ERP-Based Knowledge Transfer

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an enterprise-wide package that tightly integrates all necessary business functions into a single system with a shared database. The implementation of ERP entails that business knowledge incorporated in the basic architecture of the software package is transferred into the adopting organization. This article investigates how organizational-specific requirements and technology constraints inherent in the software package interact in this knowledge transfer process. In-depth interviews, process analysis and documentation analysis are used to analyze the early implementation stage of ERP. The results conclude that the visible knowledge in the business process from the ERP package is compulsorily transferred into the organization along with business rules inherent in the process due to the process automation, the cross-functional nature of ERP package and limited flexibility of the package. The results also suggest that organizational adaptive capability of role and responsibility redistribution, development of new types of required knowledge and a different knowledge structure in the organization will internalize these standardized processes into business routines that will give a competitive edge. This article provides a new angle of adopting ERP in an organization, and contributes to a better understanding of competitive advantage based on process knowledge when standardized business processes are implemented in an organization.