Hooshang M. Beheshti

What managers should know about ERP/ERP II

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the impact of enterprise resource planning (ERP) on organizations and discusses critical issues that should be considered by managers and decision makers who are considering implementing an ERP/ERP II system.Design/methodology/approach – Extensive literature review and the authors professional experience on the topic provide the foundation for this article.Findings – ERP/ERP II are designed to improve competitiveness by upgrading an organizations ability to generate timely and accurate information throughout the enterprise and its supply chain. The goal of an ERP/ERP II is to integrate all business units of an organization and to create a system that is capable of providing up‐to‐date and relevant information for the corporations decision makers and employees as well as business partners. The investment that is required is significant, sometimes running into the hundreds of millions of dollars and the decision to purchase and implement an ERP system is one of the mo...

Improving productivity and firm performance with enterprise resource planning

Productivity is generally considered to be the efficient utilisation of organisational resources and is measured in terms of the efficiency of a worker, company or nation. Focusing on efficiency alone, however, can be harmful to the organisations long-term success and competitiveness. The full benefits of productivity improvement measures are realised when productivity is examined from two perspectives: operational efficiency (output/input) of an individual worker or a business unit as well as performance (effectiveness) with regard to end user or customer satisfaction. Over the years, corporations have adopted new technology to integrate business activities in order to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency in their operations. In recent years, many firms have invested in enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to integrate all business activities into a uniform system. The implementation of ERP enables the firm to reduce the transaction costs of the business and improve its productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability.

An empirical study of US SMEs using TQM

Total quality management is a managerial philosophy that has received great attention in the business world during the past several years. There are many philosophical reasons as to why companies should implement TQM. However, the main reasons why companies should consider implementing TQM are increased profitability and competitiveness. As the result of a perception that smaller firms do not have the resources necessary to implement TQM effectively, the focus of the literature has been on large organizations. For this study, a survey instrument was developed to evaluate the impact of TQM on small and medium enterprises in the United States. The results provide useful insight into the manufacturing and service organizations that use TQM as compared to those who do not.

Electronic supply chain management applications by Swedish SMEs

The Internet has become an integral part of business activities of most corporations today. Electronic supply chain management (SCM) can improve the operational efficiency of the firm by streamlining processes between the company and its suppliers, business partners, and customers. This research explores the extent and the degree of Internet application in Swedish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The analyses of the data show that the Swedish SMEs use the Internet in their supply chain activities to a large degree. The study establishes some differences between smaller and larger organizations as well as between manufacturing and service companies.

Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage with activity based cost management system

In the era of competitive global environment and technology‐based organizations managers are, more than ever, pressured to find ways to maintain their competitive advantage. In order to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage, managers must examine the internal processes of their companies. The firm produces products or provide services by performing a set of activities that create value. Increasing the value of these activities can increase the competitive advantage of a firm. There are several methods that have been developed for adding value to the core activities in the firm. One method that is gaining popularity among companies is activity‐based cost management (ABCM). ABCM as a system can provide managers with a strategic view of the activities that are essential to the competitive nature of the enterprise.

The Impact of it on Smes in the United States

Recent spectacular technological advances and breakthroughs have generated dramatic increases in information availability and have made the effective use of modern information technology a critical, competitive business tool. For this study a survey instrument was developed to evaluate the impact of information technology on small and medium enterprises in the USA. The results provide useful insight into the use of information technology by both manufacturing and service SMEs.

A decision support system for improving performance of inventory management in a supply chain network

Purpose - This article seeks to present a decision support model for improving supply chain performance. The model aims to provide a holistic view of the supply chain as an integrated system by analyzing inventory options to facilitate the decision-making process by business partners in the system. Design/methodology/approach - In recent years, organizations have focused on incorporating both internal and external business activities of their supply chain into an integrated system. The goal of integration of all supply chain activities is to maximize total systems performance while minimizing costs. Literature review and professional experience in the field provided the foundation for the model development in this research. Findings - The article demonstrates the usefulness of a decision support model in analyzing and developing a cooperative environment among supply chain members in order to reduce the cost of inventory as well as the cost of goods sold. The effects of utilizing such tools as just-in-time and electronic business systems are illustrated and discussed. Research limitations/implications - The proposed model demonstrates disadvantages of individual optimization in an integrated supply chain system as well as the advantages of collaboration of supply chain members in finding the minimum cost. The model uses one manufacturer with multiple retailers and distributors. Future research in this area could expand the model to allow multiple manufacturers. Practical implications - The decision support model allows decision makers along the supply chain to employ a series of what-if analyses to evaluate different scenarios with regard to lowering the cost of products reaching the consumer. Originality/value - The model developed in this paper provides the foundation for future research as well as support for decision making when various decision makers are involved.

Selection and critical success factors in successful ERP implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that contribute to the successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative research method was used to study six diverse manufacturing firms in Virginia. A semi-structure method of data collection was used for the analysis. Findings – The ERP software has emerged as a key enabler of system integration in organizations to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency, productivity and performance. Firms implement ERP not only to improve operations efficiency but to be more responsive to the customer needs in the global economy. The findings provide insights on the factors that these large and global manufacturing firms consider to be important to the success of ERP implementation and utilization. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to large manufacturing firms and does not consider service industries or small and medium enterprises. Practical i...

Fuzzy logic and performance evaluation: discussion and application

Purpose - This paper seeks to describe the development of the fuzzy logic model approach to decision making and its value for managers by illustrating its application to employee performance appraisals. Design/methodology/approach - An extensive literature review provided the framework for the model development in this research. Performance evaluations represent a critically important decision that often involves subjective information. Models and heuristic techniques that focus on the use of different types of information are available; however, with few exceptions, the models are not robust enough to be applied in a practical, managerially useful manner. Fuzzy logic models provide a reasonable solution to these common decision situations. Findings - Fuzzy logic can be a powerful tool for managers to use instead of a traditional mathematical model when evaluating the performance of personnel or teams. The flexibility of the model allows the decision maker to introduce vagueness, uncertainty, and subjectivity into the evaluation system. Research limitations/implications - This research calls attention to an alternative method of the performance evaluation system as opposed to the traditional quantitative methods. Future research in this area is needed to develop a method for relating membership values to linguistic variables in performance evaluation, as well as testing the sensitivity of membership values and their impact on the outcome. Originality/value - This paper provides a simple-to-use fuzzy logic model for establishing a more meaningful evaluation system.

Adoption of enterprise systems and radio frequency identification among service firms

A promising technology for optimizing supply-chain processes is radio frequency identification (RFID). By adding functionality to previous enterprise systems, the aim is to increase transparency of information throughout the supply chain. In this paper, we present a survey of RFID implementation in Swedish service firms. The findings show that although the great majority of firms are actively working with integrated information systems, only a very small fraction have adopted RFID.