The article presents results from a survey in a sample of 70 out of the 500 best and biggest companies in Brazil according to Exame Magazine (2000). The research tried to evaluate the impact of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems on organizational strategic variables of those companies. The survey instrument adapts Mahmood and Soon's (1991) original model, which is aimed at evaluating the impact of Information Technology on such variables. The study measured 7 strategically important organizational variables: Buyers and Consumers; Competitive Rivalry; Suppliers; Market; Economics of Production; Internal Organizational Efficiency/Effectiveness and Inter-organizational Efficiency. The results reveal only a few contributions of ERP systems regarding the following organizational strategic variables: Buyers and Consumers, Competitive Rivalry, and Market. The ERP contributes to the Suppliers variable (relationship, monitoring etc.) and to the Production variable (productivity gains, economies of scale in software usage etc.). The ERP also contributes to the Internal Organizational Efficiency, and specially to the Inter-organizational Efficiency, improving the integration and communication between organizational units and with other organizations.
enterprise resource planning; information technology impact; organizational strategic variables
