Fujun Lai

An empirical assessment and application of SERVQUAL in mainland China's mobile communications industry

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to assess the SERVQUAL instrument reliability and validity and apply the SERVQUAL instrument in Chinas mobile communication setting.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey was conducted at a major mobile communications company in mainland China. Instrument reliability and validity were examined. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted.Findings – The adapted SERVQUAL instrument is a valid and valuable tool to measure service quality. Service convenience is an important additional dimension of service quality in Chinas mobile communications setting. The dimension of “empathy” may need revision.Research limitations/implications – Future research involves assessment of the service convenience dimension and examination of the relative importance of SERVQUAL dimensions in other settings.Practical implications – SERVQUAL is a valid instrument to measure service quality in Chinas mobile communications setting. Providing convenience to customers als...

The impact of information technology on the competitive advantage of logistics firms in China

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the impact of information technology (IT) on the competitive advantages of third‐party logistics (3PL) firms in China.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire‐based mail survey was conducted in mainland China. Spline regressions were used to model the relationship between IT and competitive advantages.Findings – This study found that IT could significantly influence a firms competitive advantage, and the effects are nonlinear.Research limitations/implications – The modeled relationship between IT and competitive advantages may not hold in different cultural environments and industrial settings. The sample size was small.Practical implications – A higher IT focus may improve a firms competitive advantage. To achieve competitive advantages efficiently, it is essential to integrate IT, align IT strategy and business strategy, obtain IT‐related management skills, and achieve IT competency. 3PL managers can expect competitive advantages from their investments in IT ...

Strategic postures of third‐party logistics providers in mainland China

Purpose – To examine the strategic posture of third‐party logistics (3PLs) providers in mainland China.Design/methodology/approach – A sample survey, obtained by mail, of 3PLs firms in mainland China. Key informant data are used to operationalize Porters competitive strategy and provides a framework to identify logistics strategies pursued by 3PLs providers. Various aspects of 3PLs providers are compared by different strategy types.Findings – Identified four logistics strategies pursued by 3PLs providers in mainland China. Differentiation strategy outperforms cost leadership strategy. Companies pursuing cost leadership are shifting towards differentiation strategy to cope with the intense competition faced in mainland Chinas immense logistics markets.Research limitations/implications – Bias may exist due to the mail survey. In‐depth studies on strategy formulation of 3PLs providers could be carried out to examine what factors influence the strategy formulation and explore the strategy evolution path.Pra...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) in China: opportunities and challenges

Purpose – RFID has fundamental influences on todays retailing and supply chain management. This article seeks to formulate the opportunities and challenges of RFID adoption in China.Design/methodology/approach – Field interview and panel discussion were used to explore the opportunities and challenges of RFID adoption in China. An example of successful RFID deployment in China is presented.Findings – Although Chinese companies are exposed to several challenges in the adoption of RFID, there are numerous opportunities for RFID deployment. Challenges include Chinas standards, costs, business environment, business models, and untested market. The opportunities include Chinas huge market size, advances of several industries, a rapid increase in logistics demand, and Chinas role as a world‐class manufacturing center.Originality/value – This article represents a pioneer study of RFID adoption in China. Opportunities and challenges of RFID adoption in China were identified, which provide valuable guidance fo...

Taxonomy of information technology strategy and its impact on the performance of third-party logistics (3PL) in China

This paper develops a taxonomy of information technology strategies used by third-party logistics (3PL) firms in China based on a cluster analysis of survey data from 105 of these 3PL firms. The information technology strategies have been classified into three major groups: supportive, technological, and aligned. The paper also investigates the effect of information technology strategies on information technology advantage, competitive advantage, and financial performance. The results of the study indicate that efforts to improve information technology systems can only be effective if the information technology improvements are properly aligned with a companys overall strategy. It is found that companies that attempt to improve their information technology systems without the proper alignment of information technology with the companys overall strategy can achieve information technology advantages relative to their competitors, but not competitive advantages or improved financial performance. This study is the first attempt to develop an information technology strategy taxonomy for 3PL companies in China. It provides valuable guidance and insights for managers in the development of information technology strategies in 3PL companies.

The impact of information technology on the financial performance of third‐party logistics firms in China

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the impact of information technology (IT) on the financial performance of third‐party logistics (3PL) firms in China.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire‐based mail survey was conducted in mainland China. Path analysis and spline regressions were used to model the relationship between IT and financial performance.Findings – This study found that IT can significantly improve 3PL firms’ financial performance and there are complementarity and plateau effects of influencing financial performance between IT advantage and executives’ involvement in both IT and business strategy planning.Research limitations/implications – The modeled relationship between IT and competitive advantages may not hold in different cultural environments and industrial settings. The sample size was small. Perceptual performance data were used.Practical implications – To achieve better financial performance, it is essential for 3PL firms to sense strategically the importance of IT and commit...

On Network Externalities, E-Business Adoption and Information Asymmetry

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate and provide empirical evidence of the interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption and information asymmetry.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model was proposed and tested using 307 completed interview cases selected from a database of 2,075 Chinese international trading companies published by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce for this study.Findings – The results indicated that network externalities significantly influenced e‐business adoption and information asymmetry, and e‐business adoption influenced information asymmetry through information sharing and collection. A split sample analysis showed that cultural contexts significantly moderated the interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption, and information asymmetry.Research limitations/implications – Data for this study were collected only from mainland China, therefore, non‐Chinese companies (foreign‐owned) operating in China may have been influ...

Evaluation of safety stock methods in multilevel material requirements planning (MRP) systems

This paper evaluates alternative methods of establishing the safety stock level taking into consideration of historical measures of forecasting accuracy and the needs for master production scheduling and material requirement planning under a rolling time horizon. A computer model is used to simulate the forecasting, master production scheduling and material planning activities in a company that produces to stock and the production activities are managed by multilevel MRP systems. The simulation output is analysed to evaluate the impact of safety stock methods on MRP system performance. The result of the study shows that using safety stock can help to reduce total cost, schedule instability and improve service level in the MRP systems. Guidelines are developed to help managers select methods to determine safety stock in MRP system operations.

Supply Chain Quality Integration: Antecedents and Consequences

This study extends quality management from an individual company perspective to a supply chain perspective. We propose a concept of supply chain quality integration (SCQI) that consists of internal, supplier, and customer integration for quality improvement, and develop a model that specifies the relationships among competitive hostility, the organization-wide approach to quality, three types of SCQI, and quality-related performance. We test the model using data collected from 291 high-performance manufacturing plants from ten countries. The results indicate that competitive hostility has a positive effect on the organization-wide approach to quality, and that both have positive effects on SCQI. In addition, internal quality integration significantly enhances external quality integration with both suppliers and customers. Further, internal quality integration significantly improves all quality-related performance (i.e., product quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility), and both supplier and customer quality integration significantly improve cost performance. Whereas customer quality integration significantly improves delivery performance and supplier quality integration significantly improves quality performance, only internal quality integration can improve flexibility performance. The findings reveal how different types of SCQI are related to quality-related performance and highlight internal quality integration as a core strategic resource for quality improvement. As such, they provide important managerial insights for supply chain quality managers to improve quality-related performance.

Managing dependence in logistics outsourcing relationships: evidence from China

As third-party logistics (3PL) plays an increasingly important role in businesses, managing dependences between 3PL providers and users has become critical for business success. Drawing on the resource dependency theory (RDT), we propose that logistics integration and interorganisational relationships are two effective approaches for 3PL users to cope with their dependence on 3PL providers and to achieve better financial performance. The model was empirically tested using data collected from 134 3PL users in China. The results show that both inter-organisational relationships and integration and their interplay effectively carry the positive influence of dependence on financial performance. We also find that while both interorganisational relationships and integration are effective for Chinese-controlled 3PL users to leverage their dependence on 3PL providers for financial performance improvement, foreign-controlled 3PL users rely solely on interorganisational relationships to manage their dependence.