Felix Ter Chian Tan

Sustaining the Momentum: Archival Analysis of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (2006–2012)

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Developing business analytic capabilities for combating e-commerce identity fraud

Given the significant growth in e-commerce, organizations are seeking novel capabilities and technological innovations to deal simultaneously with the volume of data generated and the need to combat potentially damaging fraudulent activity. Although recent studies identify business analytics (BA) as a potential means of combating fraud, significant inroads into the interrelationships between capabilities and the articulation of a pathway to analytical capability have yet to be made. This study presents an investigation of Trustev, a global provider of digital verification technology, and its development of the profile-based social fingerprinting fraud detection solution. Adopting an interpretive structural modeling technique for data analysis, we construct a framework and reveal a road map for organizations to become analytically capable in online fraud detection. Our study adds to the discourse of the application of BA to combat online fraud.

IT-enabled operational agility

Firms make large investments in enterprise information technology (IT) expecting positive impacts on their supply chain operations. Toward IT-enabled operational agility, an enterprise system facilitates the responsibilities of multiple stakeholders; however, its success is not determined merely by its adoption. Firms must contend with information asymmetries and resource interdependencies simultaneously. To this end, this study presents a model that illustrates how IT can be used to accomplish operational agility at a firm. The stagewise model suggests that toward IT-enabled operational agility, new capabilities are enacted to manage resource interdependencies, the process of negotiation and managerial practices that shape IT use in supply chain tasks. Through our findings, our study extends existing prescriptions on firm interdependencies and presents a set of actionable guidelines to help managers better engage with technology toward the attainment of IT-enabled operational agility.

Developing a Leading Digital Multi-sided Platform: Examining IT Affordances and Competitive Actions in Alibaba.com

In recent times, digital multi-sided platforms (DMSPs) have revolutionized electronic commerce by enabling new forms of competition and collaboration. Existing studies provide useful insights yet do not recognize the role of information technologies (IT) in examining the development of DMSPs. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a case study of Alibaba.com (henceforth simply Alibaba), the largest online B2B marketplace in the world with over 80 million members. We applied the theoretical notion of IT affordances to examine the possibilities for competitive action at a platform level based on organizational variables and IT features in the context of the environment in which they function. Our findings show that, toward market leadership, Alibaba has developed competitive actions from actualizing IT affordances. At Alibaba, actualizing IT affordances links closely with its defined organizational goals of developing: (1) a collectivist structure, (2) a coopetitive structure, and (3) an autonomous community among platform constituents. Our stage-wise model captures the relational aspects of IT affordances and proposes actionable prescriptions for a DMSP to achieve market leadership.

The Affordance of Gamification in Enabling a Digital Disruptor: A Case Study of the goCatch Taxi Booking App

Digital disruption refers to the implementation of digital technology-enabled changes to better meet customer needs and is drawing increasing scholarly attention. However, the way in which digital disruption is achieved is still relatively understudied. This study examines the affordance of gamification in enabling digital disruption. We present an exploratory case study and qualitative analysis of our observations on a mobile application platform and app, goCatch. goCatch is widely recognized as a digital disruptor in the taxi industry. From our empirical investigation, we find that goCatch uses gamification through situational and artifactual affordances to enable digital disruption. This study clarifies the relationship between the situated motivational affordances of gamification between the key players in a digital ecosystem and value creation in a mobile commerce business. The findings from the investigation provide the empirical premise for a model illustrating the role of gamification in digital disruption.

The role of organisational interdependencies and asset orchestration in business integration

n Abstractn n Business integration is an important determinant of business value and firm performance which enables a firm to respond to pressing competitive forces. Given its significant role, business integration in general has been an enduring research topic over the years. However, due to its complex nature, the ways to achieve this important organisational capability in firms are still not clearly understood. Hence, the present study is an attempt to ‘open this black box’ and examine the relevant issues through a case study of M.com, one of the largest e-commerce firms in China. The findings of this case study emphasise that the ability to coordinate organisational interdependencies and asset orchestration according to the needs of business processes is challenging but necessary in order to achieve business integration in e-commerce firms. It is found that asset orchestration in a firm is contingent on the organisational interdependencies such that different interdependence types demand different coordination methods at the very least. It also shows the significant role of IT in asset orchestration and the coordination of organisational interdependencies during business integration. With these capabilities, firms can experience growth and improve the quality of conformance to customer needs.n n

Nurturing a FinTech ecosystem

Financial technology, or FinTech, involves the design and delivery of financial products and services through technology. It impacts financial institutions, regulators, customers, and merchants across a wide range of industries. Pervasive digital technologies are challenging the fundamentals of the highly regulated financial sector, leading to the emergence of non-traditional payment systems, peer-to-peer money exchanges and increased turbulence in currency markets. This case study explores the development of a FinTech company in China that offers microloans to college students. Five lessons learned are presented for organizations to better manage the challenges and to leverage the opportunities amidst the disruption of financial sector. Our findings also shed light on how digital technology 1) offers the strategic capability for a firm to occupy a market niche in financial sector, 2) enables the generation of alternative credit scores based on non-traditional data, and 3) improves the financial inclusion of previously excluded market segments.

Social Media for Empowerment in Social Movements: The Case of Malaysia's Grassroots Activism

Social media plays an instrumental role in enabling and facilitating social movements. However, this role depends on the complex social issues in a civic community and dynamics of power in movement politics. Existing literature provides little insight into the formative role of social media in social movements; instead, it tends to focus on the informational role and episodic effect of social media in community activism. We present the case of Bersih, a social media-enabled social movement that pushed for electoral reform in Malaysia. The non-partisan community-driven movement exerted public pressure on institutions and gained formal recognition. In this study, we reveal the significant role social media plays in empowering citizens by enabling them to facilitate and coordinate collective action towards producing change in their community. This research is significant in articulating the precise nature of the role of ICT in addressing complex social problems.

Realising platform operational agility through information technology-enabled capabilities: A resource-interdependence perspective

Intensifying competition in recent times requires business‐to‐consumer (B2C) e‐commerce platforms to develop operational agility for competitive advantage. Despite the agreement on an increasing competitive landscape, the process for realising information technology (IT)‐driven operational agility on e‐business platforms has received little scrutiny. Through an investigation of M.com, a leading multisided online retailing platform in China, this study provides a clear thesis of resource interdependencies and IT‐enabled capabilities forged during operational processes to realise operational agility. Our investigation, observations, and reflections from practice substantiate a model of how a platform like M.com cultivates IT‐driven resource‐interdependent competencies and capabilities tantamount to realising operational agility. The model shows how IT enables three capabilities—localised, synergistic, and optimised—which reflect the effective co‐ordination of three resource interdependencies (pooled, sequential, and reciprocal) during M.coms complex operations and processes, and explicates the consequences. For research, we postulate that IT‐enabled operational agility in complex organisational forms, cultivated through the development of resource‐interdependent capabilities to deliver effective sensing and response mechanisms, forms effective strategies for the B2C platform in dynamic marketplace conditions.

Multi-disciplinary Green IT Archival Analysis: A Pathway for Future Studies

With the growth of information technology (IT), there is a growing global concern about the environmental impact of such technologies. As such, academics in several research disciplines consider research on green IT a vibrant theme. While the disparate knowledge in each discipline is gaining substantial momentum, we need a consolidated multidisciplinary view of the salient findings of each research discipline for green IT research to reach its full potential. We reviewed 390 papers published on green IT from 2007 to 2015 in three disciplines: computer science, information systems and management. The prevailing literature demonstrates the value of this consolidated approach for advancing our understanding on this complex global issue of environmental sustainability. We provide an overarching theoretical perspective to consolidate multi-disciplinary findings and to encourage information systems researchers to develop an effective cumulative tradition of research.