Effects Of BPR On ERP Implementation Success And Supply Chain Performance

Recently, studies about the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) have been

increased and this research area has attracted more attention. Especially, in the global competition

environment, enterprises have to focus on their Information Systems (IS) performance to have a competitive

advantage; implementing an ERP system and improving the effectiveness of the system is the only way. To do

so; factors affecting the implementation success of ERP systems have to be inspected in pursuant of some

performance measurements and metrics. Since unsuccessful ERP implementations result in high costs; use of

these factors and making the necessary preparations will increase the chance of a successful ERP

implementation. According to literature Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has a vital role on the ERP

success. In this study, a research has been made on the Turkish enterprises to determine the criteria affecting

their success on the implementation of ERP systems by the utilization of a questionnaire. Questionnaire results

have been analyzed with statistical methods to summarize the current situation of IS structure, Information

Management Systems integration level, ERP success rate and effects of BPR on this success rate in Turkish

enterprises. Results of this study can be used to define the relation between the ERP and BPR. Understanding

this relation is vital for the planned or ongoing ERP implementations. Factors and criteria found in this study

which have effects on the ERP systems success should be considered during the implementation planning

21 February 2013 Page 1 of 7 ProQuest

phase of these systems for efficiently managing the budget of projects. Importance of BPR which was

emphasized in this study should be considered by the management of enterprises for evaluating their IS to

determine if they are ready for the implementation phase. If they are not, findings will serve as a guideline for

improving the chance of successful implementation and this will affect overall performance of the company.

Results of this study can also be used in the future studies to compare international differences of IS structures

and ERP implementation processes. Keywords: supply chain management, ERP implementation, Critical

success factors, BPR 1. Introduction In the modern world, competition is no longer between organizations, but

among supply chains (SCs) (Trkman et.al. 2010). Enterprises must compete against one another in order to

survive. As the global economy continues to grow, enterprises are no longer competing independently but to

rely on their supply chain systems. Effective supply chain management (SCM) has therefore become a

potentially valuable way of securing a competitive advantage and improving organizational performance (Li

et.al. 2006, Trkman et.al. 2007). New supply chain management concepts are helping managers to successfully

run their firms in the new environment which is necessary to effectively respond to supplier and customer

requirements and to achieve a better organizational performance. Therefore, implementing quick-response

strategy is vital as modeled throughout the 1990's as stated by Hammond (Hammond 1990) and Lowson

(Lowson et.al. 1999) to improve competitiveness. The benefits of supply chain management include cost

savings through reductions in inventory and costs of transaction across the supply chain, faster response to

changes in the market demands, lower product development, and increased competitiveness and profitability

(Langfield-Smith and Smith 2005). In order to achieve these benefits, one should consider the performance of

supply chain along with all its channels. For this purpose, it would be enough to use some performance

measures to efficiently manage an effective supply chain. These measures have an important role since they

affect strategic, tactical, and operational planning and control. Performance measurement and metrics are

essential in setting objectives, evaluating performance, and determining future courses of actions (Gunasekaran

et.al. 2004). The current trend of supply chain management is to apply information technology to integrate

cross-enterprises and inter-enterprise processes (Xu 2007). The link between Information Technology (IT) use

and the simultaneous design of business processes is a vital ingredient to bring a benefit from such

development efforts. In fact, in practice it is often difficult to separate the origin of the benefit, whether it has

derived from IT, a process change, or both (Auramo, Kauremaa and Tanskanen 2005). The literature reveals

the necessity for adopting information technology (IT) to foster information sharing in a supply chain (Staley and

Warfield 2007, Gulledge and Chavusholu 2008), the use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for

quality assurance (Issa et.al. 2009; Millet et al. 2009). Advances in information technology have enabled

information managers with vision to plan, guide and lead the implementation of required changes. As a result of

developments in both management science (e.g., Business Process Reengineering) and information systems

(e.g., ERP systems); enterprise information systems are changing from data-oriented to process-oriented (Dong

2001). This process of change in the way firms conduct their business is reengineering. Manganelli and Klein

(1994) define Business Process Reengineering (BPR) as the rapid and radical redesign of strategic, valueadded

business processes, and the systems, policies, and organizational structures that support them so as to

optimize the workflows and productivity in an organization. ERP systems integrate information and informationbased

processes within and across functional areas in an organization (Kumar and van Hillegersberg 2000) and

support management decision-making at all levels within the organization (Li 1999). With the accelerated

advancement of technology, a manufacturing technology that works to drive down production cost and an IT

that enables massive amounts of data to be transmitted and processed at an unprecedented rate, have

changed many of the conventional ways of doing business (Ng 2002). Chen (2004) states that the emerging

trend of adopting commercial IT application packages, such as enterprise systems (ES), presents a challenge to

traditional strategic IT research, because it departs from previous analytical assumptions with regards to

technological and process heterogeneity. The

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