Jerry Fjermestad

Group Support Systems: A Descriptive Evaluation of Case and Field Studies

This paper presents a descriptive evaluation of 54 case and field studies from 79 published papers spanning two decades of group support systems (GSS) research. It organizes the methodology and results of these studies into a four-factor framework consisting of contextual factors, intervening factors, adaptation factors, and outcome factors. The tables will provide the GSS researcher with a summary of what has been studied. The appendices provide a detailed description of the methodology and the results.This paper presents a descriptive evaluation of 54 case and field studies from 79 published papers spanning two decades of group support systems (GSS) research. It organizes the methodology and results of these studies into a four-factor framework consisting of contextual factors, intervening factors, adaptation factors, and outcome factors. The tables will provide the GSS researcher with a summary of what has been studied. The appendices provide a detailed description of the methodology and the results.

Electronic customer relationship management

Electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) has become the latest paradigm in the world of customer relationship management. Recent business surveys suggest that up to 50 per cent of such implementations do not yield measurable returns on investment. A secondary analysis of 13 case studies suggests that many of these limited success implementations can be attributed to usability and resistance factors. The objective of this paper is to review the general usability and resistance principles in order to build an integrative framework for analyzing eCRM case studies. The conclusions suggest that if organizations want to get the most from their eCRM implementations they need to revisit the general principles of usability and resistance and apply them thoroughly and consistently. Introduction The goal of electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) systems is to improve customer service, retain valuable customers, and to aid in providing analytical capabilities. Furthermore, it is the infrastructure that enables the delineation of and increases in customer value, and the correct means by which to motivate valuable customers to remain loyal (Dyche, 2001). The rush to implement eCRM systems is on! Organizations want to achieve the enormous bene®ts of high return on investments (ROI,) increases in customer loyalty, etc. (see Table I) from successful implementations (Scullin et al., 2002.) The Meta Group predicts that the eCRM craze will only intensify, with the market growing from

The effects of distributed group support and process structuring on software requirements development teams: results on creativity and quality

20.4 billion this year to

Electronic Commerce Customer Relationship Management: An Assessment of Research

46 billion by 2003 (Patton, The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm This research was partially supported by the New Jersey Science Commission through a grant to the New Jersey Center for Pervasive Information Technology. BPMJ 9,5

Effects of four modes of group communication on the outcomes of software requirements determination

Previous research has indicated that the creative task of deciding upon the initial specifications for a software system can benefit from a structured process to guide group interaction in face-to-face meetings, and can benefit from computer support. This 2×2 experiment is the first to look at the joint effects of a distributed asynchronous computer conferencing mode of communication (CC, as compared with face-to-face), and a structured process, on software design outcomes. Subjects were teams of graduate students in computer science and business, who designed an automated post office as a course assignment. The quality of solution produced by the CC groups was judged to be marginally higher, while CC groups were rated as considerably more creative. There were no main effects for the structured/unstructured factor, or any significant interactions.

Electronic Commerce Customer Relationship Management: A Research Agenda

The status and maturity of electronic commerce customer relationship management (ECCRM), an emerging subfield of management information systems (MIS), are investigated through an exhaustive literature review of 369 articles, from the first published article in 1984 through conference papers given in 2001 and 2002. The results indicate some trends that should be of interest and concern to researchers in this area and in MIS as a whole. First, exploratory surveys dominate the research literature, which in itself may be problematic. More troubling, most of the survey instruments were not validated, and the authors did not mention validation procedures. Second, there has been little theoretical development, and few empirical studies use hypothesis testing. Third, cumulative tradition has hardly emerged, with each study developing a new conceptual model, new constructs, and new instruments. On the positive side, ECCRM researchers have employed a wide range of methods and studied a broad range of topics. The subfield of ECCRM is young, but is growing rapidly, and professional activity in the MIS research community illustrates its importance. Specific recommendations for further development are provided.

E‐relationship marketing: changes in traditional marketing as an outcome of electronic customer relationship management

Research on computer-mediated communication and group support systems has focused on the study of a single mode of communication technology in comparison to unsupported face-to-face (FtF) groups. However, as organizations combine traditional FtF meetings with a variety of anytime/anyplace communication technologies to support collaborative work, the need to study these new forms of interaction grows greater. This experiment builds on prior work by comparing the effectiveness of four modes of communication for groups working on the upstream phases of software development: (1) face-to-face, (2) synchronous computer conferencing, (3) asynchronous computer conferencing, and (4) combined FtF and asynchronous computer conferencing. Teams of graduate students determined the requirements for an automated post office as a course assignment over a period of two weeks. The creativity and quality of solutions produced by groups in the combined condition were higher than those in the remaining three communication modes. Combined groups were generally more satisfied with their solutions, although no differences among conditions were found regarding satisfaction with the process used to accomplish work.

Collaborative Discourse Structures in Computer Mediated Group Communications

In this paper, we approach electronic commerce Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM) from the perspective of five research areas. Our purpose is to define a conceptual framework to examine the relationships among and between these five research areas within e-CRM and to propose how they might be integrated to further research this area. We begin with a discussion of each of the research areas through brief reviews of relevant literature for each and a discussion of the theoretical and strategic implications associated with some CRM technologies and research areas. Next we present our framework, which focuses on e-CRM from the five research perspectives. We then present a theoretical framework for e-CRM in terms of the five research areas and how they affect one another, as well as e-CRM processes and both performance and non-performance outcomes.

E‐commerce marketing strategies: an integrated framework and case analysis

Marketing concepts and definitions have remained relatively unchanged until recently. Electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) has forced marketing managers to reevaluate how, when and to what extent they interact with their customers. This paper is focused on the role of specific marketing concepts and how eCRM has enhanced or altered each concept. Every topic discussed is illustrated with current business examples. Several examples from the business trade press are used to illustrate the success an organization can achieve when using eCRM to enhance marketing skills.

A Strategic Management Framework for IT Outsourcing: A Review of the Literature and the Development of a Success Factors Model

Using application oriented conceptual maps to categorize the group discussion would be an advancement in the design of CMC systems to allow much larger groups to collaborate productively. The group meta communication process should allow the group to modify and evolve these conceptual discourse templates.