会计经济金融外文翻译外文文献英文文献发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施问题

ERP implementation issues in advanced

and developing countries

Abstract

There is an increasing need to implement a total business solution which supports major functionalities of a business. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed to meet this need, and has been widely adopted by organizations in developed countries. Meanwhile, ERP is beginning to appear in many organizations of developing countries. Little research has been conducted to compare the implementation practices of ERP in developed vs developing countries. Our research shows that ERP technology faces additional challenges in developing countries related to economic, cultural, and basic infrastructure issues. This article identifies a range of issues concerning ERP implementation by making a comparison of advanced and developing countries.

Key words: Enterprise Resource management; Implementation; Developing countries.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or a service business manage the important parts of its business. Evolving from MRP systems, ERP has played a significant role in IT for several decades. Since the first symbiotic ERP product SAP created in 1972, ERP market revenues are expected to be as high as $52 billion by the year 2002. While there is wide acceptance of ERP in developed countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia, developing countries lag far behind. At present, North America occupies 66 percent of the ERP market, Europe takes 22 percent, while the whole of Asia is only at 9 percent. However, due to economic growth, developing countries in Asia and Latin America are becoming major targets of big ERP vendors.

ERP in developed countries

ERP systems have been widely used by companies in developed countries. Organizations in manufacturing, service, and energy industries adopt ERP to:

?automate the deployment and management of material, finance and human resources;

?streamline processes and achieve process improvement;

?achieve global competitiveness.

In this section, North America, Europe are selected as representative developed countries.

North America (USA, Canada)

Europeans designed the first integrated ERP system –SAP in Germany, 1972, whereas, organizations in North America seem to have richer experience in this kind of software and have used integrated software solutions for decades. As commercial systems evolved from material planning (MRP) to enterprise planning (ERP), companies continued investment to bring in newer systems. Currently, two out of three ERP deals in North America are replacement deals.

The USA is the primary target of ERP and represents 66 percent of revenues for the major vendors. Before 2000, one major concern of North American corporations was Y2K problems. After Y2K, management turned its eyes to extending its enterprises. Several trends have appeared. E-commerce is a major force. Organizations want their ERP systems to connect more tightly with suppliers and customers via e-commerce. Supply chain management (SCM) products, regarded as post-ERP, are now entering into North American organizations. SCM functions include demand forecasting, sourcing and procurement, inventory and warehouse management, and distribution logistics.

Europe (UK, Germany, France)

Europe is the second largest target ERP sales market (at 22 percent). Many big ERP vendors started their business from Europe; e.g. SAP AG, Baan, JBA International and Intentia. Historically, strong manufacturing industry is an underlying reason for so many ERP vendors in Europe. There are several reasons for Europe’s ERP market. First, economically advanced countries have a solid industrial and manufacturing base. Second, there is a strong national information infrastructure. Third, the multiple-language and multi-currency requirements make the ERP software attractive. Fourth, quality employees are available to implement advanced technologies. Characteristics of ERP implementation in developed countries

It is easy to understand why North America and Europe occupy the largest ERP market. From national and environmental perspectives, these countries have excellent infrastructures which effectively facilitate IT diffusion. Strong economic base and growth further drive the need for new technology. Governmental IT policy, deregulation and organizational enthusiasm for IT fuel technology development. New technologies such as ERP, SCM and others are quickly absorbed by organizations in almost all industries.

From an organizational perspective, companies in developed countries are more likely to succeed. Higher IT maturity and favorable computer culture make organizations ready to handle complex technology. Also organizations are developing a strong process management orientation (Davenport, 1994). BPR is practiced frequently in North American and European countries.

Some trends are observable. First, small and middle sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming targets of ERP vendors. Second, ERP coupled with e-commerce functionality will dominate the market. E-commerce is becoming a new way of doing business between business and business (B2B) and between business and customer (B2C). CIOs are planning to build electronic commerce and decision-support extensions to ERP implementations. Meanwhile, e-commerce based ERP systems are commercially available。Third, SCM software is making inroads. Organizations are pursuing support for the whole supply chain beyond what ERP can provide.

ERP in developing countries

ERP software vendors are experiencing global expansion. Asia/Pacific and Latin American countries are taking the lead. The Asia-Pacific ERP market accounts for 9 percent of revenues, and Latin America for 3 percent. Economic expansion, especially in Asian countries, is the major reason. Second, fierce competition and pressures from Western corporations force firms in developing countries to vigorously pursue information technology.

However, ERP is in its early stages in developing countries. Inadequate IT infrastructure, governmental policies, small size of companies, lack of IT/ERP experience, and low IT maturity seriously affect the adoption decision.

China, India are selected as representative countries for ERP discussion.

China

China has achieved impressive economic growth in recent years. It is undergoing a technological change with huge IT investments in both public and private sectors. However, there are only a handful of companies using ERP systems.

International vendors play a primary role. There are a few local software packages that are low cost but are primarily accounting and financial applications. For example,

Yongyou1 software is widely utilized, but it focuses on accounting functions and is not a real ERP system. There are no local professional ERP vendors. Major international vendors have opened their business in major cities. Some vendors access the market via their delegated international companies such as IBM, Compaq, Andersen, and Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Infrastructure is a major problem. Telecommunications, though significant improvements have been made in recent years, is good only in major cities. The telephone density, although increasing, is still quite low. Internet service is expensive, not to mention ISDN, ATM and other broadband services. The government is finding it necessary to allow competition and profit making organizations (even foreign companies) to raise the telephone density to its target of eight per 100.

Low IT maturity of China’s industries is also a major problem. Enterprises lack a long-term MIS strategy, and IS departments/staff (if they exist) lack project experience. Often, companies have limited process management knowledge, and BPR is seldom conducted. Chinese management style, informal planning and process modeling, highly interdependent social and organizational relationships, and attitudes towards organizational change all limit process innovation efforts. Most companies have limited knowledge of international business practice. Language is also an important concern. Mandarin is the official language and spoken by most Chinese, whereas English is used by MNCs. The language causes communication barriers between Chinese users and international ERP vendors. Furthermore, high economic growth built on a weak base has lead to diverse business practices and cross industry enterprise structure.

Owing to these reasons, major ERP customers in China are limited to global MNC corporations. Some large state-owned organizations are potential ERP users but they are haunted by high costs. Small and middle-sized enterprises are virtually excluded out of this market.

India

India has also achieved significant economic growth in recent years. Its IT industry growth is quite admirable. India is the largest developing country base for global software outsourcing. Moreover, global software outsourcing continues to grow rapidly, with over US$3.00 billion in contracts from developing countries in 2000. India also owns the best software engineers in the world. Because English is the official business language, its IT staff can communicate effectively with counterparts in the world.

However, IT diffusion and implementation lags far behind, and ERP growth in India has been quite slow except in recent years. While the country boasts of decades of manufacturing, availability of skilled workers, English as the business language, and the first MRP-II/ERP systems introduced over a decade ago, yet the ERP penetration is estimated at a piddling 6 percent. Even this rate was achieved after a 75 percent growth in the last two years. According to one estimate, this market was expected to be only around US$10 million by year 2000 (Erry, 1998).

Characteristics of ERP implementation in developing countries Several factors were significant in ERP implementation in developing countries. Among national/environmental factors, current economic status and economic growth, infrastructure, and government regulations fundamentally impact on IT adoption and ERP penetration. In infrastructure such as transportation, telecommunications, Internet and intranet, mobile telecommunications, and public database systems, developing countries obviously have a poor record and suffer from the consequences. ERP is not a stand-alone system and has to work in an integrated environment to gain maximum value. However, infrastructure alone cannot boost ERP adoption: other factors such as governmental policy encouraging foreign investment and fair competition are also essential.

From an organizational and internal perspective, low IT maturity, small firm size, and lack of process management and BPR experience hamper ERP adoption. Enterprises commonly lack MIS long-term strategy and project experience. As a result, most customers of IT applications are not domestic companies, but subsidiaries of MNCs. In developing countries, SMEs play a major role in the national economy. Therefore, affordability and availability are major concerns. Firms also lack process management orientation and BPR experience. Unlike past computer systems, ERP systems are off-the-shelf and impose their own logic on the company, often forcing companies to change the way they do business. While promising, the actual experience of using IT to redesign business processes is limited in developing countries.

Conclusion

we discussed ERP implementation in selected developed and developing countries. Problems, and characteristics of ERP implementation were identified. Vendors who contemplate entering foreign markets can better understand global ERP markets and develop better strategies. Implementers can recognize the environmental and internal requirements and prepare accordingly. Future research may include: empirically testing and exploring relationships among the various variables.

发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施问题

摘要

企业越来越需要有一个全面的商业解决方案来支持其业务发展。企业资源规划（ERP）软件是专为满足这一需要产生的，它已被发达国家的企业广泛采用。同时，ERP系统已经开始出现在发展中国家的许多企业当中。一些研究比较了发达国家和发展中国家实施ERP 的做法。我们的研究表明,ERP的实施面临着经济，文化和基础设施等问题，发展中国家面临更多的挑战。本文研究了关于发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施的一系列问题。

关键字：企业资源管理实施发展中国家

企业资源规划（ERP）是一个支持广泛行业的由多个模块组成的应用软件，可帮助制造业或服务业企业改进其业务流程中重要部分。从MRP系统开始演变，ERP系统在IT行业扮演了几十年的重要角色。第一次ERP产品SAP是在1972年产生的，现在ERP市场的营销额预计将在2002年达到520亿美元。ERP在发达国家被广泛的接受，如美国、加拿大、英国、澳大利亚，而发展中国家远远落在后面。目前，北美国家占据的ERP市场销售额的66%，欧洲占22%，而整个亚洲只有9%。但是，由于经济增长，发展中国家所在的亚洲和拉丁美洲正在成为大ERP供应商的主要销售目标。

ERP在发达国家

ERP系统已被广泛使用在发达国家的公司。生产，服务和能源行业采用的ERP为了达成以下目的：自动化的分配和管理物力，财力和人力资源；简化流程，实现流程改进；提升形成全球竞争力。在此，选择北美，欧洲作为发达国家的代表。

北美（美国，加拿大）

德国的SAP公司在1972年设计出了第一个集成的ERP系统，然而北美的企业在这方面似乎有更丰富的软件的实施经验，并已使用了几十年的集成软件解决方案。ERP作为商业系统，从材料计划（MRP）发展到企业规划（ERP）。很多公司继续投资，引进新的系统。目前，北美三分之二的ERP 使用企业已经有更换引进新ERP系统的意向。

美国是ERP供应商的主要销售目标，占据66%的营业额。2000年以前，北美公司主要担忧的是千年虫问题。过了2000年，企业将目光转向扩大其企业规模并有效管理。几个发展趋势已经出现，电子商务是其中一个重要趋势。企业希望他们的ERP系统通过电子商务更加紧密地连接供应商和客户。ERP发展出的供应链管理（SCM）概念，现在已近进入北美企业。供应链管理职能包括需求预测，采购及采购，库存和仓库管理，配送物流。

欧洲（英国，德国，法国）

欧洲是ERP销售商的第二大目标，占销售额的22%。很多大的ERP厂商都是在欧洲创建的，如：BAAN，SAP，JBA International和Intentia。历史上，强大的制造业是这么多的ERP厂商在欧洲产生的根本原因。欧洲的ERP市场的繁荣有以下几个原因。第一，经济发达的国家有坚实的工业和制造业基地。第二，这些国家有强大的信息基础设施。第三，多语言和多币种的要求增加了ERP软件的吸引力。第四，高素质的员工较多，可实现先进的技术。

发达国家ERP系统实施的特点

通过以上了解很容易理解为什么北美和欧洲占据了最大的ERP市场。从国家和环境的角度来看，这些国家有良好的基础设施，有效地促进了信息科技的传播。坚实的经济基础和快速的发展进一步推动

了新技术的需求。政府施行了放松管制和鼓励IT企业技术的发展的政策。如ERP，SCM和其他新技术正在迅速被几乎所有的企业所吸纳采用。

从组织的角度来看，发达国家的大公司更容易成功。更成熟的IT技术和良好的文化为企业用计算机来处理复杂的技术提供了保障。企业还在引进更好的流程管理模式（达文波特，1994）。BPR在北美和欧洲频繁的国家广泛的实行。

有些趋势是很明显的。首先，小型和大中型企业（中小企业）正在成为ERP供应商的目标。其次，ERP系统与电子商务功能耦合将主宰市场。电子商务正在成为企业和企业之间（B2B）和企业与客户（B2C）进行业务的新方式。CIO们正计划建立电子商务和决策支持系统。与此同时，基于ERP系统的电子商务变成了现实。第三，供应链管理软件正在取得进展。组织追求的是ERP之外的整个供应链可以提供什么支持。

ERP在发展中国家

ERP软件供应商正在经历的全球扩张。亚洲/太平洋和拉美国家变的越来越重要。亚太占据ERP 销售额的9%。经济扩张，特别是在亚洲国家，是ERP市场发展的主要原因。其次，激烈的竞争和压力迫使发展中国家的公司大力发展信息技术。

然而，ERP在发展中国家仍处于初期阶段。IT基础设施薄弱，政府的政策，小规模的公司，缺乏资讯/ ERP的经验，IT技术不成熟，严重影响了企业引入ERP的决定的通过。在这里，中国，印度被选为代表来研究企业资源规划的实施。

中国

中国近年来取得了骄人的经济增长。在公共和私营部门产生了巨大技术变革。然而，仅有少数的公司使用ERP系统。

国际厂商发挥了主要作用。有几个本地软件产品的成本很低，但主要是会计和财务应用。例如，用友软件被广泛使用，但重点是会计职能，不是真正的ERP系统。中国没有自己的专业ERP供应商。主要的国际厂商已经开始在各大城市拓展业务。一些厂商通过他们的授权进入市场，如IBM，康柏，安达信国际公司，普华永道会计师事务所。

基础设施是一个很大的问题。虽然近几年电信设施已大为改善，尤其是大城市。电话密度也在增加，但仍然是相当低。互联网服务是昂贵的，更不要说综合业务数字网，自动取款机和其他宽带服务。政府发现了允许竞争和非牟利组织（甚至外国公司）提高电话密度到8%必要性。

中国IT产业技术水平低也是一个重要问题。企业缺乏长远的战略管理信息系统，信息系统部门/人员（如果它们存在）也缺乏项目经验。通常，企业对流程管理的认识有限，很少进行业务流程重组。中国的管理风格，非正式的规划和过程建模，高度相互依存的社会和组织的关系，以及对组织在变革过程中的态度都限制了所有的创新努力。大多数公司都限制了国际商业业务。语言也是一个重要的问题。

普通话是官方语言，大多数中国人的口语，而英语是跨国公司使用。语言使中国用户与国际ERP厂商存在着沟通障碍。此外，较快的经济增长建立在一个薄弱的基础上导致了不同的商业惯例和跨产业的企业结构。

由于这些原因，ERP在中国的主要客户是有限的全球性跨国公司。一些大型国有企业也是潜在用户，但他们受到实施成本高昂的困扰。小型和中等规模的企业实际上被排除出这个市场。

印度

印度近年来也取得显著的经济增长。其IT产业的增长速度相当令人钦佩。印度是全球最大的发展中国家软件外包基地。此外，全球软件外包继续快速增长，在2000年超过$ 3.00亿美元的合同来自发展中国家。印度还拥有世界上最好的软件工程师。因为英语是官方商业语言，它的IT人员可以与世界同行有效的沟通。

然而，印度信息技术的普及和实行远远落后于发到国家，ERP市场需求的增长速度只有印度近年来相当缓慢。尽管该国拥有几十年的制造业基础，优秀的技术工人，作为商业语言的英语，第一个MRP-II/ERP系统也已经推出了十年之久，但ERP的普及率估计为6%。虽然在达到了这个速度后，过去两年增长了百分之75。据估计，这一市场预计将在今年大约只有为1000万美元的销售额。

发展中国家企业实施ERP的特点

在发展中国家实施ERP有几个重要影响因素。各国家/环境因素，目前的经济状况和经济增长速度，信息基础设施，从根本上影响政府政策的调整以及IT和ERP的普及。在诸如交通，电信，互联网及内联网，移动通信基础设施和公共数据库系统等方面，发展中国家显然做的不够。ERP不是一个独立的系统，需要在一个集成环境下工作，以获得最大的效益。然而，不能单靠增加基础设施来普及采用ERP，如政府鼓励外国投资和公平竞争政策等其他因素也至关重要。

从企业的内部角度来看，IT技术水平低，企业规模小，工艺和管理经验不足，阻碍BPR和ERP 的应用。企业普遍缺乏管理信息系统的长期战略和经验。其结果是，大多数的用户不是国内公司，而是跨国公司的子公司。在发展中国家，中小企业在国民经济中发挥了重要作用。因此，支付能力和可用性成为主要的问题。企业还缺乏流程管理的认识和业务流程再造的经验。不同于以往的计算机系统，ERP 系统是现成的，把自己的逻辑强加于公司之上，往往会迫使公司改变他们做生意的方式。虽然有前途，但在发展中国家使用信息技术的经验来重新设计业务流程的企业是很有限的。

结论

我们讨论了发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施的问题，以及对ERP实施特点进行了研究。进入国际市场的厂商可以更好地了解全球ERP市场，采用更好的战略。实行者能够认识到环境和内在的要求从而进行相应的准备。未来的研究可能包括：经验测试和各变量之间的关系的探讨。