The Effect of ERP System Implementation on Business Performance: An Exploratory Case-Study

There is currently plenty of research concerning the effect of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems on business performance. Previous research has shown a mixed relationship between ERP and business performance where some suggested that ERP improves performance and others found that it does not. Previous research was mainly based on quantitative methods which don’t give important insightful knowledge and details. A case-study on the other hand can help identify the important contributing factors for the relationship between ERP and business performance. This paper therefore, investigates this topic by analyzing a critical case-study consisting of an Egyptian SME branch of a multinational company. The results indicate that in general many benefits in business performance were achieved after implementing the ERP as reported by the business users, but have also shown that a few benefits previously linked to ERP were not fully achieved. This indicates the positive contribution of ERP on business performance but also suggests the limited applicability of this positive relationship according to specific factors to be researched.