Of the many challenges of planning, implementing and using ERP systems in China, the two greatest unmet needs of these systems on a consistent basis is business intelligence and data analytics. This analysis evaluates these two unmet needs from the standpoint of their use in supply chains. Included in the analysis is an overview of value chain management and the costs associated with implementing ERP business intelligence and analytics throughout an organization.

The article also discusses how ERP implementations are being successfully completed with case studies with examples. Each of the case studies highlights how China, for the most part, lacks enterprise-wide system integration to generate real-time supply chain metrics yet does have an excellent series of reporting processes in place for managing their supply chains. The study concludes with best practices that Chinese companies can consider adopting to increase their business intelligence and data analytics performance with regard to supply chain performance.

Huang, S., Yen, D., Hung, Y., Zhou, Y., & Hua, J.. (2009). A business process gap detecting mechanism between information system process flow and internal control flow. Decision Support Systems, 47(4), 436.

The authors, through a series of case studies and analyses of ERP systems, show why it is critically important to create audit-driven procedures and systems to capture inaccuracies and aberrant use of data. Taking the position that ERP systems are by nature highly vulnerable to attack and security lapses point to the need for a comprehensive auditing strategy that can take into account Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) initiatives over time. The authors are careful to back up these contentions with primary research in addition to many cited research studies and case studies.

The result is the development of the Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques and Tools (CAATTs) categorization and taxonomy the authors discuss in detail throughout their analysis. Using the CAATTs technologies the ability of any comp[any to find gaps in the security of their ERP systems becomes automated and easily administered. The use of the Business Process Gap Detecting Mechanism (BPGAP-Detecting Mechanism), which is the primary contribution of the authors' research, is used for assessing and evaluating potential security gaps in ERP system platforms. The authors end the article with a call for greater levels of data quality over time to alleviate potential lapses in security due to systems not performing at their optimal level.

Anders Haug, Anne Pedersen, & Jan Stentoft Arlbjorn. (2010). ERP system strategies in parent-subsidiary supply chains. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 40(4), 298-314.

When a supply chain is designed to support many parent-children relationships throughout its structure, there is greater variation in ERP customization and process workflows. To test this hypothesis, four ERP systems were chosen for analysis and case studies completed to evaluate the four set-ups most prevalent in parent-subsidiary supply chain configurations. The outcome of the testing showed that the selection of a given parent-child configuration of ERP systems have a significant impact on quality of communication, degree of local management, synergy effects, and shared learning across the value chain.

From a practically standpoint, the research that forms the foundation of the paper's conclusions show that variations in parent-subsidiary supply chain configurations at the ERP system level is responsible for significantly different process efficiencies and supply chain performance over time. The research also supports the contention that aligning specific needs of a given parent-subsidiary supply chain relationship to an operating unit of an organization pays significant dividends over time.

Shaio Yan Huang, Shi-Ming Huang, Tung-Hsien Wu, & Wen-kai Lin. (2009). Process efficiency of the enterprise resource planning adoption. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 109(8), 1085-1100.

The performance of ERP systems in the high tech industry, specifically focusing on their performance across business, operational and manufacturing processes is the intent of this study. The researchers base their methodology and sampling frame on the high tech manufacturers throughout Taiwan and their performance one product generation to the next. The metrics used are based on the literature review completed and cited extensively in the first pages of this article. The metrics are specifically focused on business process that...

The results of their research show that larger, more geographically diverse firms with global operations attain greater process efficiencies over time. Mid-size firms attain the secondary level of performance found in the study, purely on their process improvements. When ERP systems are located only at a single location they fail to deliver any significant ROI over time compared to the global counterparts who coordinate supply chains through interprocess integration.
Woan-yuh Jang, Ching-i Lin, & Ming-ju Pan. (2009). Business strategies and the adoption of ERP: Evidence from Taiwan's communications industry. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 20(8), 1084-1098.

Companies continually struggle to link their strategies to the implementation of their ERP systems. In fast-changing industries including high-tech, this is even more of a challenge. The researchers have set this issue as the core focus of their research in this study. Using the high tech manufacturing centers in Taiwan, the researchers seek to find the correlation of business strategy to ERP performance over time. The sub-industry of high tech is communications equipment, and the methodology is focused on capturing an intensive amount of data through face-to-face interviews. The researchers have used a variety of techniques including factor analysis and discriminant analysis to find patterns and segmentation of results in terms of business performance.

The researchers found that the more diverse the operational base of the company, the more ERP systems had the potential to redefine the financial and operational performance of the company. The financial impacts of using ERP systems to support business strategies showed the most potential when manufacturers integrated their supply chains into the process. This also extended to the order capture, order management, and service lifecycle management areas as well. The conclusion of the analysis shows that those ERP modules that map to customer-focused strategies are the most effective in delivering sustainable financial performance over time.

Kanet, J., & Stosslein, M.. (2010). Integrating production planning and control: towards a simple model for Capacitated ERP. Production Planning & Control, 21(3), 286.

ERP systems are designed to coordinate the many production functions throughout an organization so that customer orders can be accurately shipped at the lowest cost possible. The managing of orders on the production floor is the essential link for fulfilling demand accurately. To make the perfect order possible, material planning systems are necessary for optimizing inventory positions and the delivering of components to the production locations on the shop floor in time to complete. The research defined in this article stresses the need for ERP and MRP integration to ensure the highest levels of performance possible.

Based on both literature reviews and empirical studies, the authors present a maturity-model like concept that addresses the progression of companies from using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to automated material planning systems. The article ends with recommendations for how best to gain performance gains from integrating MRP systems into the broader ERP systems capable of managing production demand.

Kouki, R., Poulin, D., & Pellerin, R.. (2010). The Impact of Contextual Factors on ERP Assimilation: Exploratory Findings from a Developed and a Developing Country. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 13(1), 28-55.

The most common factor in the failure of ERP systems is lack of adoption by users. Resistance to change dooms ERP systems more than any other. The researchers who wrote this article concentrated on this factor and looking into why users resisted ERP systems when they were involved in the design, implementation and launch of it. Defining a research methodology that stratified their sample across small, medium and large businesses, the researchers also defined the type of ERP implementation being done to evaluate if that was a contributing factor. Finally the role of the CEO in enabling change by actively promoting it was also captured through attitudinal and psychographic data.

The results showed that the assimilation of an ERP implementation was most common right after the launch of the system. The change necessary