Global ERP Implementations and Harmonization of Practices in Multinational Corporations: A Conceptual Framework

Multinational corporations have been at the front of the ERP movement since its origins. The globalization of markets had a profound effect on multinational corporations’ IT strategies, including ERP systems, to facilitate supporting the global outlook. Despite the increasing growth of global ERP systems, the focus of research has been mostly on the intraorganizational aspects. Implementation of ERP systems in multinational corporations is considerably more difficult due to the presence of different business actors and their heterogeneous interests influenced by the local strategies and context. Inspired by the social and economic theories explaining standardization, convergence and transfer of practices in a network context, this study is intended to provide a descriptive and explanatory framework of factors decisive for harmonization of practices during global ERP implementation in multinational corporations. The framework is tentatively verified based on the secondary data as well as a case study conducted in a multinational corporation.