Mobile Value Added Services: A Business Growth Opportunity for Women Entrepreneurs

Examines the potential for mobile value-added services adoption by women entrepreneurs in Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia in expanding their micro businesses; challenges, such as access to digital channels; and the need for services tailored to women

Exploring sources of competitive advantage in e-business applications: A cross-industries case study in mainland China

A review of existing literature revealed that little theoretical framework exists to capture e-business-enabled value creation through an integrated approach that includes the environmental view and resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, little empirical research has been conducted to test these theoretical frameworks, in particular in the Chinese business context. The aim of this research is to extend the theoretical and practical understanding of e-business-enabled sources of competitive advantage (SCA) in China. The value chain (VC) concept, virtual value chain (VVC) framework and RBV were identified from the literature as the key constructs to underpin the theoretical basis. The research design used a qualitative research methodology consisting of indepth case studies of nine leading Chinese companies in three industries - housing development, manufacturing, and B2C. The principle finding is the formulation of a theoretical framework for investigating ebusiness value creations which integrates the key constructs of the VVC, online information capabilities (OIC), value system and RVB. This research also proposes a typology of five generic types of key e-business applications which states clearly the relationships between key e-business applications and SCA. Finally, this research demonstrates that e-business value creation features differently between two groups: Internet pragmatist and Internet pioneers. The research offers a number of contributions to the field of e-business value creation. Firstly, it introduces the concepts of OIC and value system to the VVC. It also provides empirical test of the analytical framework. In addition, this research provides an indepth understanding of the relationships between types of e-business applications and key SCA. Finally, this research identifies and explains the key differences and similarities between the three industries, within each industry, and between the two key groups

Framework for Adoption of Customer Relationship Management System in Hospital

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems enable hospitals to provide better quality of services, to improve customers' satisfaction, and to increase their profitability and competitiveness. However, there is little attention and lack of adoption of the CRM systems in private hospitals in Malaysia. Moreover, few studies have investigated the factors influencing the adoption of the CRM systems in private hospitals in Malaysia. The main objective of this study is therefore to develop an adoption framework of the CRM system for hospitals.Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data from the top management employees in private hospitals in Malaysia. A total of 148 questionnaires distributed in which 79 questionnaires (53%) were returned. The data of 72 valid questionnaires were analysed using Correlation and Multiple Regression techniques to validate the framework. The framework, adapted from the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and the Model of Information System (IS) Innovation, was built to relate innovation, organizational, and environmental factors to the perception of the CRM system's benefits and implementation plans. Findings indicate that innovation, organizational, and environmental factors have positive significant relationships (p > 0.05). The results of the study such as the constructed framework, provide a set of adoption guidelines that contributes to a successful adoption and implementation of the CRM systems. The framework also contributes to the body of knowledge in the DOI theory, the Model of IS Innovation, and the CRM domain. In practical, the results have many implications such as emphasizing on the roles of the CRM systems on solving major problems in hospitals and encouraging the vendors of the CRM systems to improve their marketing strategies and to provide the CRM systems at reasonable prices

A customer relationship management case study : critical success factors in action

Critical success factors (CSFs) are seen as a way of identifying those elements of an information systems project that are critical for the success of that project. However, existing research about CSFs has been largely derivative in nature. Many researchers use the existing literature to derive their lists of CSFs for industries, IS domains (such as: EIS, ERP, CRM) and case studies. Moreover, these lists have come from only one targeted group of people, senior management. There is a need for a new perspective and fresh primary sources. This paper argues that after 27 years of CSF method application little theoretical development has occurred Firstly, CSFs are not easily deciphered or compiled; and secondly, hierarchical (multiple) lists of CSFs may present a better representation of the position. Using a case study in CRM adoption and implementation, this paper discusses research undertaken to determine the nature of CSFs and highlights the issues, and problems in CSFs thinking over the past two decades, while providing a new interpretation of CSFs in use

Improving coastal livelihoods through sustainable aquaculture practices - a report to the collaborative APEC Grouper Research and Development Network

Wild-harvest fisheries for live reef fish are largely over-exploited or unsustainable because of over-fishing and the widespread use of destructive fishing practices such as blast and cyanide fishing. Sustainable aquaculture – such as that of groupers – is one option for meeting the strong demand for reef fish, as well as potentially maintaining or improving the livelihoods of coastal communities. This report from a short study by the STREAM Initiative draws on secondary literature, media sources and four diverse case studies from at-risk reef fisheries, to frame a strategy for encouraging sustainable aquaculture as an alternative to destructive fishing practices. It was undertaken as a component of the APEC-funded project Collaborative Grouper Research and Development Network (FWG/01/2001) to better understand how recent technical advances in grouper culture and other complementary work – including that of the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network (APMFAN) hosted by NACA – could better support the livelihoods of poor coastal communities. (PDF contains 49 pages

Critical raw materials, the net-zero transition and the ‘securitisation’ of the trade and climate change nexus: pinpointing environmental risks and charting a new path for transnational decarbonisation

The exercise of environmental ‘leverage’ via trade-related measures and trade in environmental goods offer opportunities to tackle the climate crisis and advance transnational decarbonisation. Inward looking, adversarial and short-term national security-centred approaches, however, are disrupting the trade and climate change linkage. This article employs the race for critical raw materials and US and EU strategies to promote the net-zero transition at domestic level as case studies to illustrate the environmental pitfalls of the ‘securitisation’ of the trade and climate change nexus. The article demonstrates that the pursuit of strategic dominance in key net-zero sectors, increasing attempts to restructure and reshore supply chains, opportunistic forms of friendshoring and loose agreement on regulatory means jeopardise recourse to environmental conditionality and environmental ‘leverage’ and undermine decarbonisation at both national and transnational levels. This sheds light on the inherent tension between national security and climate change mitigation. Taking stock of these findings, the article advocates a radically different approach to the governance of the trade and climate change nexus

Integrating Organisational Change Management and Customer Relationship Management in a Casino

This research aims to solve the problem: how can casinos manage organizational change programs, and internal and external customer relationship management (CRM) programs? To find a solution, it uses two stages of qualitative methods: convergent interviewing and case research about four departments of a casino in Australia. After a thorough data analysis of documents and interview data, 12 themes were identified and they led to the development of a model of how organizational change management and CRM can be integrated to improve initiatives in organisations such as casinos. The model has seven core elements: vision, key challenge, objective, measure, strategy, initiative and outcome. A contribution is the development of this evidence-based model of links between the both types of CRM and organisational change management, with an action checklist for managers. Analytic generalisation beyond the research setting was done in this research, but more external validation could be done in future research. Managers could use the checklist of actions about this research\u27s integrated model, to reduce the high failure rate of change initiatives

Customer Relationship Management Systems Research: Voids in the Current Literature

The status of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) literature is investigated for the period of 2000 to 2004 in order to provide an overview of academic writing on the subject and to identify blind spots in the present literature. The top ten MIS journals and proceedings of four international conferences were systematically screened. Selected publications were reviewed in a structured way and categorized according to the different phases in the CRM lifecycle: adoption, acquisition, implementation, use & maintenance, evolution and retirement. It appears that less attention has been paid to implementation issues and that the evolution and retirement phases have not sufficiently been explored yet. With this structured overview of the literature and the identification of the voids, this paper offers suggestions for further research in the area and hopes not only to contribute to the orientation of our own research, but also to inspire future CRM research of peer researchers in our field