From Constraint to Opportunity: ERP Systems as a Lever of Organizational Resilience for SMEs

Abstract

In an increasingly unstable economic environment—marked by successive health, geopolitical, and energy crises—small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing a growing imperative for organizational resilience. Constrained by structural limitations—limited resources, dependency on key actors, and low procedural formalization—SMEs must nonetheless demonstrate agility, operational continuity, and the ability to adapt rapidly. This article explores the role of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in this context: can they evolve from being perceived as a technological constraint to becoming a strategic lever for resilience?

Drawing on a multidisciplinary literature review—at the crossroads of information systems, organizational management, and resilience theory—this work first examines the historical and cultural barriers to ERP adoption in SMEs, such as high initial costs, perceived rigidity, and resistance to change. It then highlights how, under certain conditions, ERP systems can be transformed into infrastructures for organizational learning, provided they are contextually adapted, flexibly configured, and integrated into a reimagined governance framework.

By structuring information, automating key processes, and offering real-time cross-functional visibility, ERP systems support rapid decision-making and enable the agile reconfiguration of operations. They thus become a technological foundation for dynamic resilience. The article also sheds light on the inherent tension between technological standardization and the operational flexibility that SMEs require. Its main contribution lies in reframing the role of ERP systems—not as imposed or static tools, but as catalysts for agility, robustness, and collective intelligence in environments shaped by uncertainty.

Classification JEL: M15, O33, D83.

Paper type: Theoretical Research