Implementing ERP in China: Lessons from family-owned Chinese enterprises

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is one of the most popular organisation-wide software packages to emerge in recent years, mainly because of the benefits of successful implementation that a wide range of businesses can experience. This paper adopts a case study approach to examine the ERP implementation experiences of two family-owned Chinese enterprises. Relatively new to Chinese enterprises, and not easily accepted in smaller family-owned businesses, ERP uptake is, in general, on the increase as Chinese enterprises look towards this system to help them modernise their business, and enact change in their management model. The major findings of this paper are that the success factors for ERP implementation in family-owned Chinese enterprises is fundamentally the same as that of other Chinese enterprises provided a key champion is in place. Furthermore, the success factors are fundamentally the same as those found in Western enterprises, as long as Chinese cultural characteristics are considered.