Challenges And Benefits For Management Control SME Context (Article Critique Sample)

[ARTILCE REVIEW]
(ERP in action — Challenges and benefits for management control in SME context)
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Table of Contents
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Introduction  PAGEREF _Toc355879912 \h
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Critical Review  PAGEREF _Toc355879913 \h
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Use of other literary sources to justify the study  PAGEREF _Toc355879914 \h
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Methodology employed  PAGEREF _Toc355879915 \h
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Justification of the selected company case  PAGEREF _Toc355879916 \h
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Reliability of their findings  PAGEREF _Toc355879917 \h
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The relevance of the conclusions made  PAGEREF _Toc355879918 \h
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Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc355879919 \h
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Reference  PAGEREF _Toc355879920 \h
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Introduction
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems is an issue that has attracted a number of views from various scholars due to the ever-evolving need of managing business data. This paper will therefore critically review an article by Marko Jдrvenpдд, Jukka Pellinen and Henri Teittinen, ‘ERP in action — Challenges and benefits for management control in SME context’ from the International Journal of accounting Information Systems these authors embarked on their research because they found the existing literature has limited information relating to the impact of the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems to the control that management has with respect to using this as the main technological platform. With this therefore the article under review, has sought to link theories to the benefits linked to the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems to all the levels in an organization, the issues that may come up as challenges as a result of adopting this system within a span of four years as well as the circumstances that may make such issue to come up.
Critical Review
Use of other literary sources to justify the study
Using Granlund, (2011), Teittinen et al, pointed out that most of the research that has been conducted in most of the accounting information systems is mostly on decision-making aspects thus giving very minimal information on matters that affect management control. To further confirm the need for their research, Teittinen et al., make use of other works such as Newell et al., (2003) that state the need for more information on empirical evidence on the manner in which these Enterprise Resource Planning Systems have had an impact on the management control practices. Teittinen et al., further review a number of literary sources such as Anthony and Govindarajan, (1998), on Enterprise Resource Planning Systems with respect to management control. Most of the earlier cited sources are mainly used to give a clear distinction between management control, strategic planning, and task or operative control. Some literatures reviewed are inclined to definitions and the different functions within the organization with regards to the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. Further, Teittinen et al., through the works by Dechow and Mouritsen (2005), bring out a paradoxical in the use of and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, since they are usually offered as a solution to management in terms of control, and in the analysis by the aforementioned authors point out that management control cannot be deliberated upon in a technological context. They further point to the deficiency of previous research through Granlund (2011) affirming that such systems could either facilitate or restrain some aspects of management control, but these are not easily notable by any decision-makers. Another issue that they bring up, lies in the fact that most of the research interviews carried out earlier were skewed towards top managers who only had positive issues to point out with respect to these systems, but Teittinen et al have used other authors such as Dechow and Mouritsen (2005), who aid in their argument that these systems are not as efficient as most top managers claim. Thus using these people as a case to argue for the benefit of these systems in terms of management control, only works to give information that is inaccurate. Teittinen et al., also note that most of the earlier research carried out on the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems mainly focused on the great multinational and global organizations, yet the smaller firms have also been actively involved in the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. Thus, their claim that there is minimal empirical evidence on the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems impact on the management control practice is justified.
Some of the authors, used by Teittinen et al., such as Granlund, (2011) gives evidence of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems being utilized in the standardization as well as intergarting operations allowing for centralized management. Additionally Teittinen et al., make use the works by Dechow and Mouritsen, (2005) and Grabski et al., (2009) to bring out the fact that some organizations are willing to consider the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems as a second best option with respect to centralized and more integrated operations. Further Teittinen et al, via Dechow and Mouritsen (2005), point to the fact that the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems cannot fully accommodate all the management control problems details, using an example of the systems being able to improve and make financial accounting stronger, but on the other hand totally being unable to make management accounting strong. Consequently these point to at least some authors having done some research and documented some aspects of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems with respect to management control.
Methodology employed
The outline of the study, is logical and conforms to the steady flow of the research that was conducted by Teittinen et al., since they logically start by discussing the official information processes in which they consider management accounting as a major element, then a view of the basic management control activities in which Enterprise Resource Planning Systems are applied such as the operative control, strategic and management activities. The authors have employed an explorative and qualitative case approach, as well as made use of views brought by individuals at various levels in the organization. In order to make use of first-hand information, these authors have utilized empirical fieldwork, carrying out interviews, having both formal and informal discussions at the chosen organization with the management. Other sources of information includes the vendor brochures. The analysis of the data was methodically conducted by going through the information obtained from the
Interviews and classifying the benefits as well as the challenges separately, then finally establishing a link between these variations. The authors were also keen on stating some definitions of some key terms in context for analytical purposes. All their findings were summarized and presented in tabular format, which made it very easy for a fast analysis or for any future comparison.
Justification of the selected company case
There are a number of considerations that need to be made in order to justify any case that is selected as a study point to confirm a given issue that is being deliberated upon. In this case Teittinen et al., decided to focus on Group Aluminium. The reasons include the fact that the Enterprise Resource Planning System of this organization has been up and running for quite a number of years and all the key modules were functional and being utilized, and their study needed one that had been up for at least four years so this made it suitable. The organization had several business units thus making it an efficient place to consider management control issues. The availability of individuals at different levels of the organization such as production management, and supervisors, top management, sales people, financial administrative and the shop floor people.
Reliability of their findings
Due to the fine detail and selective crite...