Ru-Jen Lin

Customer relationship management and innovation capability: an empirical study

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of various dimensions of customer relationship management (CRM) on innovation capabilities. Five dimensions of CRM (information sharing, customer involvement, long‐term partnership, joint problem‐solving, and technology‐based CRM) and five aspects of innovation capability (product, process, administrative, marketing, and service innovations) are identified. The one‐to‐one associations between the two constructs are developed and verified., – Data from 107 Taiwanese computer manufacturers are collected. Multiple regression analysis is employed to examine the effects of CRM on innovation capabilities., – The following results are offered: computer manufacturers in Taiwan perform various levels of CRM and, consequently, display different levels of effects on each of the five innovation capabilities. Generally, firms are able to increase their innovation capability by ad hoc CRM; the relationship between customer involvement and process innovation; customer involvement and administrative innovation; and long‐term partnership and marketing innovation are not significant; and technology‐based CRM has positive effects on all five types of innovation., – The findings suggest that not all CRM activities contribute to innovation programs, which clearly indicates the need for applying other mechanisms, such as supplier integration, to form a complete innovation program. Managers should align the development of their supplier management and CRM practices with the desired innovation capability., – The one‐to‐one relationships between CRM practices and innovation capabilities have not been properly examined. The findings suggest the need for more research in this area, and the statistical results provide managers with useful guidelines for implementing appropriate CRM practices to develop specific innovation capabilities to respond to enhanced competitiveness.

Achieving manufacturing flexibility through entrepreneurial orientation

Purpose – Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) purportedly enhances a firms competitive edge, but its alignment with specific dimensions of manufacturing flexibility has not been convincingly documented. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of several identifiable aspects of EO on particular types of manufacturing flexibility.Design/methodology/approach – Using the data collected from 115 motherboard manufacturers, the study employs multiple regression analysis to examine the effects of entrepreneurial practices on manufacturing flexibility.Findings – The statistical results lead to the following conclusions: autonomy, innovativeness, risk‐taking and proactiveness have significant positive effects on new product flexibility; autonomy, innovativeness, and competitive aggressiveness improve product mix flexibility; innovativeness, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness determine volume flexibility.Research limitations/implications – The research focuses exclusively on external manufac...

Close-loop or open hierarchical structures in green supply chain management under uncertainty

This paper analyzes green GSCM using network hybrid a hierarchical network.The result compared in open and close-loop structures to real situation.The close-loop hierarchical structure is closed to the real situation. This study aims to explore the differences between close-loop and open hierarchical structures, which are used in the analytical network process (ANP) analysis of green supply chain management (GSCM) under uncertainty. Specifically, this study examines the interdependence among the proposed aspects and criteria used to assess GSCM in two hierarchical structures and compares these results to those of a real situation. Additionally, the aspects and criteria involve qualitative preferences in GSCM evaluation. Hence, this study proposes to use both hybrid fuzzy set theory and ANP methods. Examining two types of hierarchical structure provides the ability to examine study problems that have similar aspects and criteria with respect to situations that occur in GSCM. This study argues that while many of the commonly employed close-loop and open hierarchical structures display numerous worthwhile operational processes, further refinement of the criteria and methods are needed to improve the field. The results indicate that the close-loop hierarchical structure more closely resembles existing applications. The managerial implications of this result are discussed, and concluding remarks are provided.

Benchmarking eco-efficiency in green supply chain practices in uncertainty

Benchmarking has not received much attention in the eco-efficiency literature because of the lack of an appropriate methodology to aid the electronic production process in green supply chain (GSC) practices. This study fills this analytical gap and suggests a rigorous quantitative approach for benchmarking eco-efficiency. However, there are qualitative and quantitative approaches to the eco-efficient criteria. Hence, this study undertakes fuzzy set theory within reference model (known as TODIM), a method that allows users to assess both qualitative and quantitative data together. This study is to aid traditional benchmarking activities and to provide guidance to practitioners and an example of a largest smart phone manufacturer across the globe to demonstrate the proposed technique with appropriate result to benchmark the eco-efficiency in GSC under uncertainty. TODIM is useful for identifying the best performing units against which to be benchmarked as well as for providing actionable measures for improvement of a firm’s performance. This study compares gain and loss functions as benchmarking tools in GSC practices. Implications for managers and directions for future research are discussed.

Evaluating the effectiveness of e‐learning system in uncertainty

– Electronic learning (e‐learning) has gradually become an important part of university education. There is a trend among universities in Taiwan to offer more and more e‐learning courses. The effectiveness of teaching or learning in an e‐learning system can be quantified by multi‐criteria measures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching or learning in an e‐learning system measures in linguistic preferences., – A generalized quantitative evaluation model that considers both the interdependence among measures and the fuzziness of subjective perception is currently lacking in the literature. The results indicated that the fuzzy analytical network process is a simple, suitable, and effective method of identifying the primary measures that influence the effectiveness of e‐learning, specifically in the context of interdependent measures and varying linguistic preferences., – The most significant measures of e‐learning effectiveness were the quality of the e‐learning system and learner attractiveness. Enhanced usage of multimedia features can attract learner attention and may eventually increase learner attractiveness. Reducing the waiting time for learning materials to load may improve the quality of the system. Furthermore, the management should actively maintain and improve the responsiveness of instructors to learner inquiries., – The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, the evaluation can be considered as a complex‐dependence, hierarchical decision‐making problem. This study contains a review of the literature and identifies 21 criteria and five aspects to measure e‐learning system effectiveness. Second, this study integrates fuzzy set theory and the ANP to develop an evaluation model that prioritizes the relative weights of the proposed measures. The proposed method can be used to handle dependence within a set of measures and to construct a hierarchical structure.

Green innovation in the automobile industry

Purpose – Despite the stimulation provided by market demand and green issues on business performance, the exact nature of the relationships among these aspects remains an issue of contention. This study sought to bridge this gap in the research by examining the effects of market demand on firm performance using green innovation and environmental performance as mediators. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The Taiwanese hybrid vehicle industry was targeted as the scope of research. Using random sampling method, survey questionnaires were distributed to retailers, wholesalers, and component sale firms in the industry through post and e-mails. AMOS 5.0 and the structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the hypotheses and the theoretical model. Findings – Except for the impact of market demand on environmental performance, all relationships were found to be significant. The mediating effect of green innovation which was proven to be significant, while that of envir...

Power of Branding on Internet Service Providers

Evidence shows that the internet has become a more powerful medium than the traditional mass media with the potential of developing even further. Interestingly, research regarding the management of brand power by internet service providers (ISP) is scarce at best. In order to fill this gap, this study investigates the relationships among brand image, brand awareness, brand trust, brand preference, and customer perceived value among the main ISPs in northern Taiwan. Findings reveal that the essence of branding (i.e., brand awareness and brand trust) is the forerunner of brand choice for ISP services. Moreover, the relative impact of brand awareness and brand trust on brand preference is also identified. Further, customer perceived value of internet service with respect to different brands varies considerably. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in this paper.

Hierarchical model of corporate social responsibility in environment

Facing with the environmental problems, the corporation social responsibility (CSR) whose realizing exist many influences form economic, society, and environmental dimensions is necessary to realize. This study focuses on environmental aspect to draw out the way for company can consider their capability to realize their social responsibility efficiently. This study uses the interpretive structure modeling (ISM) to understand the interactive relations of proposed criteria and then set up the hierarchical structure for them to help recognize the steps and the priority criteria for efficient environment CSR realizing. Driving and dependence power also use in this study to analyze deeper about the significant role of each criterion in the hierarchical structure. This study includes seven criteria to consider.