Exploring the determinants of E-loyalty among travel agencies

This study aims to explore and empirically build up an e-loyalty model for the burgeoning e-service of Taiwan's travel agencies. Mailed data and data collected in personal from multiple sources is used for helping to identify the determinants of e-loyalty between Taiwan's wholesaler and retailer travel agencies. Several statistical techniques, including confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and a linear structural relationship (LISREL) are used, and a structural equation is implemented to test the e-loyalty model. The results indicate that Taiwan's wholesaler travel agencies might consider e-quality as well as trust as the most important antecedents to e-loyalty, whereas loyalty results in the increased transaction intentions of retailers. No related studies so far have analysed or tried to discern the cause-and-effect relationship between e-loyalty and transaction intention for travel agencies. This paper also proposes an optimal e-loyalty model that matches the essential development needs of B2B commerce transaction. Finally, the model herein illustrates how wholesalers can realise e-commerce strategic goals by acquiring the e-loyalty of retailer travel agencies.     

Strategic orientation and performance measurement model in Taiwan's travel agencies

This longitudinal study attempts to examine those effects and relationships of various performance measuring dimensions using the balanced scorecard conceptual framework on travel agencies under different strategic orientations in Taiwan. A three-stage research design is adopted to explore a valid and reliable e-commerce strategy performance measuring model for travel agencies. The research also uses the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to further empirically build up e-commerce cost leadership and differentiation strategy performance measurement models. The theoretical model identifies an underlying variable construct, dimensions, and their associated attributes which combine the traditional subjective or objective measures with operating measures of e-commerce strategy performances. According to this research, Taiwanese travel agencies consider five financial, three customer, four internal process, and three innovation and learning perspective indicators of performance measurement that also have cause-and-effect relationships among themselves under two different strategies. Finally, this paper proposes two optimal models that match the essential needs of e-commerce cost leadership and differentiation strategic development and overcomes the traditional performance measuring shortcomings.     

Examining E-Commerce Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: An Integrated Quality-Risk-Value Perspective

Because of the inherently virtual nature of online environments, maintaining customer loyalty on business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce websites is a challenging task. Although there have been many e-commerce studies that investigate customer loyalty in various B2C contexts, none of them have examined loyalty by simultaneously adopting quality-, risk-, and value-driven perspectives. This study integrates the quality-satisfaction-loyalty paradigm and the extrinsic cue-quality-risk-value chain to develop a theoretical model of customer loyalty that is based on an integrated quality-risk-value perspective. Data collected from 542 experienced online shoppers are used to validate the theoretical research model. Additionally, the mediation effects of perceived e-service quality, perceived risk, perceived value, and satisfaction on the relationship between electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and loyalty in B2C websites are validated using rigorous statistical methods. As hypothesized, the findings indicate that both positive and negative eWOM significantly influence perceived e-service quality and perceived risk and, in turn, significantly affect perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty via the mediation of perceived e-service quality and risk. This study substantially enriches our understanding of the success of B2C websites by highlighting how the sequential causal relationships among key extrinsic cues, quality, risk, and value can strongly influence customer satisfaction and loyalty on these websites. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Competitive strategies and performance in technology-based industries

A model is proposed for relating a technology-based firm's investments in R&D and marketing to its level of performance. The model is based on a homothetic performance function form that is maintained to best represent unique differences among the competitive strategies of firms or groups of firms within an industry. It also permits explicit estimation of returns to scale with respect to investments in R&D and marketing for the industry as a whole. The empirical analysis strongly supports the existence of a heterogenous competitive structure in a technology-based industry with the returns-to-scale estimates varying among the industries studied. The model implies that desirable increases in competition occur through the interaction of individual firms and possibly strategic groups. It also implies the possibility of less than perfect substitution of resources across competitive strategies within an industry. Thus future models of competition should not be based entirely on size-related measures.     

新零售背景下生鲜农产品电商竞争优势、问题及优化策略

随着零售行业的竞争加剧,传统零售模式受到巨大冲击,以线上线下物流相融合的新零售模式应运而生,为生鲜农产品电商发展提供了坚实基础。尽管新零售模式下生鲜农产品电商竞争优势明显,但其在冷链物流、产品质量标准及消费者购物体验等环节仍然存在问题。在对生鲜农产品电商发展现状、竞争优势及存在问题进行分析的基础上,提出了优化冷链物流配送体系、加强生鲜农产品质量标准化建设、提高用户场景化消费体验等优化策略。     

The erosion of pioneer advantage in the European mobile telecommunications industry

This paper studies first-mover advantage in the mobile telecommunications services industry. There are very few empirical studies of pioneer advantage in service industries, possibly because of the difficulty of building competitive advantages in an industry where innovations cannot be protected and competitive actions can be easily imitated. The empirical research was carried out using data from a sample of European mobile telecommunications firms from 1993 to 2005. The findings indicate that an order of entry advantage does exist, but that this advantage diminishes with time in competition. Regarding the impact of the main sources of pioneering advantages, the results show that it is harder for follower firms to erode first-mover advantages when the pioneer has prior experience in the industry and when there are two pioneers instead of one. Lastly, number portability between different operators was found to damage the competitive position of the pioneer firms.     

基于波特五力模型分析的旅游餐饮业发展策略探讨

按照迈克尔.波特的企业竞争战略理论,企业竞争优势是由产业结构决定的,是由一个产业中的五种竞争力量所决定的。要对抗这些竞争力量,企业就要采取相应的发展策略,建立自己的竞争优势。应用迈克尔.波特的五种竞争力模型,以我国旅游餐饮行业竞争态势为切入点进行分析,其结论是:我国旅游餐饮企业提升其市场竞争力,应该采取的发展策略是:实施品牌战略,发展连锁经营;加快自主创新,实施标准化战略;准确分析目标市场,积极培育顾客忠诚度;借鉴发达国家经验,探索有效营销策略。     

武汉电子商务产业集群协同创新发展问题研究

协同创新是电子商务产业集群提升竞争力的有效形式。本文首先探讨了电子商务产业集群协同创新的竞争优势,接着分析了武汉电子商务产业集群协同创新发展有利因素,最后提出基于价值链的以龙头企业为核心、官产学研二种适合武汉电子商务产业集群发展的协同创新模式。     

环境不确定性下农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效影响的实证研究

农产品电子商务是拓展农产品销售渠道、促进农业产业兴旺的重要力量。然而农产品电子商务企业亏损经营、甚至倒闭正成为该行业面临的巨大挑战。如何在复杂的市场环境下顺利开展农产品电子商务并获得企业绩效,亟需引起产业界和学术界的重视。基于动态能力理论,文章从组织敏捷性视角构建了环境不确定性下农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效的影响模型,讨论农产品电子商务能力对企业绩效的作用机制。实证结果表明,组织敏捷性对农产品电子商务能力和企业绩效之间的关系存在中介作用;环境不确定性的三个维度环境敌意、环境动态性和环境复杂性均阻碍了组织敏捷性对企业绩效的积极影响,但对农产品电子商务能力与组织敏捷性之间的关系没有显著调节作用。因此在环境不确定性下企业应合理配置自身的农产品电子商务能力,以此来提高组织敏捷性并获取竞争优势。     

The Influence of Corporate Environmental Ethics on Competitive Advantage: The Mediation Role of Green Innovation

This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the positive effect of corporate environmental ethics on competitive advantage in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry via the mediator: green innovation performance. This study divides green innovation into green product innovation and green process innovation. The empirical results show that corporate environmental ethics positively affects green product innovation and green process innovation. In addition, this study verifies that green product innovation mediates the positive relationship between corporate environmental ethics and competitive advantage, but green process innovation does not. Therefore, corporate environmental ethics can not only affect competitive advantage directly, but also influence it indirectly via green product innovation in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry. Taiwanese manufacturing companies can increase their corporate environmental ethics and green product innovation to enhance their competitive advantages.     

电子商务反不正当竞争消费者权益保护问题研究

在电子商务环境下经营者之间的竞争日益激烈,为了使自身利益最大化,经营者采用不正当竞争的方式获取竞争优势地位,不正当竞争会损害消费者的利益,侵害消费者的知情权、公平交易权及选择权.只有完善电子商务反不正当竞争消费者权益保护机制,才能实现实质公平,实现消费者的经济自由,保护消费者合法权益.     

The competitive response of small,independent retailers to organized retail: Study in an emerging economy

This study aims to decipher the competitive response of small, independent retailers in an emerging economy – India – to the onset of competition from large, organized retailers. The competitive behaviour is comprehended in terms of patterns of retail functional and business strategies, in further classifying the retailers into strategic groups, and finally by assessing the performance of these clusters. The study is based on a primary field survey of 605 grocery shops in two cities in India. The findings of the research point towards the presence of distinct strategies, strategic groups, and the positive impact on small retail performance of adopting distinct retail functional and business strategies.     

The Positive Effect of Green Intellectual Capital on Competitive Advantages of Firms

No research explored intellectual capital about green innovation or environmental management. This study wanted to fill this research gap, and proposed a novel construct – green intellectual capital – to explore the positive relationship between green intellectual capital and competitive advantages of firms. The empirical results of this study showed that the three types of green intellectual capital – green human capital, green structural capital, and green relational capital – had positive effects on competitive advantages of firms. Moreover, this study found that green relational capital was the most common among these three types of green intellectual capital, and the three types of green intellectual capital of Medium & Small Enterprises (SMEs) were all significantly less than those of large enterprises in the information and electronics industry in Taiwan. In sum, companies investing many resources and efforts in green intellectual capital could not only meet the trends of strict international environmental regulations and popular environmental consciousness of consumers, but also eventually obtain corporate competitive advantages. Dr. Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration in National Yunlin University of Science & Technology in Taiwan. His research focused on management of technology, innovation management, corporate environmental management, and patent analysis.     

Innovative international strategies

The analysis of practitioners’ narratives in four industries—cables and wires, paint, footwear chocolate, and sugar confectionery—shows that innovative international strategies drive the dynamics of international competition. The four industry case studies suggest an empirical classification of innovative international strategies based on four main dimensions: nature of the firm’s competitive advantage, process of internationalization, segment scope, and level of coordination across borders. From these dimensions derive six types of innovative international strategies that change the rules of competition. The findings support a proactive view of economic development and strategic management. This framework can inspire decision makers in charge of crafting consistent and effective international strategies, as it shows that strategic choice can transform industry structure.     

Managing E-commerce Platform Quality and its Performance Implication: A Multiple-Group Structural Model Comparison

This study develops a comprehensive e-service quality measure of e-commerce platforms as intermediaries, which considers both the functionality of the website itself and the performance assessment of independent sellers. The study further investigates the joint impacts of both the attributes of e-commerce platforms and the performance of independent sellers on users’ online shopping experience: perceived online transaction value and the ensuing satisfaction. Finally, the study examines the effects of e-service quality on the outcome variables across two major e-commerce platforms as intermediaries, eBay and Amazon. The multiple-group structural model analysis provides important insights to understanding differing impacts of different quality components on shopping experiences across various online marketplaces. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

A consumer typology based on e-service quality and e-satisfaction

The increasingly systematic use of the Internet in consumers’ decision-making processes, coupled with the development of e-commerce, has led researchers and practitioners to examine issues concerning service quality and satisfaction in an online context. This paper proposes a post-hoc predictive typology of e-satisfaction based on four dimensions of e-service quality. A sample of 1144 French consumers recruited on websites from three different industries (online travel, cultural goods (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.), and electronics goods) was used to generate the proposed typology. Using a mixture modeling regression, five groups of consumers who differed in terms of e-satisfaction and e-service quality were identified: the ‘involved’, the ‘browsers’, the ‘fun seekers’, the ‘careful’ and the ‘surfers’. All the four e-service quality dimensions investigated were found to influence e-satisfaction. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的理论框架——基于制造业的多案例分析

制造业服务化作为传统制造业企业重构竞争优势的重要战略手段受到学界高度关注,但对于以生产制造为主导的传统制造业企业应如何成功构建服务化战略竞争优势,企业在竞争优势构建中需要具备哪些关键资源或能力等问题,现有研究鲜有涉及。鉴于此,以我国三家具有代表性的典型制造业企业为例,运用扎根理论研究方法,分析影响制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的内外部关键因素,构建以“企业关键资源—企业独特能力—企业竞争优势”为框架的概念模型。研究发现,支持制造业服务化提供物开发与提供的内外软性无形关键资源是成功构建制造业服务化战略竞争优势的基础,而基于企业这些内外部关键资源衍生的能够支持客户特定情境服务需求的企业独特能力是成功构建制造业服务化战略竞争优势的关键,即制造业企业不仅要储备和培植以具有路径依赖、因果关系模糊的软性无形资源为主的内外部关键资源,而且要强化基于关键资源的企业独特能力的开发和培育。此外,组织内部管理层和员工层两个不同组成部分服务导向价值观的秉持对作用于制造业服务化战略竞争优势构建的企业独特能力有正向调节影响作用,即管理层和员工层秉持的服务导向价值观正向调节影响企业独特能力的强弱。     

浅析旅游电子商务发展现状

旅游电子商务存在网络化发展缓慢,网站目标不明确,信用体系建设不完善,资源整合缺乏良性互动,缺乏专业技术人才和资金支持等问题。应促进网络化发展,准确定位,完善交易法制环境,整合资源,重视人才培养。     

Global strategies of European firms

In this research four internationally operating business units of European multinational corporations are studied from a global strategy content perspective. In opposition to large parts of the existing global strategy literature, the observed pattern of strategic behavior exclusively related to neither prevailing generic strategies nor to any of the different content-oriented approaches to global strategy. Based on the empirical evidence, a taxonomy of four types of global strategies is identified. The taxonomy proposes to distinguish global strategies along two key dimensions: internal source of competitive advantage generation (upstream, downstream) and external focus of competitive advantage exploitation (country centered, country transcending).     

Critical success factors for e-commerce entrepreneurship: an empirical study of Thailand

The present study focuses on the relationships between entrepreneurial characteristics (achievement orientation, risk taking propensity, locus of control, and networking), e-service business factors (reliability, responsiveness, ease of use, and self-service), governmental support, and the success of e-commerce entrepreneurs. Results confirm that the achievement orientation and locus of control of founders and business emphasis on reliability and ease of use functions of e-service quality are positively related to the success of e-commerce entrepreneurial ventures in Thailand. Founder risk taking and networking, e-service responsiveness and self-service, and governmental support are found to be non-significant.