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Exploring the Links between Competitive Advantage and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Upgrade Decision: A Case Study Approach

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Global Perspective for Competitive Enterprise, Economy and Ecology

Part of the book series: Advanced Concurrent Engineering ((ACENG))

Abstract

The complexities in making an ERP upgrade decision have been widely cited in the trade press. To the client-organizations, the issues of maintenance and upgrade are continuously existing and requiring extensive attentions and efforts as far as continuous business improvement and benefit-realization are concerned. However, there is very few studies dedicated to provide better understanding of how a firm considers an ERP upgrade decision. Competitive advantage has often been cited and associated with upgrade decision. To what degree and how an ERP upgrade is perceived as providing competitive advantage to a firm? In order to gain in-depth understanding of whether competitive advantage affects upgrade decision and how, an evaluative case study is conducted in a firm that is making an ERP upgrade decision. We find that out of the four characteristics of competitive advantage proposed in the resource view theory, value is perceived as the foremost important, and other characteristics as unimportant. With this, we suggest that the type of competitive advantage perceived and expected from an ERP upgrade is non-sustainable (in the long-run) cost leadership-oriented advantage. However, this finding is likely constrained by how the ERP is used and the scope of its implementation by this case.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Management, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Province of China

    Celeste See-Pui Ng & Pei-Chann Chang

Authors
  1. Celeste See-Pui Ng
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  2. Pei-Chann Chang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pei-Chann Chang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), 43 Keelung Road, Section 4, 106, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China

    Shuo-Yan Chou

  2. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, No.1, Section 3, Chung-Hsiao E. Road, 106, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China

    Amy Trappey

  3. Inst. Machine Design Fundamentals, Warsaw University of Technology, Narbutta 84, 02-524, Warszawa, Poland

    Jerzy Pokojski

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Road, Section 4, 106, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China

    Shana Smith

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© 2009 Springer London

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Ng, CP., Chang, PC. (2009). Exploring the Links between Competitive Advantage and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Upgrade Decision: A Case Study Approach. In: Chou, SY., Trappey, A., Pokojski, J., Smith, S. (eds) Global Perspective for Competitive Enterprise, Economy and Ecology. Advanced Concurrent Engineering. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-762-2_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-762-2_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-761-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-762-2

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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