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CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Case Study
Case study research have been recognized as having gained acceptance over the past decade in the IS field (Benbasat et al. 1987; Orlikowski et al. 1991). Moreover, there is a growing tradition o use qualitative research approaches to study information technology (IT) phenomena(e.g., (Trauth et al. 2000). In order to explore the strategic use of IT from the perspective of the contexts in which firms are situated, we use in-depth case studies to examine the heterogeneous resources and capabilities possessed by firms and interpret the behavior or actions undertaken by firms. To better understanding the configuration and interaction of different critical resource and capabilities, we take the case study which is useful when a phenomenon is broad and complex, when a holistic, in-depth investigation is needed, and when a phenomenon cannot be studied outside the context in which it occurs(Bonoma 1985). Hence, holistic investigation which represents a key characteristic of case research, suits well our need to understand the complex and ubiquitous interactions among strategy, resource, capabilities.
Multi Case Design
According to Yin(1994) , in a multiple-case design, the selection should follow a literal replication logic (conditions of the case lead to predicting the same results) or a theoretical replication logic (conditions of the case lead to predicting contrasting results). We adopt the literal replication logic in multi case design since the market is mature and with few potential entrants.
Besides, we choose multi case design with the aim to demonstrate that the phenomena were not industry-specific thereby provide more generable results and managerial implication(Dubé et al.
2003; Yin 1994).
Case Selection
In today’s highly competitive retail environment, retailers are forced to differentiate themselves through pursuit of service-oriented business rather than focusing on merchandise and lower prices.
Such differentiation strategies are common in the convenience-store industry in Taiwan. Service firms tend to be less likely than manufacturers to claim implemented technologies either in the form of advanced machinery and equipment or in the form of intellectual property (Miozzo et al. 2001).
However, we found that firms in the convenience-store industry in Taiwan are proactively introducing IT, not only to enhance their efficiency but also to differentiate themselves using a greater variety of value-added services enabled by IT investments. In this study, we use multiple media kiosk (MMK) as an example to describe the strategies used by firms in the market. MMKs provide convenient means of payment for other services such as overnight delivery, banking, parking fees, or event tickets. Through combined adoption of different technologies, firms are capable of
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creating new services markets such as one-day delivery, or fresh food offering. Furthermore, these innovations in services also dramatically changed customer behavior and the rules of competition in the market. The question of how firms innovate such services is thus well worth exploring. The background profile of four companies is presented in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Profile of Studied Companies in Taiwan’s Convenience Store Industry
Company Company A Company B Company C Company D
Founded time 1978 1988 1989 1988
Number of stores 4,800 2,324 1,300 825
Revenue(US$M) 4,421.21 1,145.45 554.54 272.73
We examined the telecommunication industry in Taiwan because the industries are equally shared by three companies and they heavily launch IT-based service innovation to compete and search for sales growth and market shares. The basic background of companies in telecommunication is illustrated in Table 3.2, which contains the information about their business service provision and their recent market shares. In 1996, with the regulation of law in telecommunication, the telecommunication industry went into the liberalization which gave authority to operation in related services. The main objective of the liberalization of the telecommunications business has been to relieve the control of telecommunications operators, opening up the market, through a market competition mechanism for telecommunications carriers to strengthen R&D, to develop new services and set reasonable telecommunications charges, and to improve the quality of telecommunications services and to reduce the user burden.
Table 3.2 Profile of Studied Companies in Taiwan’s Telecommunication Industry
Company E Company F Company G
Founded Time Corporatization in 1996
1997 1997
Business Services
ADSL O O O
Cable X O(Taiwan Broadband) X Telecom O Acquired two regional
mobile operators,
Merged an islandwide mobile operator in 2004
ISP O(Hinet) X O(SeedNet)
Market Share (2009)
Subscribers 37% 25.0% 26%
Source: MIC (2009) Report of market share analysis of telecommunication market industry 2009
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3.2 Data Collection
We use primary data from interviews of each firm within the industry and secondary data from newspapers and trade magazines to assess the IT strategies of firms in service innovation. Several interviews were held to provide a deeper understanding of each firm’s strategy. The data collection involved five semi-structured interviews so far. The questions mainly focus on the service innovation and the strategic choice. Among those interviewed were IT manger, assistant managers in general manger office who responsible for the new initiatives and strategic planning, and the CEO of company D (see table 3.3).
Table 3.3 Profile of Interviews
Company Department Job Title Interview time
A General manager office Assistant manager 3hrs
Information division Manager 1.5hrs
B General manager office Assistant manager 2hrs
C General manager office Assistant manager 2.5hrs
Human resources department Manager 2.5hrs
D General manager office General manager(CEO) 3hrs
E Telecommunication Laboratory Assistant Researcher 1.5hrs F Product Technical Department Assistant manager 2hrs
Customer Retention and Added service marketing Department
Administrator 2hrs
G Internet Business Senior Engineer 1.5hrs
Business Strategic Decision-Making Information office
Manager 1.5hrs
3.3 Data Analysis
The data analysis follows the sequence as the Table 3.4 shows. The method and source comes from mostly the interview, and comment from company, and historical data review. The main analyzed target is the strategy firms applied and the resource reconfiguration process. We firstly provide the overview of the industry and some explanation of the IT-enabled service innovations. To understand the strategy they applied we verify their comment from the interview and also some documentation from the secondary on their strategy orientation and the competitive actions undertook in the service innovation achievement. The analysis of the strategy is based on the examination the endowment of the two categories of critical resource, the complementary resource and the IT capability. We also try to find out the possible events that drive them to change their strategy and the associated concern on the resource acquirement to fulfill the strategy. Generally, our analysis of strategy included service innovation case-based description, interpretation in the strategic orientation in terms of their initial resource set, turning point or event that drives them change and
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the afterword resource set after they undertook certain action on the resource (e.g. deployment, acquisition, exploitation ). We also analyzed the resource reconfiguration process to discover the how these resources are reconfigurated and what the impact will occur during the process of achieving the specific strategy. The analysis of cases of different IT-enabled service innovation was presented in the Appendix Table A.1 and Table A.2. These tables illustrated firm’s resource reconfiguration in the three stages of the introduction IT-enabled service innovation: initial, truing point, and afterword situation.
Table 3.4 Step of Data Analysis
Analysis step Analyzed Target Method and Source
Context Analysis Industry-level Firm-level
Documentation
Strategy Identification Strategies toward IT-enabled service innovation
Interview
IT Capabilities and Resource Critical and Strategic Resource Trade Magazine
Comment from company Turning point as strategies
change
The time and situation when they change the strategy
Historical Data Review Interview
Examine the reconfiguration of resources
How resource be reconfigured, integrated to become of new bundle of resource and capability
Historical Data Review Interview
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