ERP: Ocean Spray has spent millions on it, and may spend millions more to fix it, do you know what it is?

"Implementations of ERP systems are struggling throughout the world. They take too long, cost too much and fail to deliver the promised benefits of competitive advantage and cost reduction. Despite the promise and the high investment required to implement ERP systems, statistics show that more than 70 percent of ERP implementations, whether self-created or designed by established ERP software vendors, fail to achieve their corporate goals."  Source: Strategy and Business article

ERP, or enterprise resource planning was supposed to be the high tech solution to running the complex operations of large manufacturing and distribution companies like Ocean Spray. But its history has been anything but stellar. One of the largest pharmaceutical distribution companies, FoxMeyer, for example, spent two and a half years and $100 million dollars in an effort to improve its competitive position with rapid deliveries. Instead this company with $5 billion in annual sales went bankrupt and was sold for a mere $80 million.

Even a computer giant, Dell, spent $200 million and two years before scrapping the system. Still, companies are spending tens of billions of dollars to implement ERP systems. To learn more how and why ERP fails, and how to make it succeed, read the technically dense but excellent article called "Making ERP Succeed: Turning Fear Into Promise" by Scott Burkhout, Edward Frey and Joseph Nemec Jr. in Strategy and Business, here