The ERP challenge in China: a resource‐based perspective

This paper introduces a resource‐based perspective (RBP) model on enterprise recourse planning (ERP) challenges to help make ERP decisions in China. While ERP aims at integrating functional‐area information systems within a company into a coherent, enterprise‐wide, and web‐enabled network, its implementation is especially challenging to enterprises in China because of high implementation costs, technical complexity, lack of information technology infrastructure, lack of well‐trained employees, lack of incentives to state‐owned enterprises, and a corporate culture different from that in the West. A RBP of a firm, however, posits that firms should compete on the basis of unique corporate resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and unsubstitutable. Thus, this research assesses major ERP challenges in China based upon a three‐tier decision process in pursuit of a sustainable competitive advantage. This RBP model is then embedded with data from a survey research to illustrate potential applications and managerial implications.