From corporate control concept to ERP system design

As Goold and Campbell (2002) rightly observed in their recent article, currently not many organizations have purposefully designed their organization set-up and the other elements of their corporate control concept such as the management style, the responsibility structure, and the format and use of daily planning and control instruments like key performance indicators, budgets and cost prices. Rather, the elements that constitute a corporate control concept evolve over time and in isolation. As a result the design, steering and control of an organization is often inconsistent, for example managers are being made responsible for profits or cost elements they can hardly influence and they even lack the basic performance indicators or cost data to show them where they stand. Consequence of such an inconsistent corporate control concept is often frustration at the middle management level, missed business opportunities, and higher costs because of lacking decision-making authority and supportive information at the right place. In short, sub-optimal functioning of the organization.