processes to fit the imperatives of the software. The best practice line of thinking suggests that this ERP-driven business process change will yield positive organizational impacts. Thus, we present the following: H1: ERP systems result in organizational subunits' changing their business processes. H2: ERP-driven changes in business practices are associated with positive impacts of using the software. Hypotheses are evaluated using a test of mean difference and a Pearson correlation on data gathered from a pencil-and-paper survey directed at subunits of manufacturing businesses. Seventy-seven surveys were used. H1 was supported; H2 was not. The results call into question prescriptions from the literature about the superiority of so-called best practices as well as the blanket recommendations about the modification of organizational business processes to fit the capabilities of an ERP system. Results are also discussed in the context of several case studies.