ERP systems ‘‘contain deep knowledge of business practices accumulated from vendor
implementations in a wide range of client organizations’’ (Shang and Seddon, 2002,
p. 272). These software packages are a source of diverse business knowledge, typically containing
hundreds of business reference models covering a wide range of business processes
and industries. Even though the initial exploration of these models may be limited, the
adopted set of models (often a ‘‘standard’’ configuration recommended by the vendor)
is likely to be very different from the firm’s legacy business processes. During implementation,
both the explicit business processes in these models, as well as the implicit noncanonical
processes inherent in the ERP models begin to be transferred into the firm
(Lee and Lee, 2000). Moreover, the full suite of models available in the package remains
available for examination and utilization in the future. Over the longer-term, new releases
of the software provide a continuing conduit for external knowledge as models are revised
or added by the vendor.