TIP Assignment 2 FINAL PROJECT - BSS056-6 - 1822279

UNIVERSITY COVER SHEET
NAME: SURINDRA MAHARAJ
STUDENT ID: 1822279
UNIT TITLE: THEORY IN PRACTICE (FINAL)
UNIT TOPIC: “TO UNDERSTAND HOW ERP SYSTEMS CONTINUES TO

IMPROVE SCM IN GAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR ORGANISATIONS IN
THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IN NORTH AMERICA”.
UNIT CODE: BSS056-6
ASSESSMENT TITLE: ASSIGNMENT # 2
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 13TH MARCH, 2020
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report seeks to provide a method on how evolving ERP systems can contribute to
the improvement of supply chain and in oil companies gaining competitive advantage. Oil
and Gas companies being located in multiple and remoted locations is very much
leveraged on ERP systems usage to integrate all business processes across the supply
chain from customer to supplier and back. A systematic review of peer reviewed journal
articles was carry out to provide an understanding of developing ERP systems in SCM.
ERP systems was divided up into different sections to analyze challenges of SCM in the
oil and gas industry, benefits of ERP systems in SCM and past, present and future trends
of ERP systems.in SCM.
This enabled an evidence based discussion from which led to the formation of a
conclusion that ERP systems has a positive impact on creating competitive advantage.
There are some limitations to the study such as medium to small organizations may not
be able to afford the implementation and continuous upgrade of ERP systems because
of cost.
Recommendations for organizations to continuously assess the need to bridge supply

chain gaps across the network and keep abreast of ERP system developments.
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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Figure 1 ………………………………………………………SWOT analysis

Figure 2……………………………………………………..Porter Value Chain
Figure 3………………………………………………..General Model of ERP system
Figure 4……………………………………………….SCM, ERP, BI, CRM integration
Figure 5………………………………………………..Title/Abstract Screening
Figure 6…………………………………………..SWOT analysis of ERP system in SCM
Figure 7 …………………………………………….Benefits of integration of ERP & SCM
Figure 8 ……………………………………Value Chain of Oil Industry in North America
Figure 9………………………………………Value Chain within the Petroleum Industry
Figure 10……………………………………………………..Strategic Advantage
Table 1……………………………………………….Challenges faced by SCM

Table 2………………Stock price for companies for 6 months during the fall of oil prices
Table 3............................................Objectives for critical analysis of ERP system in
business processes and how it can benefit organizations in oil and gas industry in North
America.
Table 4 ……………………………………………..Discussion of each chapter
Table 5………………………………………………Aims & Objectives
Table 6………………………………………………Table of Data Search
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Contents
1.0 Introduction. .............................................................................................................. 5
1.1 Background....................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Rationale ........................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Aims ................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.4 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 8
1.5 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................... 8
1.6 Method of Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 8
1.7 Evidence of Data. ............................................................................................................................ 9
1.8 Discussion of each Chapter. ........................................................................................................ 10
2.0 Literature Review. ................................................................................................... 11
2.1 Scope .............................................................................................................................................. 11
2.2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................. 13
2.3 Challenges of supply chain in Oil & Gas industry..................................................................... 15
2.4 Benefits of ERP systems in SCM. ............................................................................................... 17
2.5 Past, Present and Future trends of ERP systems to fill gaps in SCM. .................... 19
2.5.1 Past - Present trend. .................................................................................................................. 19
2.5.2 Present -Future trends............................................................................................................... 21
2.6 Limitations ....................................................................................................................................... 22
3.0 Analysis. .................................................................................................................. 23
3.1 Method of Data............................................................................................................................... 23
4.0 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 28
4.1 Challenges of Supply chain in the Oil and Gas. ....................................................................... 28
4.2 Benefits of ERP systems in SCM. ............................................................................................... 31
4.3 Past, Present & Future ERP trends to fill gaps in SCM. .......................................................... 33
5.0 Value Chain Analysis of Oil Industry in North America. ........................................... 34
5.1 Competitive Advantage................................................................................................................. 35
5.2 Value chain of the Petroleum Industry ....................................................................................... 36
5.3 Business level Strategy. ............................................................................................................... 38
6.0 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 40
7.0 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 41
References .................................................................................................................... 43
Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 48
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CHAPTER 1
1.0 Introduction.
1.1 Background
Supply chains have known to grown more global and interconnected; as a results they
have been increasingly more exposed to shocks and increased frequency of disruptions.
(Barua, 2010).
The oil industry is usually divided into three major groups: upstream, midstream and
downstream. The upstream deals with explorations, production and transportation of
crude from remote locations to point of transformation into final products (refineries).
Midstream are usually included in the downstream category. Downstream activities deals
with processing the crude oil in refineries, the distribution and marketing aspects. (Barua,
2010) Currently one of the main problems faced by the oil industry is ability to continuously
minimize cost of production and supply of finish products to customers. (Svetlana Lisitsa,
2019).
Another challenge that exist in the industry is in the global supply chain that includes
domestic and international transportation, ordering and inventory visibility and control,
materials handling, import/export facilitation and information technology. However,
mismanaged supply chains invite disconnects, delays and unclear accountability,
materials monitoring, optimizing purchasing, logistical coordination and visibility of
materials and predictability to stakeholders and customers. (Mandira Agarwal, 2016) The
complex nature of these environments makes it possible for high level of uncertainties
and complexity within the supply chain (Mandira Agarwal, 2016). As a result of the
following, the supply chain can suffer from wastage of resources, waste management and
unavoidable overheads especially in times where oil prices have been low.
To stay abreast in today’s competitive world Oil and Gas companies are forced to expand
their limits in search for improved organizational skills and technology. (Pushkar
Chaudhari, 2018)
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Table 1.
Challenges faced by Supply Chains (Stratton, 2018)
(Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018) There is a serious need for integration and information across
supply chain and proper planning of enterprise resources. When it comes to supply chain
management organizations and firms need to interact with many suppliers and partners
to obtain raw materials and resources to deliver finish goods to the market. As a result
ERP systems plays an integral role in reducing waste and connecting all parties of the
supply chain by sharing information on various value adding activities across the supply
chain. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
1.2 Rationale
This section emphasizes how ERP systems can significantly and continually improve
logistics and supply chain in the oil and gas industry in North America. Due to globalization
and current fluctuation of oil prices, organizations look for continuous improvement in
gaining process efficiency and operational efficiency. (Slimov, 2019) As seen in Table 2.
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Table 2 shows stock prices for companies for 6 months during the falling of oil
prices.
Integrated Oil Pure Play Upstream Pure Play Downstream

Exxon Mobile (XOM) -8.2% Transocean (RIG) -53.4% Valero (VLO) +6.01%
Diamond Offshore (DO)
Chevron CVX) -13.63% Tesoro (TSO) +36.21%
-28.00%
British Petroleum (BP) Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN)
Phillips 66 (PSX) -8.56%
-12.21% -47.02%
Nabors Industries (NBR
Total SA (TOT) -17.08% Marathon Oil (MPC) +14.55%
-52.38%
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)
Phillips 66 (PSX) -8.57% Alon USA Energy (ALG) -8.08%
-23.58%
Source: Reuters, Data as of 2/9/2015 (Hayes, 2018)
This paper is justified sufficiently to launch a review on ERP systems and how it improves
logistics and supply chain activities in the oil and gas industry. This study will assist in
organizations achieving continuous improvement through improved integration, supply
chain visibility, data exchange (standardization and collaborative) and decision making
which in turns improve productivity, quality and competitiveness. (Dherman, 2018) ERP
systems has the ability to bring about huge improvements to business processes by
protecting the business data, enabling work plans, providing customer service tools and
translating data into easier understandable information, this in turns add to reducing cost
and wastage.
1.3 Aims
The aim of this project is to understand how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
can continuously improve Supply chain management and create competitive advantage
for firms by having an impact on business processes as globalization comes into play and
business operations advances in the oil and gas industry within North American region.
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1.4 Objectives
Table 3 shows objectives for a critical analysis of ERP systems in business
processes and how it can benefit organizations in the Oil and Gas industry in North
America.
• A review of SCM challenges within the sectors of the oil and gas industry in
North America.
Objective 1
• To identify the benefits ERP systems and how it contributes to Supply Chain
Management of organizations to efficiently manage business goals in the world
Objective 2 of globalization.
• To illustrate current and future trends of ERP systems and show how it can
bridge gaps within the logistics and supply chain processes in the oil and gas
Objective 3 industry in North America.
• Making recommendations using ERP systems to optimize business operations

through logistics and supply chain processes, and as part of strategy to gaining
Objective 4 competitive advantage for organizations
1.5 Theoretical Framework
1.6 Method of Analysis

In any given field of research a literature review is done to gather information on a subject
or evidence to support hypothesis in order to contextualize research data. (Catherine L
Winchester, 2016)
As suggested by (Cochrane, 2008), a systematic review attempts to collate all realistic

evidence that fits pre-specific eligibility criteria in order to answer a specific research
question. The use of explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view of
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minimizing biasness, thus providing reliable findings from which conclusions can be
drawn from and decisions can be made (Cochrane, 2008). In order to maintain a high
level of quality for the report, research sources will be restricted to reliable sources such
as reputable journals, books and sites.
The key features of a systematic review are: A clearly outlined set of objectives with pre-
defined eligibility criteria for studies, an explicit reproducible methodology, a systematic
search that attempts to identify all studies to meet the eligibility criteria, an assessment of
legitimacy of the findings of the said study and a systematic presentation and synthesis
of the characteristics of findings of the said studies. (Higgins JPT, 2011)
Data extracted was done using the following databases; Google Scholar and Google to
obtain relevant journals, books and articles to support the aim and objectives of the paper.
The resulting information will be analyzed in accordance to relevance of topic to provide
content and context, from which based on evidence, recommendations will be discussed.
1.7 Evidence of Data.

“Hydrocarbon value chain is the heart of downstream business, and today’s fragmented
and outdated IT landscape prevents oil and gas companies from unlocking available
value,” said Andrew Smart managing director who leads Accenture’s energy practice.
(Newsroom, 2017) SAP/S/4HANA Connected Hydrocarbon Logistics solution is
customized to providing real time total inventory for oil and gas companies and creating
a network via the cloud platform to also connecting companies to suppliers, optimizing
hydrocarbon SCM movements, and visibility. (Newsroom, 2017)
In 2005 Shell took and initiative “Downstream One” aimed to reduce complexity and
enable change in three ways simpler business models, standard global processes and
common IT systems by upgrading SAP products and updates to their core SAP ERP
software. (IBM, 2014).Jan Boll, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Shell
Downstream, explains, “Moving to the latest version of SAP gives you a solid foundation
for building further improvements within business processes”
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1.8 Discussion of each Chapter.
Table 4 shows discussion of each chapter.
• This section provides the reader a background of ERP systems and how
it continues to improve SCM in the oil and Gas industry in North
Introduction
America. It also provides the rationale, aims and objectives, method of
analysis and justification for the report.
• A summary of the literature on ERP systems will be explored in this

section with reference to the oil and gas industry in North America. This
Literature
Review will also be in alignment to the report aims and objectives.
• The author seeks to provide feedback on the method of data collection

used in this section, which is a systematic review in this case.
Analysis
• This section will highlight and expand upon the main findings of the
analysis and attempt to provide insights on the use of ERP systems
to continuously improve SCM and create competitive advantage in
Discussion
the oil and gas sector in North america. This in itself will align with
meeting the aims and objectives criteria.
• Based on the analysis, the author will give an interpretation and

Conclusion
discussion, a conclusion will be derived and stated.
• After critically examining the analysis, discussion and conclusion a

resaonable practicable recommendation will be made with regards
to ERP systems and how it continuously forms part of an
Recommendatio
ns innovative strategy for companies to create competitive
advantage.
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CHAPTER 2
2.0 Literature Review.

2.1 Scope
The scope of this research paper extends to the benefits of ERP systems and how
continuous innovations of these systems can improve the supply chain business
processes for the oil and gas industry in North America. Various cases will be observed
and a review of current trends and future innovations will be reviewed to show how
challenges can be addressed, and future strategies to optimize business operations using
ERP systems to gain competitive advantage.
SCM
Supply Chain Management can be defined as, a network of connected and

interdependent organizations mutually and co-operatively working together to control
manage and improve the flow of materials and information from supplier to end users.
(Christopher, 2011)
Supply chain management means the configuration, coordination and continuous

improvement of a chronologically organized set of operations. (Anastasia Levina, 2018)
The main idea of SCM is aimed at creating optimum channels of interaction with
distributors and end users, especially:
 Study the demand and offer on the market products that best meets the needs of
the customers.
 Quick process order and request
 Planning, so that goods don’t have delays or conversely there is no lapse in
demand for goods.
 Creating long term relationships between all stakeholders of the supply chain to
constantly expand sales network.
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ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are changing the ways businesses and
organizations carry out the business processes by providing means of connecting all the
various departments together thus resulting in collaboration to all stakeholders of the
business and more accurate information for the company. ERP provides organizations
with a single system for coordination and integration of key business processes, it also
ensure that a smooth flow of information to the various levels of the organization thus
leading to more and effective decision making for the company. (Baymout, 2014)
Before ERP systems organizations had many different systems supporting various
activities like Finance, HR, Logistics, and Supply Chain etc. these system did not support
interconnectivity. With the implementation of ERP systems, it was now possible to
integrate all other systems into a single system to efficiently integrate all relevant
information so that data could be presented on time for the business. (Baymout, 2014)
Table 5 - Aims and Objectives
AIM:The aim of this project is to understand how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can
continuously improve Supply chain management and create competitive advantage for firms by
having an impact on SCM business processes as globalization comes into play and business
operations advances in the oil and gas industry within North American region
Objective: Past,Present and

Objevtive: Challenges of
Objective: Benefits of ERP future ERP trends to bridge
SCM in Oil and Gas Industry
systems in SCM. gaps in SCM business
in North America
processes.
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2.2 Theoretical Framework
To demonstrate the application of theory the framework SWOT analysis will be used to
evaluate the use of ERP systems in the oil and gas industry and the benefits of how it can
fulfil mission and vision of the organizations in gaining competitive positioning and
develop strategic planning. The analysis also will identify internal factors – strengths and
weakness internal to the organization and external factors – opportunities and threats
presented by the environment or external to the organization. (Grant, 2019)
Figure 1. SWOT Analysis
Source : (Boag, 2018)

Another framework that will be used to intellectualize this study is value chain analysis to
show how ERP systems can be used to optimize primary activities to bring about added
value to support activities which in turn create a competitive advantage for organizations.
According to McAdam and McCormack, (Boscombo, 2007), the concept of integration
within the functions of organizations can be represented by Porter’s value chain model as
seen in figure 2 below. Porter considered organizations as a collective set of key
functional activities which can be separated and identified as primary activities ( inbound
logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales and service) or supporting
activities (firm infrastructure, human resource, technology and procurement). (Porter,
1985)
Maximizing and optimizing linkages between activities enables increase in efficiency of

the organization marginal availability for increasing competitive advantage or shareholder
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value. Integration occurs between primary activities in each value chain and is enabled
by the support activities, which can also be present in activities across different
organizations and in some instances the support activities can be shared resources.
(Porter, 1985). Having outlined the essence of the value chain, ERP systems aids in the
integration of various functional processes within the organization’s value chain as seen
in figure 3.
Figure 2. Porter value chain model
Source: (Porter, 1985)
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Figure 3 : General model of an ERP system
Workflow automation Electronic mail Data Base Creation
1. Strategic & business planning materials

Source: (Boscombo, 2007) & business planning resources
3. Strategic
New Product Introduction Intelligent resource planning
Product pricing Human resource planning
Bill of materials Quality management

Electronic data interchange
Long range forecasting and planning

Organization,
payroll employee,
job project/Project
management,
Imaging
Order management fixed assets, Facilities maintenance/planning and
inventory, implementation
Distribution management logistics and
distribution
materials
2. Operational planning & execution materials

4. Operational planning & material resources
Routing, supplier management, order processing,
Payroll, recruitment, Costing and budgeting,
inventory & warehouse management, forecasting,
Maintenance engineering & scheduling, Job
distribution management, scheduling and WIP
evaluation & performance appraisal, quality control
management
and planning, fixed assets management
Source: (Boscombo, 2007)
2.3 Challenges of supply chain in Oil & Gas industry.

Oil is one of the main and most important raw materials in the world and continues to be
the leading source of energy. The industry support other industries such as manufacturing
and automotive and as such changes in technology, markets and customer needs affect
the competitiveness for companies. Currently one of the problems that exist in the oil
industry is minimizing cost of production and supply of finish products to consumers.
(Svetlana Lisitsa, 2019). The global supply chain of oil and gas industry are often complex
and independent which makes it vulnerable to risk and uncertainties. Risk within the
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supply may include fluctuations in the supply, demand, and price. (Pranav Joshi,linda
haghnegahdar,zarin anika, manjot singh, 2017).
When it comes to adopting new methods and technology for improvement, the oil and
gas industry lags behind compared to other industries. Some of the systems that are in
use today are old-fashioned and calls for manual labor, these outdated methods are
costly and inefficient. A major area for improvement in the oil and gas industry lies in the
reduction and optimization of operational cost. (Pranav Joshi,linda haghnegahdar,zarin
anika, manjot singh, 2017).
According to Hart Energy (Velda Addison, 2014), Supply chain challenges identified
complex operations with multiple stakeholders, lots of drilling and abundant materials;
fragmented supply chains invites disconnects, delays and unclear accountability; frequent
plan changes that impact material demand and service requirements; data management,
including end to end visibility and management; materials monitoring and optimizing
purchasing.
“Hydrocarbon value chain is the heart of downstream business, and today’s fragmented
and outdated, IT landscape prevents oil and gas companies from unlocking available
value,” said Andrew Smart managing director who leads Accenture’s energy practice.
(Newsroom, 2017)
In 2005 Shell took and initiative “Downstream One” aimed to reduce complexity and
enable change in three ways simpler business models, standard global processes and
common IT systems by upgrading SAP products and updates to their core SAP ERP
software. (IBM, 2014).Jan Boll, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Shell
Downstream, explains, “Moving to the latest version of SAP gives you a solid foundation
for building further improvements within business processes”.
The oil and gas industry is driven by several challenges such as volatile gas and oil prices,
extreme locations, marginal oil fields as well as rapid changing global fuel trends. Amidst
such challenges, it is becoming imperative that companies in the industry create or build
up an effective procurement strategy to minimize cost. (Camachoa, 2018)
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Chad Bowers CIO, AXON Energy Products says, “In Oil and Gas industries when
manufacturers require Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, they often need it
implemented in a month or two not a year or two to minimize disruption and maximize
competitive advantage”. (Williams, 2014)
2.4 Benefits of ERP systems in SCM.

The need for integration became of importance when companies experienced
transformation from a functional style to a business process structure, where all
departments collaborated together to achieve one required business objective. This
change is reflected in the necessity to integrate diverse technologies from different
departments to merge business units to one common software and database to improve
business performance (Magal & Word 2009), which can be accomplished by using ERP
systems as platforms for business integration. (Ali Tarhini, 2015) As enterprise data
processes are connected into ERP systems, businesses are able to align to reap benefits
and mitigate challenges as stated in (2.3).
Competition – keeping up with technology such as ERP systems will enable

organizations to stay abreast of competition to reap benefits. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
Efficiency – ERP solution eliminates repetitive processes hence greatly reduces the
need to manually enter information, making it easier and more efficient for companies to
collect data no matter what department they work in. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
Forecasting – ERP software gives users and managers the tools required to create
accurate forecasting, since the information within the ERP is as accurate as possible,
businesses can make realistic estimates and more effective forecast. (Pushkar
Chaudhari, 2018)
Collaboration – Minimizes the “bullwhip “effect which is the distortion of demand

forecasts along the supply chain as a result of inaccuracies or inadequacies of information
on hand. (Baymout, 2014)
Scalability – An ERP system is easily scalable and allows adding of new functionality to
the system as the business requires. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
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Information management and integration – ERP is a natural extension and provides a
comprehensive management system that integrates and manages all the business
transactions and other important data in one single system. ERP system keeps data
consistent, accurate and unique all in one place, providing enterprise visibility. (Dr. APJ
Abdul Kalam, 2020)
Cost Savings/Decrease cost – through sharing of real time information, ERP software
reduces administrative operations cost and allows manufacturers to proactively manage
operations, prevent delays. It also create a pull demand inventory system which leads to
a lower warehouse and facility cost more dependable operations. (Baymout, 2014)
Streamlined processes – as organizations grow and expand operation become more

and more complex, as a result software automates business operations cross
departmentally, providing accurate, real-time information to all users utilizing the solution.
ERP increase efficiency and productivity by assisting users to navigate through complex
processes, preventing data re-entry and improving functions such as production, order
completion and delivery. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
Mobility – an advantage with ERP is the ability to access a centralized database from
anywhere. Home, office and even mobile smart phones applications. (Pushkar
Chaudhari, 2018)
Reporting – ERP software makes it easy for reporting and it’s more customizable with
improved reporting capabilities, a company can respond to complex processes more
easily. Users can also pull their own report without the help of IT.
Productivity – ERP system optimizes process management, thus increasing productivity

for users. Eliminating duplicated work, redundant information makes it possible for users
to have more time other work.
Regulatory Compliance – ERP systems benefits businesses by tying well into regulatory
compliance by keeping track of regulations within the industry and monitor changes.
(Mundy, 2017)
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Flexibility – Modern ERP systems are robust, flexible and configurable. They can be
customized to fit for any purpose of the business. ERP systems can also adapt to the
ever changing needs of an evolving business ensuring you don’t have to invest in another
ERP solution. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
Improved Customer Relationship – ERP systems eliminates stock outs and

encourages customer driven demand as well as efficiency in tracking deliveries.
(Baymout, 2014)
Security – ERP systems comes with reinforced firewalls. Restrictions to data can also be
enhanced by managers to make your own software as secure as possible.
Improved Supply Chain Network - ERP supplies complete visibility throughout the
supply chain network which is impossible in manual processes. It helps keep track of all
transactions and material movements from supplier to end user. (Nemati, 2013)
Better Supply Chain – By having the appropriate ERP system for your business in place
means improved procurement, inventory, and demand forecasting etc essentially
improving the supply chain to make it more responsive. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
2.5 Past, Present and Future trends of ERP systems to fill gaps in SCM.
2.5.1 Past - Present trend.
In todays’ knowledge driven economy, enterprise resource planning systems has become
the foundation of lengthy enterprise opportunities. In principal ERP II basically is an
extension of the traditional ERP systems to incorporate and include e – commerce and
supply chain operations and expose organizations to an increasing information sharing
capability, enabling services to be accessible through an enterprise portal in which
different stakeholders can gain access to integrated services (Ahmed Elragal, Moutaz
Haddara, 2012). ERP II highlights four collaborative modules of; Business to business
(B2B), Business to customer (B2C), Business to employee (B2E) and enterprise
application integration, a platform for integration with other internal and external systems.
(Lawrence, 2015)
ERP II is a type of cyber-structure that is known to incorporate the hardware, software,

services, personnel and organizations that serve as a fundamental foundation in support
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of collaborative network activities. (Lawrence, 2015). Indeed many reports have indicated
that the need to upgrade and adopt to ERP II is to achieve better integration of systems
across multiple locations.
ERP II breaks down information between inventory, production, planning, materials,

engineering, finance, human resource, sales, marketing, operations and all other
departments in the enterprise. (Mohamed Ali, 2017). ERP II allows Web enabled
modules: e-Commerce includes electronic catalogue, on-line purchasing, and status
checking facilities; e-Procurement – automating business function from the online
ordering, order status, ship notice and electronic payment and invoicing; Supply Chain
Management ( SCM) – collaborative production planning and control functionalities;
Customer Relationship Management – allowing customers identification and service
management; Business Intelligence(BI) – supporting decision making and data collected
from the corporate data warehouse; Advance Planning & Scheduling- optimizing the
production capacity based on the forecasted orders, inventories and manufacturing
capacity; Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) working with supplier base as an
analogy to the CRM. (David Romero, 2016)
Figure 4: ERP, SCM, BI & CRM integration
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Source: (Baymout, 2014)
As a result, there can be reduced time-to-market, improved communications, support in

decision making, shorten lead times, higher productivity and lower cost, all of which can
be beneficially in bridging gaps in SCM and which can be applied to challenges in (2.3)
(Mohamed Ali, 2017).
Next generation ERP will involve the integration of social media with new market place
intelligence and analytics into ERP II to bring about ERP III.
2.5.2 Present -Future trends

Presently ERP III has been upgraded with new functionalities to create a borderless
enterprise, supporting collaboration within enterprise business functions and across the
supply chains, including customers on the sales side of the market. (David Romero,
2016). One vision of ERP III belongs to (Wan and Clegg 2011), defining ERP III as “a
future virtual enterprise structure with a flexible, yet powerful information system
incorporating service oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud computing version”.
(Lumintra Hurbean, 2014). Cloud ERP solutions are provided via the software as a
service model (SaaS). Many Cloud based ERP systems can be accessed via the user
web browser over internet. (Mohamed Ali, 2017).
Cloud adoption has begun to grow and be accepted generally in most ERP systems. It is
reduced cost in capital expenditures and IT resources, then improved maintenance and
flexibility, as well as improved the security and disaster recovery will make the cloud
attractable to all businesses. Companies are trying to combine their supply chain
management function with the internet so that suppliers can have easy access to
information from anywhere in the world. Basically the ERP software work to integrate the
business processes within a company; vendors working together to merge the
collaboration of suppliers, customers and employees. (Sam, 2018)
With the adoption of cloud technology it makes it possible for future trends and
technological advancements that can be beneficially to the supply chain industry. Some
future trends to look forward to are Block chain, Mobile Accessibility, IoT (internet of
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things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) which are all in development stages to link with ERP
systems.
2.6 Limitations
Many Small/Medium organizations struggle to keep up with the advancements of the
technology to handle the day to day supply chain implications. Also due to the expensive
investments and time required to implement ERP systems, organizations are deferred
from using large ERP systems. According to Chad Bowers, CIO of AXON Energy
products Houston, says, “Manufacturers in the oil and gas sector require an ERP system
that can be implemented within one month or two, not a year or two”. Bowers also
expressed that larger ERP systems can be more expensive and slower to implement.
(Williams, 2014)
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CHAPTER 3
3.0 Analysis.
3.1 Method of Data
To attain an acceptable impression regarding existing research in the topic area and
facilitate an evidence based discussion, a systematic review methodology was used. In
this section the methodology is described through collecting and analyzing articles and
journals used in this report. The criteria for choosing the necessary journal for review is
as follows. Firstly the articles must be published in a peer – review, archival journal or
reputable websites. Secondly, to avoid countless literature and data of the report,
published dates was used (2009 – 2020) as a cut of point.
Finally, only the articles containing ‘ERP’ and forming part of the contents of the title was
selected. Some exceptions are those articles that are intentionally dealing with ‘ERP’ but
for some reason the author does not include it in the title. Certain restrictions were
imposed on the field of surveyed results to allow focused data and literature to a specific
field. The effort to collate data has been carried out through an intensive data internet
search and google scholar. Initially a search of keywords “ERP “enterprise resource
planning was conducted which resulted in a combination of approximately 62,700 articles.
To consequently narrow the search to more focused results additional words were
inputted. The results can be observed in Table 6 below.
Keywords searched Google Emerald

Scholar (2009 Insights
– 2020) 2009-2020
“ERP” 62,700 2000
“SCM” 190,000 2000
“ERP” AND “SCM” 17,200 463
“ERP” Systems AND “SCM” 17,400 463
“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND “Oil & Gas” 1800 34
“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND “Oil & Gas” AND 2500 6
“North America”
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“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND “Oil & Gas” AND 3910 6
“North America” AND “improves”
“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND ”Oil Gas” AND 2410 5
“North America” AND “Challenge”
“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND ”Oil & Gas” AND 2290 6
“North America” AND “Benefits”
“ERP” “Systems” AND “SCM” AND ”Oil& Gas” AND 3600 18
“North America” AND “Past, Trends”
“North America” AND “Present, Trends”
“North America” AND “Future, Trends”
Enterprise resource planning systems” 34,000 22,000
“Supply Chain Management” 1,500,000 18,000
“Enterprise resource planning” AND “Supply chain 53,400 8000
management”
management” AND “Oil & Gas”
management” AND “Oil & Gas” AND “ North
America”
America” AND “ Improves”
America” AND “ Challenges”
America” AND “Benefits”
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America” AND “ Past trends”
America” AND “ present trends”
America” AND “ future trends”
“ SWOT Analysis of ERP” 8910 59
“SWOT analysis of ERP” AND “SCM” AND “Oil & 410 5
Gas”
“SWOT analysis of ERP” AND “ SCM” AND “Oil & 237 0
Gas” AND “ North America”
“ SWOT Analysis of Enterprise resource planning 17,100 498
systems”
systems” AND Supply Chain Management”
systems” AND Supply Chain Management” AND “
Oil & Gas”
systems” AND Supply Chain Management” AND “
Oil & Gas” AND “ North America”
“Value Chain analysis” 1,710,000 54,000
“Value Chain analysis” AND “ERP systems” 22,700 1000
“Value Chain analysis” AND “ERP systems” AND 17,500 444
“SCM”
“SCM” AND “Oil and Gas”
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“SCM” AND “Oil and Gas” AND “ North America”
“Value Chain analysis” AND “Enterprise resource 69,800 10,000
planning systems”
“Value Chain analysis” AND “Enterprise resource 41,400 8,000
planning systems” AND “ Supply Chain
Management”
“Value Chain analysis” AND “Enterprise resource 17,400 884
Management” AND “ Oil & Gas”
“Value Chain analysis” AND “Enterprise resource 13,700 884
Management” AND “ Oil & Gas” AND “ North
America”
“ERP creating competitive advantage in SCM” 4,790 319
“ERP creates competitive advantage in SCM” AND “ 1,400 28
Oil & Gas”
“ERP creates competitive advantage in SCM” AND “ 722 4
Oil & Gas” AND “ North America”
Table 6 – Table of data search
The use of keyword searches demonstrated not to be sufficient enough in gathering data
for this paper and as such titles and abstracts of journals and papers identified from
searches were then read for significance to me the aim of this paper.
As such, below shows diagram shows the screening process used to remove studies that
are not clearly relevant to the aim of this paper. Firstly, duplicated literature was removed,
then exclusion criteria to be used to screen title/abstract to see whether the studies are
relevant to the aim. Once this is done, the full text must be retrieved and screen to
determine whether the studies fits the eligibility criteria of the synthesis.
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Figure 5 – Title/Abstract Screening
Total number of literature

Identified from Searches;
Google Scholar & Emerald
Insights
5091
Removal of Duplicates
2860
Broad Search
2231
Exclude – Paper based on

Title/Abstract screening
2023
Narrow search
208
Exclude: Papers on text review
49
Total number of paper identified

by literature search
159
Random Sample of identified

papers
60
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CHAPTER 4
4.0 Discussion
In chapter 4 the author discusses the importance of ERP systems in the supply chain and
how it effectively deals with the shortcomings and challenges of the oil and gas industry,
benefits of ERP systems in the supply chain management business processes and past,
present and future evolution and innovations of ERP technology. In this chapter, the
SWOT analysis will be used to illustrated and identify strengths and weaknesses internal
to the organization and opportunities and threats external environment which will
hopefully provide additional validity to the paper and show the advantages and
disadvantages of ERP systems in oil and gas industries in North America. It can also fulfil
missions and visions of organizations in gaining competitive positioning and develop
strategic planning.
Another framework that will be used is the value chain concept which is described as a
generic business management tool which identifies key areas in the value upstream to
downstream network of the oil and gas industry. Value chain analysis also identifies
constraints and opportunities for improvements within the network. (Weijermars, 2010)
4.1 Challenges of Supply chain in the Oil and Gas.

Supply chain management ensures that upstream and downstream users are able to
deliver according to the standards required in order to deliver a product or service that
satisfies customer needs. (Nemati, 2013). To survive and stay ahead in today’s
competitive environment companies must expand their limits and explore new technology
to speed up their production, reduce their cost and improve performance, all of which
relies on information exchange. Hence there is a serious need for integration of
information across the supply chains and proper planning of enterprise resources.
(Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018).
The integration of ERP and SCM allows companies in the oil industry and key
stakeholders across the supply chain from upstream to downstream the ability to gain
greater visibility into all operations while increasing speed, efficiency and overall customer
satisfaction. North American oil companies have realized the true nature of the
implementation of ERP systems and the benefits, especially when it comes to minimizing
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challenges mentioned in (2.3), managing business information, integrating various
systems and working processes and ensuring optimal operational efficiency.
As a result the SWOT analysis below will illustrate and examine the issues and challenges
thru weakness and threats which can further hinder business from achieving goals and
explore solutions via strengths and opportunities.
Fig 6. SWOT analysis of ERP systems in SCM of the Oil & Gas Industry in North
America.
•Optimize busines processes
•Accurate & timely access to data •Expensive to implement
•Ability to share information •Complicated/and long to
•Information genaration for implement
decision making •Resistance to change by employees
•Increase flexibilty of information • Maintenance costly
generation •Training
•Collaborative throughout the the
network
•Increase CRM.
Streghths Weakness
•Reduce Cost
•Real time data Internal Internal
Opportunities Threats
External External
•Strategic partnerships • Global economy slow down
•Can create competitive advantage for • Lack of cyber security
companies •New entrants with better
•Continuous capability of integrating technology.
IoT,AI and blockchain to evolve ERP •Health epedemic
systems.
Strengths – ERP systems plays an integral role in standardizing business processes in

the oil and gas sector. Oil and Gas industries has enormous units scattered
geographically with multifaceted supply chains demands and augmented competition.
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(Gupta, 2016). ERP integration in SCM allows the upstream, midstream and downstream
sectors of oil and gas business to be connected and the ability to gain greater visibility
into all operations while increasing speed, efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.
(Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018). From the above SWOT, the list of strengths makes it possible
for companies to attain benefits such as operational, managerial, strategic, IT
infrastructure and organizational benefits which can considerably add to gaining
competitive advantage in the industry over competitors.
Weakness - ERP systems disadvantages may include all of the following outlined in the
weakness column of the SWOT analysis, and hence can be of serious concern for oil and
gas companies. In ability for companies to implement and keep up with technological
advancements can make business processes inefficient, and as such the company can
lose its competitive advantage. Smaller companies might not have the resources neither
financials to implement large ERP systems, as implementation would require skilled IT
persons, training for staff, resistance of staff and maintenance cost to maintain the ERP.
Opportunities - Oil and Gas companies has the option of making alliances and strategic
partnerships with ERP software companies to provide turnkey operation that suits their
needs without having to learn the intricacies and complexities of the ERP system. (Ahmed
Elragal, Moutaz Haddara, 2012). New advance technology is another opportunity oil and
gas companies have the option of utilizing to replace legacy systems to meet customer’s
needs. Emerging technologies such as IoT, Block chain and AI will integrate with ERP
systems to provide smarter supply chain and so that managers can make more informed
decisions. (Mattews, 2019).
Threats – Global economy slow down due to disagreements between countries can affect
the supply chain by creating disruptions and bottlenecks between supply chain networks.”
The failed deal between Saudi Arabia and Russia will have serious consequences for the
US upstream sector with a significant decline in operations drilling and completions spend
in 2020”. (Davis, 2020)The current burning epidemic COVID (Corona Virus) has also
caused some disturbances in the supply chain with demand/supply and hence companies
are finding it difficult to survive. Also another factor and risk is, new entrants into the
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industry with advance technology can be a threat to organizations causing companies to
lose leverage and competitive advantage.
From the analysis, it clearly shows that the oil and gas industry can use ERP
implementation to create competitive advantages within the supply chain by capitalizing
on the strengths and opportunities identified in the study, it also shows how many of the
challenges in (2.3) can be mitigated. Similarly, companies will also need to address
weakness and threats to manage disruptions in the supply chain to stay abreast of
competitors.
4.2 Benefits of ERP systems in SCM.

The global oil and gas industry is under immense pressure to meet the world demand for
affordable and secure energy supply. Hence organizations in the oil industries need to
optimize operational efficiency across business processes to yield benefits.
Fig 7.Benefits of integration of ERP and SCM – (Neha chumbalkar,

2018)
Demand CRM Data Financials HR

forecasting Management
nt
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Supply chain Logistics & Product life Procurement Integrated

strategy & Distribution cycle Forecast
Planning Management
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The above figure helps identify the integration of SCM processes. This integration helps
companies improve business responsiveness and communications, lower cost
(operational and IT). Integration also assist in employing worthy supply chain planning
methods, improving logistics planning, improve decision making and strategy. (Neha
chumbalkar, 2018). The following are advantages of ERP implementation and integration
which also ideally adds benefit to supply chains in organizations.
Improved supply chain network - ERP provides total visibility across the supply chain
network which is highly impossible in the manual process. With the implementation of
ERP system, oil companies can monitor the progression and back and forth coordination
of activities from suppliers, rigs, refinery, warehouses and all participants of the supply
chain network which makes it possible for better and clearer communication between and
throughout the network. This in turn assist companies to effectively manage tracking and
management of processes, from ordering stage through manufacturing and shipping of
finish goods to customers. This system allows operations to be monitored from anyway
anytime in case of issues. (Nemati, 2013)
Minimized delays – many systems which are not connected to with ERP systems
experience disconnected business relationships and loss in business, complaining about
late shipments from vendors slow down or crashes of productions lines, logistical errors
in distribution channel. These negative impacts on the organization negatively affects the
customers as well in the supply chain as they are the main force of attraction. Therefore
implementation of ERP will integrate all activities and business processes across the
supply chain network to co-ordinate and execute ensuring a higher level of on time
delivery. (Abbas Toloie - Eshlaghi, 2011)
Reduced cost – ERP can help quicken response time, increase interaction across the
enterprise, improve order management, improve customer interaction, and improve on-
time delivery, increase supplier interaction, lower inventory levels, improving cash
management and reducing direct operating cost. (Kashyap, 2011)
Enhanced Collaboration - ERP helps organizations have control over all suppliers and
distributors. It creates visibility throughout the supply chain network to effective know what
is going on all the time. ERP bridges the gap between supply chain partners, where all
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members of the network can share vital information like demand, forecasting reports,
inventory levels, and status of production, transportation plans and many more
transactions in real time. This type of real time supply chain makes it flawless to any
disruption. (Nemati, 2013)
4.3 Past, Present & Future ERP trends to fill gaps in SCM.
In a very vibrant business environment, ERP systems are widely spread and are fast
evolving in the recent years. The basic conception of ERP is a traditional system from
inception mainly contained MRP and MRP II. (Lawrence, 2015)The need for fast
integration with suppliers and customers leads to the creation of ERP II. ERP II was used
to mainly to address linkage in downstream partners by integrating them. The ERP II
concept also had the intervention of linking upstream and downstream partners as well in
the supply chain. The ERP III ideally involved the development of IT such as service
oriented architecture, cloud computing business intelligence and knowledge
management. (D.Beric, 2018)
With the evolution of new ERP’s, it continuously seeks to turn some of the weakness of
traditional ERP’s into benefits by bridging previous innovations. The newly cloud based
ERP’s has benefits of being scalable and lower investment cost. Future developments
seeks to investigate the use of complementing technologies with ERP system to further
improve efficiencies in the supply chain. Some example of these technologies are;
Block chain - can provide higher level of transparency that can proved ethical sourcing
in the supply chain, cut down fraud and more. (Mattews, 2019)
Mobile accessibility – will enable continuous access to the company’s systems.

Decisions are made quicker and based on visibility into the entire supply chain. Mobile
ERP will render unparalleled flexibility. (Sam, 2018)
IoT (Internet of Things) – IoT has the potential for application in ERP industry as well.
Adoption of IoT provides continuous network connectivity to physical devices and sensors
and enables these devices to exchange data over a specific network without human
involvement. This technology can assist manufacturers to collect, analyze and process
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volumes of data from sensors, helping companies to offer new services and operate more
efficiently.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) – AI in SCM and ERP systems can help organizations to

analyze, track data, detect anomalies and generate predictions to improve supply chain
operations. AI can also enable exceptional agility and precision in supply chains and thus
can mitigate issues involving inventory management, purchasing, location planning, and
freight consolidation and routing/scheduling. (Min, 2010)
5.0 Value Chain Analysis of Oil Industry in North America.
Fig 8. Value Chain within an organization.
Value chain activities are made up of primary and secondary activities of the organization
which either create a product or a service. (Gerry Johnson, 2017). If organizations are to
achieve competitive advantage, then leaders and decision makers of organizations need
to understand which activities in the value chain are of importance in creating that value
and which is not. (Gerry Johnson, 2017). Fig 8 shows the general idea of a value chain
within an organization, while Fig. 9 shows the value chain of the industry.
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Fig 9. Value chain within the Petroleum Industry
Source: (Gerado Palacios, 2018)
The value chain displays total value, and is made of value activities and margin. Value
activities are physically and technologically distinct activities a firm perform. These are
the stepping stones by which the firms in the industry creates a product valuable to its
customers. Margin on the other hand is the difference between total value collective costs
of performing the value activities. (Wahito, 2011)
5.1 Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage is generally how an organization, business sectors creates value
for its users which is both greater than cost of supplying then and superior to the
competition. (Gerry Johnson, 2017). Competitive advantage should underpin competitive
strategies, according to Michael Porter, organizations have to either be low cost than its
competitors or have products and services that are different to competitors. (Porter,
1985). Generic competitive advantage falls into 3 categories; cost leadership, focus and
differentiation strategy. (Wahito, 2011) In the absence of competitive advantage
organizations are vulnerable to fellow competitors in the industry.
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5.2 Value chain of the Petroleum Industry
Fig 9. Shows an illustration of how a typical value chain is made up for petroleum
industries. Basically the chain is made up of three distinctive sectors or streams, which
are; upstream (Exploration & Production), Midstream (Transport, Storage, Distribution),
and Downstream (Refining and Retail). Within these sectors exist the value chain of
primary activities; inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales
and service and secondary activities; Fire infrastructure, human resource, training &
development and procurement) which are linked together. (Gerry Johnson, 2017)
Primary Activities
Exploration & Production – at this stage oil industry begins to think about effective ways
to efficiently explore for oil and produce it. Most companies in the industry turns to
technology for this stage. Chevron in North America uses technology to make significant
discoveries in exploration & production. “With innovative technology, efficiencies in
extracting resources have made us one of the largest liquid producers in the United
States” (Chevron, 2019)
Crude Transport (Inbound) - At this stage companies in North America move crude oil
and gas from offshore locations and other remote locations via pipelines, tankers and
rails. Companies use digitalization technology to monitor production and movement of oil
from wellheads to terminals.” Digitalization helps oil and gas production fields,
transportation pipeline and storage and distribution terminals to be better connected”
(ABB.Inc, 2019).
Refining operations – Major North American oil companies usually has operations within
close vicinity of the refineries. This is strategically set up intentionally to close proximity
to its demand markets so that inbound and outbound logistics are efficient. “Chevron, one
of the largest integrated oil company in the United States, with four US refineries have
the capacity to process 932,000 barrels of oil per day” (Chevron, 2019). “The company’s
upstream and downstream operations is integrated with refineries to maximize flexibility
to process advantage” (Mobil, 2018).
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Outbound Logistics – from refinery by products are transported via pipeline, ships and
railways to terminals where they are further transported to customers via 3PL logistics
companies. “From refinery gasoline and diesel fuels are transported via pipelines,
railways and ships to terminal” (Mobil, 2018)
Marketing and sales - North American oil companies such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil,
Conoco Philips, BP (Castrol) and Shell all based there marketing strategy on branding
and building a reputable brand for customers not only by name but distinctive quality of
products. Most of these products are marketed and sold through their retail network such
as service stations “Chevron has successfully made its products a worldwide brand and
earn a brand image amongst customers around the world”. (Adnan Ahmed, 2015).
Different oil companies have different marketing sales strategies as BP recently re-brand
“Beyond Petroleum” to being an environmentally friendly energy. “BP Amoco invested
heavily in “Beyond Petroleum” campaign to re-introduce itself as a socially conscious
company”. (Nastu, 2008)
Services – oil companies implement “Service Profit Chain Model” to establish

relationships between profitability, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, loyalty and
productivity.
Support Activities
Firm Infrastructure - this denotes a wide range of activities that supports daily operations
of organizations, some activities include accounting, financing, planning and strategic
management. Effective firm infrastructure can allow oil companies such as Chevron and
Exxon to optimize value of the whole value chain. Companies can control over head cost
to strengthen the competitive positioning. (Bryne, 2018)
Human Resource Management – Oil companies has supported activity that aids in the
creations of competitive advantage by its ability to manage change, corporate culture and
create a learning environment. (BP 2018). Chevron analyses human resource
management by evaluating different aspects of recruiting, selecting, training, and
rewarding & performance management to reduce competitive pressure based on
motivation, commitment and skills of its workforce. (Chevron, 2019). The obligation by
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companies to continuously train their employees gives the firm a competitive advantage
by ensuring staff has the capabilities to carry out work.
Technology Development - Technological advancements has always aided in the

efficiency of business processes. Oil companies focus on lowering cost throughout the
value chain from exploration to marketing and sales. “With innovative technology,
efficiencies in extracting resources have made us one of the largest liquid producers in
the United States” (Chevron, 2019). Continuous development in technology makes it
available for companies to meet demands and minimize capital expenditure.
Procurement – Oil companies in North America are heavily investing in technology, ERP
systems to handle procurement efficiently. This has enabled companies and decision
makers to make efficient decisions by creating enterprise visibility from supplier to
customers, high volume supply chain accuracy and advance payment methods. This
gives organizations competitive advantage over competitors by reducing cost. (Craig
kindleman, 2019)
After a critical evaluation of the value chain of North American oil companies, it can be
concluded from the analysis that technology plays an integral role in both primary and
supported activities in the chain by optimizing operational cost which also creates and
gives organizations the ability to gain competitive advantage. Finally, it can be said that
ERP systems and continuous innovations is required throughout the value chain to link
business processes and effective manage operations efficiently.
5.3 Business level Strategy.
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Fig 10. (Gerry Johnson, 2017)
It can be seen from Fig 10. Business strategy used to relate oil companies in North
America that compete against each other to gain competitive advantage. Competitive
strategy is how an organization achieve competitive advantage in its own area of activity.
Competitive advantage deals with issues such as cost, products and services and service
features and branding. (Gerry Johnson, 2017). (Porter, 1985) Agrees that to have
competitive advantage over competitors organizations must have lower cost or products
and services that are different from competitors. (Gerry Johnson, 2017). Having said that
it can be seen that the North American oil industry lies in differentiation and cost
leadership. Companies have a range of products that are in the same industry and
therefore cost distinguishes them.
Therefore, from the value chain above, it identifies that certain activities adds to optimizing
business processes to create competitive advantage over competition. Such areas that
can be explored are continuous technological developments and marketing strategies.
Technology plays a key and vital role in all activities of the value chain both in primary
activities and supported activities. Therefore it can be said that it gives organizations the
competitive advantage over competitors if managed and maintained properly.
The business level strategy also shows that oil companies basically have the same
products because they are in the same industry, hence cost distinguishes between them.
Technology such as ERP systems can play an essential role in minimizing cost in the
supply chain to effectively give one company the upper hand on the other.
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6.0 Conclusion
Organizations aim to creating sustainable competitive advantage, which is gained through
the implementation of ERP systems to manage business processes throughout the
supply chain.
As with any process there are several factors that contributes to the overall success, but
not without challenges. In the study, the objectives identified challenges experienced by
oil companies, benefits of implementing and linking ERP systems to SCM and past,
present and future trends for ERP systems of how they contributed and continue to
contribute towards managing effective and efficient supply chain management.
Methodologies, explores how companies implementing ERP systems to manage SCM

operations in the industry. It also identifies the challenges through the model via
weakness and threats, which in turn can hamper an organization gaining and sustaining
competitive advantage. The model also recognizes the strengths and opportunities of the
industry from which businesses can benefit from and which can ideally contribute to the
business gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Another methodology shows
activities that have a direct effect on organizations through primary and supported
activities. This ideally illustrates which activities on the value chain can contribute to the
organization gaining a competitive advantage. In accordance to this a business level
strategy is formulated to elaborate and differentiate how companies can gain competitive
advantage.
The field of ERP will certainly continue to develop and even more in the future as more
experiences have been gained with the implementation process, different topic such as
importance of ERP systems in digitalization, and the assessment of future trends of ERP
systems seems to be becoming of interest to both researchers, businesses and industrial
companies as they are potential areas for the future research.
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7.0 Recommendations
As seen throughout this paper, it is evident that ERP systems can improve supply chain
management and create competitive advantage for oil industries in the North American
region. Also demonstrated is the inability for organizations to implement ERP systems or
keep abreast of the technology due to cost and complications in data migration. This
paper gives justification that ERP systems can indeed play a vital role in optimizing
business processes throughout the supply chain and mitigating challenges experienced
by organizations. The utmost important factors are for companies to improve the speed
of production at minimized cost and with more efficiency in order to stay sustainable in
the present globalized economy. (Pushkar Chaudhari, 2018)
There is a need for integration of information across supply chains and proper planning
of enterprise resources. Supply chain will enhance the efficiency of movement of several
inputs and on the other hand, ERP will improve the overall efficiency of resources to bring
down the cost of production and operations. Once firms is able to achieve the best quality
output at reduce cost it could make more profits. Continuous innovations of ERP systems
can continue to provide solutions for supply chains in the future for industries and hence
many companies’ can benefit.
Further studies of continuous ERP innovations can be incorporated with advance

technologies such as IoT, Block chain, Artificial Intelligence and mobile accessibility to
explore new efficiencies of the supply chain network. With the evolution of digital
technology with ERP systems, stakeholders can be empowered with information. This
evolution of technology can further benefit oil and gas companies by enabling real – time
communication amongst people and machines which will result in enhanced decision
making, speed and implementation of these decisions, increasing productivity. (I S
Stephan Thangaiah, 2018) These technology will allow workers to access information
from remote areas and different sites to monitor equipment and processes which in turn
provides an improved supply chain network, minimal delays, reduced cost and enhance
collaboration and visibility.
Having explored present and future innovations, the author recommends that for
organizations to stay sustainable and continuously gain competitive advantage they must
41 | P a g e
keep up with evolving technologies to ensure that business processes are effectively and
efficiently managed. Also in the case where companies cannot afford to implement
because of cost or doesn’t have necessary IT skills for migration they should seek to
outsource.
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RESOURCE PALNNING. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), 9(7),
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Management and Education, 1(1), pp. 109-126.
Kashyap, A., 2011. Impact of ERP implementation on Supply Chain Management. International Journal of
computer applications of engineering science, 1(4), pp. 474-479.
Lawrence, D. A., 2015. Enterprise resource planning II. International journal of computer science and
information security, 13(11), pp. 5-14.
Lumintra Hurbean, D. F., 2014. ERPIII: The promise of new generation, University of Timisoara: IE 2014
International Conference.
Mandira Agarwal, R. s. L. M. A., 2016. Challenges in the supply chain managment in upstream sector of
Oil and Gas Industry, Dehradun, India: ResearchGate.
45 | P a g e
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Available at: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Locations/United-States/Other-US-
operations#uSChemicalsOperations
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Mohamed Ali, E. S. M. G., 2017. Benefits and challeneges of Cloud ERP systems, Cairo: Future computing
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Mundy, J., 2017. The Use of an ERP System to Facilitate Regulatory Compliance, Greenwich london:
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Neha chumbalkar, P. C., 2018. benefits of ERP systems and its use in SCM. International journal of
innovative research in scince engineering and technology, 7(3), pp. 2319-8753.
Nemati, S. A., 2013. Impact of ERP systems in Supply Chain Management, Sweden: University of Boras.
Newsroom, A., 2017. New Solutions from Accenture and SAP to Help Oil and Gas Companies Achieve
Benefits Across the Hydrocarbon Value Chain. [Online]
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Pushkar Chaudhari, V. G. c., 2018. Benefits of ERP System and its Use in Supply Chain Management.
International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,Engineering and Technology, 7(3), pp. 2898-2904.
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Available at: https://medium.com/@gracesam989/future-trends-in-erp-systems-42b0fe582b83
[Accessed 02 03 2020].
46 | P a g e
Slimov, K., 2019. ERP and Digital Transformation. [Online]
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Svetlana Lisitsa, A. L. A. L., 2019. Supply Chain Management in the oil industry, St petersburg Russia: EDP
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[Accessed 03 03 2020].
Wire, B., 2019. North America ERP Software Market 2019-2025: Focus on Incorporating New
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porters-value-chain-model/
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Pearson Education limited.
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Educational linited.
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Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp
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Gupta, M., 2016. ERP systems plays an important role in Oil and gas industry. [Online]
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ed. West Sussex England: J Wiley and sons.
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RESOURCE PALNNING. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), 9(7),
pp. 877-884.
IBM, 2014. Shell brings its global business closer together with IBM and SAP. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/w571967d37857t65
[Accessed 15 01 2020].
Indrė Lapinskaitė, J. K., 2014. The impact of supply chain cost on price of the final product.. Business,
Management and Education, 1(1), pp. 109-126.
Kashyap, A., 2011. Impact of ERP implementation on Supply Chain Management. International Journal of
computer applications of engineering science, 1(4), pp. 474-479.
Lawrence, D. A., 2015. Enterprise resource planning II. International journal of computer science and
information security, 13(11), pp. 5-14.
Lumintra Hurbean, D. F., 2014. ERPIII: The promise of new generation, University of Timisoara: IE 2014
International Conference.
Mandira Agarwal, R. s. L. M. A., 2016. Challenges in the supply chain managment in upstream sector of
Oil and Gas Industry, Dehradun, India: ResearchGate.
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[Accessed 02 03 2020].
[Accessed 10 03 2020].
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operations#uSChemicalsOperations
[Accessed 11 03 2020].
Mohamed Ali, E. S. M. G., 2017. Benefits and challeneges of Cloud ERP systems, Cairo: Future computing
and informatics journal.
Mundy, J., 2017. The Use of an ERP System to Facilitate Regulatory Compliance, Greenwich london:
ResearchGate.
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Pushkar Chaudhari, V. G. c., 2018. Benefits of ERP System and its Use in Supply Chain Management.
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[Accessed 03 03 2020].
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UNIVERSITY COVER SHEET

NAME: SURINDRA MAHARAJ

STUDENT ID: 1822279

UNIT TITLE: THEORY IN PRACTICE (FINAL)

UNIT TOPIC: “TO UNDERSTAND HOW ERP SYSTEMS CONTINUES TO

UNIT CODE: BSS056-6

ASSESSMENT TITLE: ASSIGNMENT # 2

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 13TH MARCH, 2020

Recommendations for organizations to continuously assess the need to bridge supply

Figure 1 ………………………………………………………SWOT analysis

Table 1……………………………………………….Challenges faced by SCM

Challenges faced by Supply Chains (Stratton, 2018)

Integrated Oil Pure Play Upstream Pure Play Downstream

• Making recommendations using ERP systems to optimize business operations

1.5 Theoretical Framework

1.6 Method of Analysis

As suggested by (Cochrane, 2008), a systematic review attempts to collate all realistic

1.7 Evidence of Data.

Table 4 shows discussion of each chapter.

• A summary of the literature on ERP systems will be explored in this

• The author seeks to provide feedback on the method of data collection

• Based on the analysis, the author will give an interpretation and

• After critically examining the analysis, discussion and conclusion a

2.0 Literature Review.

Supply Chain Management can be defined as, a network of connected and

Supply chain management means the configuration, coordination and continuous

Table 5 - Aims and Objectives

Objective: Past,Present and

Figure 1. SWOT Analysis

Source : (Boag, 2018)

Maximizing and optimizing linkages between activities enables increase in efficiency of

Figure 2. Porter value chain model

Source: (Porter, 1985)

Workflow automation Electronic mail Data Base Creation

1. Strategic & business planning materials

New Product Introduction Intelligent resource planning

Product pricing Human resource planning

Bill of materials Quality management

Long range forecasting and planning

2. Operational planning & execution materials

Source: (Boscombo, 2007)

2.3 Challenges of supply chain in Oil & Gas industry.

2.4 Benefits of ERP systems in SCM.

Competition – keeping up with technology such as ERP systems will enable

Collaboration – Minimizes the “bullwhip “effect which is the distortion of demand

Streamlined processes – as organizations grow and expand operation become more

Productivity – ERP system optimizes process management, thus increasing productivity

Improved Customer Relationship – ERP systems eliminates stock outs and

ERP II is a type of cyber-structure that is known to incorporate the hardware, software,

ERP II breaks down information between inventory, production, planning, materials,

Figure 4: ERP, SCM, BI & CRM integration

As a result, there can be reduced time-to-market, improved communications, support in

2.5.2 Present -Future trends

Keywords searched Google Emerald

Total number of literature

Exclude – Paper based on

Exclude: Papers on text review

Total number of paper identified