integration of different erp systems – the case of mergers and.pdfVIP

INTEGRATION OF DIFFERENT ERP SYSTEMS – THE CASE OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Abstract Mergers and Acquisitions (MA) are very important for the external growth of companies and tend to have a very high profile in the media. The recent proposed acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft is a case in point. However, research in finance has shown that many MA initiatives fail in terms of the expected financial outcome. The reasons for failure include cultural problems and a lack of operative integration, which can be at least partially related to problems with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integration. Despite the high importance and profile of MA in the finance literature, surprisingly little IS research has looked at how different ERP systems might be integrated in the case of MA. Therefore this paper suggests a preliminary model for ERP systems integration in MA. The model is based on the research literature related to MA, ERP systems, and interviews with MA professionals. Keywords: ERP, enterprise resource planning, mergers, acquisitions, integration, Business Process Reengineering. 1 INTRODUCTION Mergers and Acquisitions (MA) are booming again, with the proposed acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft being one of the most recent examples. However, the research literature in finance reveals that two thirds of all MA initiatives fail in terms of the expected financial outcomes (Henry, 2002). The reasons for failure include cultural problems and a lack of operative integration (Haspeslagh Jemison, 1991), which can be at least partially related to problems with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integration. ERP systems are company-wide information systems that integrate all major business activities such as finance, operations and distributio