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Keda Case Study

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w rP os t S W11024 KEDA’S SAP IMPLEMENTATION op yo Terrance Fung and Professors Yulin Fang, Huaiqing Wang and Derrick Neufeld wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey …show more content…

Very little information flowed between departments; as a result, managers could not make timely, well-informed, holistic business decisions. The lack of integration prevented Keda’s leaders from acting strategically. For example, when faced with a decision on whether to compete for orders for a line of polishing machines in foreign markets, Keda could not meaningfully assess cost and profitability potential — the final quote was based on a hunch. This lack of integration was especially taxing in the face of competition from local and foreign companies that challenged Keda on many fronts. To retain its leadership position and continue growing, Keda needed to continue innovating in terms of product development, business management and operations, and it needed to be more informed about production, sales and, most importantly, customers. As Zhu put it: Do In managing the enterprise, our most important task is to provide the needed information for every decision maker every step of the way in the decision making process. An added factor was pressure from Chinese government agencies. Recent years had seen China encouraging innovation in local enterprises, in an effort to catch up with foreign firms. This encouragement took the form of campaigns with explicit incentives to promote computerization in corporations. Thus, Keda’s ERP undertaking could be seen as a reaction to the government’s call. This document is authorized

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