The relationship between information technology and competitive advantages among small and medium tourism enterprises: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah / Leviana Andrew

Understanding how IT contributes to enterprises’ competitive advantages has long been of interest. While IT improved the business operation and communication to the extent that some enterprises managed to be competitive through the utilization of IT system, some enterprises seemed do not benefit from it. This study seeks to clarify the relationship between IT and competitive advantages among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia by focusing on tour and travel agents in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Several theories such as the resource-based view, market-based view and Porter’s model of competitiveness are discussed to further explain the association between these two variables. IT Infrastructure, IT Capability Agent and IT Competencies are the elements of IT while Customer Service, Low Cost, Agility, Innovation and Differentiation are the elements of competitive advantages that were included in this study. The element of strategic planning is added in the relationship as a moderator to the relationship between variables. A total of 111 responses from 364 distributed questionnaires were used for the analysis of this study. Factor analysis extracted one more factor in IT elements which is Modularity and deleted out the element of agility from competitive advantages. The results showed that the relationship between IT and competitive advantages is positive, high and significant; with element IT Infrastructure has the most influence on competitive advantages. However, the result of hierarchical regression analysis suggested that strategic planning does not moderate the relationship but it is more of a factor contributing to competitive advantages. These results showed the importance of integrating IT into business operation to meet information processing demands in dynamic environments. Further, this paper provides both theoretical and managerial implications for the industry and suggestions for future research

Effects of the SA treatments on the electrolyte leakage rate (A) and MDA contents (B) in <i>T. grandis</i> seedlings grown under salt stress conditions.

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) according to an LSD test, n = 5.</p

The appearance of whole plants in <i>T. grandis</i> seedlings.

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA.</p

Relationship between MDA content and activities of SOD (A), CAT (B) and POD (C), and between REC and activities of SOD (D), CAT (E) and POD (F), respectively in <i>T. grandis</i> seedlings grown under 0.2% and 0.4% salt stress conditions.

<p>Each point represents the mean of 5 seedlings. *and **Significant at <i>P</i><0.05 and <i>P</i><0.01, respectively.</p

Effects of SA on the dry matter of the shoots, roots, and roots+shoots in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress (means±SD).

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Numbers followed by different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) according to an LSD test; the same letter indicates no significant differences between the treatments, n = 5.</p><p>Effects of SA on the dry matter of the shoots, roots, and roots+shoots in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress (means±SD).</p

Hypobaric Treatment Effects on Chilling Injury, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and the Ascorbate–Glutathione (AsA-GSH) Cycle in Postharvest Peach Fruit

In this study, hypobaric treatment effects were investigated on chilling injury, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the ascorbate–glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle in peach fruit stored at 0 °C. Internal browning of peaches was dramatically reduced by applying 10–20 kPa pressure. Hypobaric treatment markedly inhibited membrane fluidity increase, whereas it kept mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) concentration and cytochrome <i>C</i> oxidase (CCO) and succinic dehydrogenase (SDH) activity relatively high in mitochondria. Similarly, 10–20 kPa pressure treatment reduced the level of decrease observed in AsA and GSH concentrations, while it enhanced ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) activities related to the AsA-GSH cycle. Furthermore, comparative transcriptomic analysis showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with the metabolism of glutathione, ascorbate, and aldarate were up-regulated in peaches treated with 10–20 kPa for 30 days at 0 °C. Genes encoding GR, MDHAR, and APX were identified and exhibited higher expression in fruits treated with low pressure than in fruits treated with normal atmospheric pressure. Our findings indicate that the alleviation of chilling injury by hypobaric treatment was associated with preventing mitochondrial dysfunction and triggering the AsA-GSH cycle by the transcriptional up-regulation of related enzymes

Effects of SA on the chl (a+b) (A) and soluble protein contents (B) in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress conditions (means ± SD).

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) according to an LSD test; the same letter indicates no significant differences between the treatments, n = 5.</p

Effects of SA treatments on the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), internal carbon dioxide concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (Tr), and stomatal conductance (Gs) in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress conditions.

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Numbers followed by different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) according to an LSD test, n = 5.</p><p>Effects of SA treatments on the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), internal carbon dioxide concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (Tr), and stomatal conductance (Gs) in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress conditions.</p

Effects of SA on the RWC (A) and proline content (B) in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress conditions (means ± SD).

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P</i><0.05) according to an LSD test; the same letter indicates no significant differences between the treatments, n = 5.</p

Influence of the SA treatments on the SOD (A), CAT (B), and POD (C) activities in <i>T. grandis</i> grown under salt stress conditions.

<p>Treatments: T1, distilled water without SA; T2, distilled water with 0.5 mmol SA; T3, 0.2% NaCl without SA; T4, 0.2% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA; T5, 0.4% NaCl without SA; and T6, 0.4% NaCl with 0.5 mmol SA. Different letters indicate significant differences (<i>P<0.05</i>) according to an LSD test, n = 5.</p