Case Studies in Knowledge Management

160 Zhang, Tian, and Li

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information management approaches, rather than manual management approaches, made
the company run more effectively and fit management’s need for swift and accurate
information for supporting decision making.
During the introduction and implementation of the ERP system, several problems
and challenges were identified. When the ERP system was first introduced into the
company, managers did not know the function of ERP. Yin Jicai negotiated with dozens
of ERP suppliers who were potential partners for Yongxin, and asked them to help the staff
understand the advantages of ERP. This process not only deepened managers’ knowl-
edge about ERP, but also helped evaluate the potential ERP suppliers. As a result, it also
reduced internal resistance to ERP implementation.
Yongxin’s finance and supply systems are adapted from two different companies’
ERP software systems in order to improve performance. At first, some employees were
suspicious about the accuracy of the computer. Therefore, the manual account and
system account systems were run in parallel. Yin Jicai convened meetings every morning
and compared both ways of account. A month later, the employees understood the
convenience of the system account. Half a year later, by forcing electronic office work,
the company realized its expected goal of all company information being easily accessible
through the intranet, which brought great benefits to the managers and the employees.
To reduce the resistance of other departments, Yin Jicai went to each department
to check mistakes. The moment they found mistakes, they held meetings to analyze the
reasons and identify the resolution. When the first-stage project was finished, the cost
of stock was reduced to 3,000,000 RMB; the inventory subsystem was changed from
manual account to computer account; and the distribution subsystem set up customer
credit assessment files accurately and fully, so as to respond quickly to customer orders,
which helps maintain high-quality service and better customer relationship.

Staff Training

Yongxin realized that the understanding and popularization of ERP needed different
arrangement and should be separated into several phases in order to transfer the

Figure 2. Three-level organizational structure

Middle level

managers

Software consultant

counselors

Feed back

Leading team

Project team

Talents of

each section

Software

implementers

Functional team

Director

general

General

manager

General

engineer

Department

minister