Investigating ERP systems procurement practice: Hong Kong and Australian experiences

Context: Integration of information systems is now commonly recognized to be a powerful strategic weapon that sharpens the competitive edge of a firm in today’s highly volatile business environment. Such integration can be achieved by replacing the disconnected and incompatible legacy applications by enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Along with the remarkable growth of the ERP market, we have seen a number of failure cases of ERP adoption. Such failure cases indicate that not all firms know how to adopt an ERP solution effectively. Objective: To explore and identify crucial practices from real experiences in the Asia–Pacific region that may explain a firm’s success in ERP procurement, with an overt intention toward the formulation of useful lessons that inform practitioners and contribution to advances in software development practices in organizations. Method: A multiple-case design involving three Chinese firms based in Hong Kong and a local firm in Australia was employed. We collected, verified, and analyzed the information about the ERP procurement practice in each subject firm by means of semi-structured interviews, archive reviews, and member checks. Results: We summarized our results in the form of 10 lessons learned, together with observations of how culture seems to have played a part in shaping the practice. Conclusion: Our results offer practical guidelines originated from real cases that are of use for practitioners to improve the ERP procurement process.