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ERP in action — Challenges and benefits for management control in SME context

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  • Teittinen, Henri
  • Pellinen, Jukka
  • Järvenpää, Marko

Abstract

ERP systems have fundamentally re-shaped the way business data is collected, stored, disseminated and used throughout the world. However, the existing research in accounting has provided only relatively few empirical findings on the implications for management control when companies implement ERP systems as the technological platform. Especially scarce are the findings concerning the production phase, after implementation, when the information processes, related work practices and the new information contents can be seen as established. In this paper we explored and theorized the benefits, challenges and problems for management control when an ERP system is in use, four years after the implementation. Our findings also illustrate why and under what circumstances these challenges and benefits may exist. For a holistic view of the organization our findings, based on a qualitative case study, are constructed from the viewpoints of people at different levels and functions of the organization. Top management expected a new strategic control system, but due to the many challenges it ended up with merely financial accounting based control. At the operational level, serious challenges lead to inadequate usage of the ERP system. Management control produces the financial basic data and must contend with many practical problems caused by ERP implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Teittinen, Henri & Pellinen, Jukka & Järvenpää, Marko, 2013. "ERP in action — Challenges and benefits for management control in SME context," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 278-296.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijoais:v:14:y:2013:i:4:p:278-296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accinf.2012.03.004
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    4. Lauri Lepistö, 2014. "Taking information technology seriously: on the legitimating discourses of enterprise resource planning system adoption," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 25(3), pages 193-219, December.
    5. Aapo Länsiluoto & Elina Varamäki & Erkki K. Laitinen & Anmari Viljamaa & Juha Tall, 2015. "Management Control Systems in Small Business Transfers — A Resource-Based View," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(04), pages 449-471, December.
    6. Agata Mesjasz-Lech, 2014. "The Use Of It Systems Supporting The Realization Of Business Processes In Enterprises And Supply Chains In Poland," Polish Journal of Management Studies, Czestochowa Technical University, Department of Management, vol. 10(2), pages 94-103, December.
    7. Pankaj C. Patel & Maria João Guedes, 2022. "Do family firms perform better under financial constraints? Financial constraints, family firms and performance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 933-949, June.
    8. Assist. Cristina Circa Ph.D. & Assoc. Prof. Alina Almasan Ph.D. & Lect. Romeo Margea Ph.D. & Lect. Camelia Margea Ph.D., 2015. "Erp Systems And Management Accounting – Evolutions And Challenges," Revista Tinerilor Economisti (The Young Economists Journal), University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1(24), pages 155-166, APRIL.
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