Question 1:
Sinosteel is a company that is in charge of producing and processing metallurgical mineral resources, trading and logistics raw materials and products, and it is also related engineering technical service and equipment manufacture. The company is decentralized (it has many subsidiaries), while its business is expanding all around the world.

The main challenges for Sinosteel:
- Improving and consolidating its management, overwhelming their lack of centralization.
- Being more efficient, at the level of resources management, human resources management, and customers' relationship.

How would the ERP System face these challenges
The ERP would help face these challenges through changing the current system into one which now would have a common central database, meaning the internal management can be improved and optimized, by consolidating the information sharing:
- Through the Supply Chain Management (SCM), a better and optimized management of resources (and so cost decrease)
- Through the Customer Relationship Management, a higher customer satisfaction.

2) Why did Sinosteel pursue the development of an ERP system? What were the objectives? What challenges (risks) does ERP address for Sinosteel?
The main goal was to consolidate the management existing in a decentralized corporate structure, and optimize the management processing in all core business functions. An ERP system improves the information sharing, so the management efficiency.

The President lists several objectives that can be reached thanks to an ERP system:
- Checking inventory levels at any time, and optimizing resources assignments.
- Optimizing human resources management
- Preventing from all kinds of potential information risks

Question 2: The reason Sinosteel pursue the development of an ERP system is because information technology is one of the main competitive