Edward C.S. Ku

Beyond price: how does trust encourage online group's buying intention?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how online trust affects group shopping intention in the Ihergo web site.Design/methodology/approach – Samples from the Ihergo web site were collected by mailing a questionnaire survey to those who agreed to participate.Findings – Group‐buying operators need to understand their consumers and the scheduling shopping rules between internet shoppers and firms. Moreover, word‐of‐mouth (WOM) can be created online by offering web visitors the ability to access the opinions of satisfied customers.Practical implications – An online business may adopt different methods to enhance its customer satisfaction level. When people enter a significant amount of personal data at a web site, they are typically reluctant to change vendors and enter the data again.Social implications – Customers view a group‐buying operator as a shopping expert, and expect that the group‐buying operator can handle shopping problems before a dispute occurs.Originality/value – The findings o...

Knowledge sharing and customer relationship management in the travel service alliances

Airline companies are employing strategic alliances to increase their competitiveness in service quality, innovation and cost due to the changed business environment resulting from increased competition in the airlines market. In the e-commerce era, the relationship change between airlines and travel agents makes it important for both parties to provide integrated solutions to customer needs. The goal of this study is to determine how knowledge sharing among members of travel agencies and airlines affects the customer relationship management (CRM) profitability of travel agencies. We formulated a CRM profitability model and used a mailed questionnaire survey to investigate travel agency staff in Taiwan, of which 337 returned completed questionnaires. The findings reveal the nature and practical complexities associated with knowledge sharing in travel industry alliances, and suggest how a travel agent can create an appropriate knowledge sharing strategy and increase CRM profitability by information technology.

The impact of customer relationship management through implementation of information systems

CRM has been widely regarded as a company activity related to developing and retaining customers through increased satisfaction and loyalty. IT-based CRM systems have been applied in many industry sectors. CRM provides analytical, operational, and direction capabilities: the analytical capabilities enhance profitability maximisation from the customer relationship, operational capabilities cut across the customer value process, and direction capabilities depend on strategic skills and reflect the sharpness of long-term cooperation and organisational values. The research goal was to determine how a customer-oriented firm uses information systems to affect CRM profitability. In this article, we formulate the CRM profitability model by relationship marketing from a system efficiency perspective, and in total we mailed 552 survey questionnaires to 58 international hotels in Taiwan, and 235 survey questionnaires were collected. Using structural equation modelling analysis, the research findings suggest that customer relationship management profitability is not only dependent on the quality of information systems but also on service orientation and service processes.

Partner Choice: Adaptation of Strategic Collaboration Between Travel Agencies

Travel agencies seeking to improve their product development performance increasingly engage in collaborative product development with their suppliers. From the perspective of collaboration, the independent travel agent has a future, provided it makes appropriate investment in technology and creates competitive differentiation. The research goals of this study were to investigate how market-focused strategic adaptation among the members of travel agent collaborations affects perceived market performance. Data were obtained via a mailed questionnaire survey of a sample of travel agencies. The model and the hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling approach. The findings of this study provide interesting insights for travel agencies interested in partner choice. Customer competence has emerged as an important asset in travel agent collaboration, which can be used to increase the productivities of knowledge works through the management of product and service innovation; different strategies are discussed in terms of different segments of customers within the collaboration.

FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION AND SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT IN HOTEL INDUSTRY: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS

Successful customer relationship management (CRM) depend on strategic skills and reflect the sharpness of long-term cooperation and organizational values. The purpose of the study will explore operational and analytical implementation of information system (IS) may lead to market strategy and CRM performances of a hotel. A CRM performance model was formulated by ISs success perspective in the study, and we collected international tourism hotel samples by mailing questionnaire survey in Taiwan. We mailed 232 questionnaires to hotels, of which 151 returned completed questionnaires and we test the model and hypotheses by structural equation modeling (SEM) and multilevel analysis for our research. As this result of the study, the role of IS will transfer from the transaction process system to a strategic supporting role, collecting information is important process to hoteliers, staffs prepare to personalize service for a guest in advance when they have more information about guest. And the capability of leveraging analytics in operations can be a critical differentiator for hotel to stay competitive. As a business discipline, this research could be directed toward helping managers and practitioners decide CRM implementation priority, and improve both business processes and competitiveness through the deployment of a CRM system.

Intimate knowledge initiators: Bonding the suppliers and buyers in the online group-shopping environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how marketing capability, dysfunctional conflict, and relationship value affect relational benefits through the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators in a group-buying web site. Design/methodology/approach – The initiators selected were those who conducted group buying more than ten times in the group-buying web site. In total, 9,000 invitation e-mails were sent to initiators, of which 389 were returned; the model and hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modeling. Findings – In online group buying, initiators can know about a new product only through the web site; the marketing capability of suppliers and the relationship value of initiators are positively associated with the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators. And, the results indicate that the dysfunctional conflict of initiators is not positively associated with the relational proclivity between suppliers and initiators. Finally, The relational pro...

Process innovation capability and subsequent collaborative team performance in travel planning: a knowledge exchange platform perspective

Purpose: Backpacker tourism is flourishing in this century as the high development of Internet technology which enables travellers to search for resources they need easier. The research goal of this study was to exam how virtual skill and collective efficacy affect process innovation capability and subsequent team performance of collaborative design team in a virtual community. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we formulated the virtual team model from the perspectives of open innovation paradigm and virtual competence, and we collected virtual community participation samples from the online communities. Invitation emails were delivered to numerous trip plan initiators in two well-known online travel communities for filling survey questionnaires for this study. In total, 3000 invitation messages were mailed, of which 373 were returned completed. The model and hypotheses were tested by structural equation modelling. Findings: Virtual competence, including collective efficacy and virtual media skill, is the essential key to facilitate process innovation capability and subsequent team performance success. Besides, knowledge sharing significantly moderates the relationship between process innovation capability and the team performance. Originality/value: Backpackers in the online travel communities have to have not only the willingness to collaborate, but also the abilities of using the correct tool to help with their tasks. When a self-efficacy gets into collective efficacy, it enables the collaborative team to develop with good virtual competencies. Accordingly, trip plan initiator and participants of a virtual team are as expertise contributors between conformity in online communities and online compulsive control tendencies.

Technological competence and team cohesiveness among travel agencies

From the perspective of collaboration, the independent travel agent has provided it makes appropriate investment in technology and creates competitive advantage. The research goals of this study were to investigate how strategic adaptation among the members of travel agent collaborations affects service performance. Data were obtained via a mailed questionnaire survey of a sample of travel agencies. The model and the hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling approach. The findings of this study provide interesting insights for travel agencies interested in service performance. Technological competence has emerged as an important asset in travel agent collaboration, which can be used to increase the productivity of knowledge works through the management of service performance, and different strategies are discussed in terms of different segments of partners within the collaboration.