Yi-Wen Fan

TeamSpirit: Design, implementation, and evaluation of a Web-based group decision support system

Distributed teams can carry out critical tasks with appropriate decision support technologies. The architecture and detailed design of a Web-based GDSS, called TeamSpirit, are discussed to address the challenges of building a Web-based GDSS. A series of empirical studies are reported to assess the effectiveness of TeamSpirit in supporting distributed group problem solving when in-person facilitation is not possible. Results indicate that giving creative problem solving training to TeamSpirit participants had positive impacts on team performance. Users who received brief TeamSpirit training were able to design and facilitate virtual meetings by themselves and achieved better team performance than control groups.

Customer focus, service process fit and customer relationship management profitability: the effect of knowledge sharing

The research goal of this study is to determine how knowledge sharing among members of firms’ collaboration affects customer relationship management (CRM) profitability. Collaboration has to exhibit a good knowledge of the markets, customers, products and services, methods and processes, competitors, employee skills, and the regulatory environment of information systems. We formulated a CRM profitability model and used a mailed questionnaire survey to investigate travel agent managers and employees in Taiwan. And we randomly mailed 1200 questionnaires to wholesaler travel agents of which 337 were returned completed. The findings reveal the nature and practical complexities associated with knowledge sharing in travel industry collaborations, and suggest how collaboration can create an appropriate knowledge-sharing strategy and increase CRM profitability.

An empirical investigation of the impacts of internal/external facilitators on the project success of ERP: A structural equation model

In recent years many companies have improved their business performance and competitive position by implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This study goes beyond the boundaries of an individual organization to develop an integrated framework for successful implementation of ERP systems. We also discuss the internal/external facilitators which make this possible. Meanwhile, the authors utilize the SERVQUAL instrument, project management and information systems success theory in our empirically investigation of the roles and interdependent relationships of system vendors, consultants, project management and system performance, based on existing measures suitable for this study. The results reveal a significant causal relationship between system providers, implementation consultants and project management, and project to system performance, except directly from SERVQUAL to system performance. It is believed that an understanding of the relationships between the relevant factors for ERP success is necessary to satisfy the adopters requirement, both practically and theoretically.

The relationship between implementation variables and performance improvement of ERP systems

This study explores the relationship between implementation variables and performance improvements of ERP systems. DeLone and McLeans (1992) information systems (IS) success framework is adopted to develop performance measures to evaluate improvements in the performance of ERP systems after implementing ERP systems. The implementation variables investigated in this study are the ERP implementation status, ERP system source and ERP implementation strategy. Structured questionnaires were sent to companies listed in the top 5000 largest corporations of Taiwan. The research findings indicate that the strongest ERP systems performance improvement comes from companies that implement non-packaged ERP systems, using integral planning, and employing all the planned ERP modules.

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 DECISION MAKING IN SELECTING ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCIES: AN APPLICATION OF ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

The emergence of Internet‐based distribution channels has created both opportunities for and challenges to the travel agencies. Based on the customer‐value perspective, this study focused on exploring the relative weights of the nine proposed fundamental travel products from an Internet perspective. The study cohort comprised customers who had purchased room products from travel agencies websites, with data collected using a questionnaire survey. Customers were surveyed during a 3‐month period at Taipei International Airport. Excluding useless questionnaires resulted in 131 respondents, corresponding to a response rate of 18.71%. We found that privacy, safety, and product quality were the three most important factors influencing customer purchases of room products on the Internet. The results of this study have some implications for travel agencies—companies will need to make a significant investment in website design of safety mechanism, and the greater the effort managers make to alleviate these concerns, the more likely it is that consumers will visit and buy products on their website.

Proposing the content perception theory for the online content industry – a structural equation modeling

This study chooses the content perception perspective to develop a theoretical model portraying the psychological activities of Web surfers exposed to content Web sites. After collecting 549 empirical observations in a controlled lab environment, tests the theoretical relationships by using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results strongly indicate that effective content perceptual dimensions can help content Web surfers to develop positive attitudes toward content sites, which in turn induce favorable behavioral outcomes such as frequent site usage and loyalty. Such a proposed theoretical model not only has the potential to enrich the theoretical underpinning of Internet studies but also presents a practical framework to guide content strategy formulations for the online content industry. Detailed implications for both managerial research and practice are discussed.

Critical management issues in implementing ERP: empirical evidences from Taiwanese firms

This paper presents a recently completed survey of Taiwanese firms that focuses on their use or intended implementation of packaged ERP systems. The objective was to investigate the extent to which packaged ERP systems were applied in manufacturing and service firms, the motivation behind such applications, the implementation experience, and the benefits obtained from the implementation. This study examined critical management issues in ERP implementation and demonstrated how the evidences obtained could be applied to understand the experience and advance the success of ERP implementation.

Investigating Factors Affecting the Adoption of Electronic Toll Collection: A Transaction Cost Economics Perspective

In order to reduce the number of vehicles stuck in congestion, especially for stop-and-go traffic at toll plazas, the establishment of electronic toll collection (ETC) system has been a hot issue and dominant trend in many countries. However, despite the potential benefits for motorists, the utilization rate of vehicles has been lower than expected in Taiwan during the introduction stage. Drawing from the transaction cost economics (TCE) perspective, the objective of this study is to advance our understanding in the effects of transaction attributes (uncertainty, asset specificity, and transaction frequency) on the intention of ETC system adoption. Through empirical data collection and analysis from highway motorists who had not installed on-board unit (OBU) for ETC service in Taiwan, we found that uncertainty and asset specificity indeed positively engender motorists perceived risk. Moreover, results also reveals that perceived risk negatively influences the intention of ETC system adoption, and transaction frequency positively affects the intention for adopting ETC system. Implications for practitioners and researchers and suggestions for future research are also addressed in this study

Trends and developments in electronic lending: a preliminary research in Taiwan

This paper looked at E-LOAN benchmarking operation and reported on the issues related to the development of internet-based lending in Taiwan from an evolutionary perspective. Some driving forces for the changes and the opportunities and challenges offered by the growth of online lending business will be explored. In addition, authors not only provided a real-life Taiwanese example of how to initiate the development on the right way but also proposed a template framework with two dimensional studies. At last, this study concluded with some critical advantages and strategic factors to the case company as well as the industry generally.