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Chapter 30
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-3909-4.ch030
ABSTRACT
ERP systems, supporting and integrating all business processes across functions and offering real time
information necessary for taking actions and making decisions, have prevailed in most enterprises world-
wide. The costs involved in ERP implementations may be huge and must be justified by the outcomes.
However, extant research has reported mixed and in some cases controversial results. In this chapter,
certain important dimensions of ERP systems and of business performance are discussed. The chapter
has an educational focus and aims at providing an exploration of ERP system’s impact on certain busi-
ness performance dimensions, informing thus scholars, practitioners and students of the issues involved
and the areas they should pay attention when considering ERP implementations. Following an extensive
literature review, a classification of diverse studies according to their research focus is provided, which
reveals the range of business performance dimensions and can help researchers in their future projects.
INTRODUCTION
This chapter explores the impact of ERP systems on business performance as reported in literature.
Considering the significant investment needed and the total cost occurring in ERP implementations, the
impact of ERP systems on business performance is an important subject, especially as many studies in
the past have reported mixed results or reached to vague conclusions. For example, according to Beard
The Evaluation of
Business Performance
in ERP Environments
Vicky Manthou
University of Macedonia, Greece
Constantinos J. Stefanou
Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece
Kalliopi Tigka
University of Macedonia, Greece