ERP Post-Implementation Benefits Realisation in Malaysian Manufacturing: A Multi-Case Study
Siti Aminah Rahman, Hafiz Razak, Norazlina Othman
Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru, Malaysia
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Abstract
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are widely deployed in Malaysian manufacturing, yet post-implementation benefits realisation remains uneven. Drawing on Shang and Seddon's benefits framework and dynamic-capabilities theory, this multi-case study examines four mid-sized Malaysian manufacturers (electronics, automotive components, food processing, and palm oil) over a three-year post-go-live period.
Data sources include 47 semi-structured interviews, ERP usage logs, and archival financial-reporting indicators. We identify three benefit trajectories — accelerating, plateaued, and regressing — and surface six contingency factors that distinguish them: extent of process redesign, executive sponsorship continuity, embedding of analytics in management routines, vendor-relationship maturity, internal change-agent retention, and integration with downstream digital initiatives.
The paper contributes to the AIS post-implementation literature by foregrounding the dynamic and contingent nature of benefits realisation and offers practitioners a diagnostic for assessing where their post-implementation programme sits on the three trajectories.
Keywords
ERP post-implementation · Benefits realisation · Malaysian manufacturing · Multi-case study · Dynamic capabilities
Cases & Findings at a Glance
- Case A (Electronics) — Accelerating: cumulative benefits Years 1–3
- Case B (Automotive Components) — Plateaued: stalled after Year 1 gains
- Case C (Food Processing) — Accelerating: analytics compounding in Years 2–3
- Case D (Palm Oil) — Regressing: shadow spreadsheets re-emerged by Year 3
- ERP platforms: SAP S/4HANA and Oracle Cloud ERP (go-live 2019–2020)
- Method: Gioia-style coding of 47 interviews + usage logs + archival indicators