SERVICE-PROCESS CONFIGURATIONS IN ELECTRONIC RETAILING: A TAXONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC FOOD RETAILERS

Service-processes of electronic retailers are founded on electronic technologies that provide flexibility to sense and respond online to the dynamic and complex needs of customers. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of service-processes in electronic retailing and demonstrate their linkage to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The taxonomy is grounded in a conceptual classification scheme that differentiates service-process stages on a continuum of flexibility. Using data on electronic service-processes collected from 255 electronic food retailers, we identified eight configurations for the taxonomy. We also collected and analyzed publicly reported customer satisfaction survey data that were available for 52 electronic food retailers in the study sample. The results of this analysis indicate positive and significant correlation of the ordering of the taxonomy configurations with (i) customer satisfaction with product information, product selection, web site aesthetics, web site navigation, customer support, and ease of return, and (ii) customer loyalty. Taken together, the results of our empirical analyses demonstrate that the taxonomy captures information and variety within and across the electronic service-process configurations in ways that can be related to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

DESIGN AND DELIVERY OF ELECTRONIC SERVICES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CUSTOMER VALUE IN ELECTRONIC FOOD RETAILING

Electronic food retailers can satisfy their customers more effectively if they understand how this particular market works. As in other service segments, the emergence of electronic business-to-customer services in the retail food industry poses questions for managers about the design of new food retailing services and the redesign of existing services for delivery through electronic channels. Important topics include characteristics of electronic service offerings, the typical operational configurations used to deliver electronic services, and the ways in which they relate to the effectiveness of electronic service delivery. We address this issue by developing a product-process matrix for understanding and analyzing electronic retailing services in general. We tailor the matrix to food retailing in particular. The product-process matrix allows electronic food retailers to determine in advance what features they need in a web site to serve their chosen market effectively.Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Industry 4.0: current trend and future scope for further research in High Performance Manufacturing

The fourth industrial revolution requires that personalization processes of mass productions evolve towards flexible, interconnected, cloud production with greater automation in its machines and operations, called Industry 4.0 (I4.0). However, a homogeneous I4.0 concept, infrastructure state, and other issues are still scarce, making difficult to determinate in the specialized literature, the threshold between recent manufacturing and challenges that companies had to reach competitive advantage through I4.0 inclusion. Despite becoming one of the most popular strategies for continuous improvement, many plants are struggling to turn I4.0 into a success. Therefore, this paper analyzes the current trends of Industry 4.0 in High Performance Manufacturing (HPM), aiming to consolidate the existing knowledge on both subjects, providing a starting point for academics and practitioners seeking to implement I4.0 in plants and offering suggestions for future examination. This systematic literature review aims to synthesize, organize, and structure the stock of knowledge relating to I4.0 and HPM. The results show that HPM papers do not evidence a holistic evaluation of I.40 principles and foundations. There exists in HPM literature manufacturing practices that permit evaluate technology inclusion and their performance but not their autonomy, cloud computing and network between machines, supplier, and processes. The HPM papers trends are related with issues such as adaptability, flexibility, reconfigurability, new information technologies, modularity, automation, etc. Regarding study limitations, it is necessary to study current I4.0 adoption level, technological infrastructure, and cultural factors. The practical implications are focused in the identification of manufacturing practices used in specialized literature to measure how technology inclusion increase companies’ performance, proving the technological infrastructure and I4.0 maturity level. The originality of this paper converges on the presentation of some manufacturing practices applied on HPM studies which are associated with I4.0

Exploration of the relationship between information systems (IS) activity and marketing activity in the case of 'X' Airlines in developing country

Connecting IS/IT strategy with business strategy has become a crucial issue. The level of integration between business strategies requires explanation of interrelationships, in order to achieve business goals with the available resources and markets conditions. This research is a holistic examination of the relationship between IS, business strategy and marketing in 'X' Airlines. Marketing is considered as core activity. The research design involves qualitative method. It covers the literature on IS integration, a case study approach to understand 'how' and 'why' in using IS in 'X'. The research discusses existing frameworks, both theoretical and practical, of IS strategic integration. The results show that there are relationships of traditional kind as back office support of IS for business strategy and marketing within 'X'

Sustainable development strategies for product provision and manufacturing approaches

Manufacturing firms are under many pressures both financially and competitive which focus attention on the performance of their manufacturing processes. In this paper the opportunities for improving the environmental impact of products within the constraints of existing manufacturing infrastructure are examined. Approaches which support sustainability in two aspects are proposed, firstly, the provision of products to the users in ways which extend the product life and secondly, manufacturing approaches which reduce resource usage. The provision and manufacture of products in ways that are truly sustainable are inhibited by three issues: firstly, decisions are predominantly made solely from the perspective of the “vendor” (and do not consider the wider perspective); secondly, that generally the scope of business planning is still rooted in production/manufacturing costs (and not consumption costs) and thirdly, the current performance measures (e.g. KPIs) mainly focus on profitability. The rationale for this conference paper is the argument that there is a need to raise the awareness during the earliest stages of business planning that there may be alternative approaches which are more sustainable. The concepts presented here will underpin further research into performance measures which encompass sustainability and resulting business planning implications

Mass Customization in Wireless Communication Services: Individual Service Bundles and Tariffs

This paper presents results on mass customization of wireless communications services and tariffs. It advocates for a user-centric view of wireless service configuration and pricing as opposed to present-day service catalog options. The focus is on design methodology and tools for such individual services and tariffs, using altogether information compression, negotiation algorithms, and risk portfolio analysis. We first analyze the user and supplier needs and aspirations. We then introduce the systematic design-oriented approach which can be applied. The implications of this approach for users and suppliers are discussed based on an end-user survey and on model-based calculations. It is shown that users can achieve desired service bundle cost reduction, while suppliers can improve significantly their risk-profit equilibrium points, reduce churn and simplify provisioning.negotiation;mass customization;service configuration;mobile communication services;individual tariffs

An Empirical Study of the Impact of IT Intensity and Organizational Absorptive Capacity on Customer Relationship Management Performance

In recent years, e-Business has emerged as a mainstream business practice. Engaged in highlycompetitive Internet -enabled markets, many business organizations have turned to customer relationship management (CRM), a computer -based information system that allows them to gain greater insight into their customers’ needs, to gain a competitive advantage. Consequently, CRM has risen to become a key ebusiness issue. Yet, many critical organizational factors underlie the success and performance of CRM. This study examines the impact of information technology (IT) intensity and organizational absorptive cap acity on CRM practices and performance, and presents a research model. Data collected through a survey of Taiwan financial service institutions suggest that CRM practices mediate the effects of IT intensity and organizational absorptive capacity on CRM performance

Qualitative Case Studies in Operations Management: Trends, Research Outcomes, And Future Research Implications

Our study examines the state of qualitative case studies in operations management. Five main operations management journals are included for their impact on the field. They are in alphabetical order: Decision Sciences, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Journal of Operations Management, Management Science, and Production and Operations Management. The qualitative case studies chosen were published between 1992 and 2007. With an increasing trend toward using more qualitative case studies, there have been meaningful and significant contributions to the field of operations management, especially in the area of theory building. However, in many of the qualitative case studies we reviewed, sufficient details in research design, data collection, and data analysis were missing. For instance, there are studies that do not offer sampling logic or a description of the analysis through which research out-comes are drawn. Further, research protocols for doing inductive case studies are much better developed compared to the research protocols for doing deductive case studies. Consequently, there is a lack of consistency in the way the case method has been applied. As qualitative researchers, we offer suggestions on how we can improve on what we have done and elevate the level of rigor and consistency