Enterprise resource planning implementation: Stories of power, politics, and resistance

Abstract

This paper provides an interpretation of information technology implementation in a relatively unexplored context, that of higher education. In recent years, there has been a call by governments across the world for universities to improve operational efficiency and to reduce duplication of resources by implementing advanced information systems that span the institution and improve processes. Universities in response turned their efforts to implementing complex ERP systems to facilitate the essential cross-functional information integration, free internal information flows, and improve the provision and quality of management information. This paper investigates in turn whether enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems present afeasible information system strategy for higher education institutions. Four in-depth case studies were conducted in higher education institutions (HEIs) that were in the process of implementing ERP systems. Numerous complexities, especially in terms of power, politics, and resistance arose in light of the structure of the HEIs. © 2001 by Springer Science+Business Media New York.