SAP

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     the enterprise

SAP was formed in Germany in 1972 when four technicians from the IBM 'Systems/Applications/Projects' group established their own company. In 1978 SAP released its R/2 enterprise resource planning system (integrating activities such as production scheduling and inventory management). In 1988 the company moved to client-server architecture, validated in 1992 with release of its R/3 system, which saw revenues more than treble. As of 2001 it employed around 27,800 people in over 50 countries and claimed to be the world's third-largest independent software supplier.

The major, albeit reverential, study is Gerd Meissner's SAP: Inside the Secret Software Power (New York: McGraw-Hill 2000).


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