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Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Research Design and Process
The research process of this study is shown in Table 3-1. The research objective is to determine whether Big Data provides sizable benefits to companies and identify the key factors affecting the Big Data-driven value-creation process. A qualitative case study is a useful tool for analyzing complex phenomena; to understand and compare similarities and differences of various cases, multiple case studies will be conducted (Baxter and Jack, 2008). This study will choose four enterprises that invested in Big Data as study targets, and use a semi-structured questionnaire (Appendix A) which is designed based on the reviewed literature to conduct an in-depth interview. However, prior to interviewing the selected firms, a contextual analysis was completed. To accomplish the first objective, this study summarized the possible benefits of Big Data according to multiple related stories that can help measure the business value created by Big Data in practical cases. To accomplish the second objective, this study summarized five primary key factors, enabling beneficial applications of Big Data according to multiple related studies.
Subsequent to the interviews, this study will try to validate the benefits Big Data has created for the respective companies and will attempt to analyze each key factor hypothesis, proposed based on the literature review, in four practical cases. Finally, this study will systematically compare the findings across the four cases and draw a conclusion based on the research results of the multi-case study and the literature review.
The conclusion of this study is expected to be a guideline that can provide insights for Big Data implementations.
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Table 3-1 Description of the research process
Activities Why How Results that enable Big Data to create business value.
Due to the exploding volume, variety, and velocity of data in financial industry, Big Data becomes an important role to improve financial companies’ competitiveness (Prabhakar and Maves, 2017). Although some financial service firms already used Big Data to support decisions (Barr et al., 2018), they are still interesting that what kind of benefit does Big Data bring to financial companies? What factors affects the result? In conclusion, financial industry is a suitable research target for this research.
For case selection, this study selected four companies from financial industry in Taiwan to interview. First, the selected study targets are all representative companies in financial industry with high competitiveness. Second, they must have implemented Big Data for at least two years because according to our preliminary survey, the impacts of Big Data may be insignificant if the implementing time is too short. Third, for confirming the difference between the traditional data analysis and the Big Data analysis, the data of selected cases must be difficult to be handled by traditional tools and technique. That is, referring to the selection criteria of a prior survey conducted by Intel IT center (Intel IT center, 2012) and a prior survey conducted by TDWI (Russom,
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2014), the data scale of our selected cases must be larger than ten terabytes or more than one billion of records. Alternatively, the data source of selected cases must include semi-structured data or unstructured data that is hard to be handled by traditional tools and technique. Last, for data collection, the senior IT managers of the cases must be willing to attend our interview and share their experience. In summary, the selection of the cases are based on the following criteria:
1. Representative firms with high competitiveness in financial industry.
2. At least two years of Big Data implementation.
3. The volume of data is bigger than ten terabytes or more than one billion of records, or the data source includes complex unstructured data.
4. Senior IT managers are willing to share information and experience about Big Data implementation.
3.2.2 Case Description
This study collected data by interviewing experienced IT managers who has involved in their companies’ Big Data implementation of the selected cases. Each manager is interviewed and discussed the process of implementing Big Data for their firm, the impact after implementing Big Data, and the critical factors of implementing Big Data.
The details of four studied companies are as follows, and the description of selected cases is summarized in Table 3-2.
Company A
Company A is a financial holding company with some key subsidiaries. The major subsidiary of the company is the bank, which is one of the highest growth banks in Taiwan with more than 100 domestic branches, and more than 20 overseas branches in 8 countries. Besides, the bank is currently the top three credit-card issuing bank in Taiwan. The contributed capital of company A is more than 3 billion US dollars, with total assets of more than 60 billion US dollars.
The company is a pioneer of financial companies in Taiwan that strives to use technologies, including Big Data technology, to launch many financial innovations.
Unfortunately, the top IT managers of the company were too busy to attend our interview, so we interviewed a senior IT manager who is familiar with the Big Data application of the company.
Company B
Company B is a financial holding company with key subsidiaries of a capital group company, a securities company, a bank, and so forth. Many subsidiaries controlled by
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the company leads the market in Taiwan, for example, the capital group company has more than 30% market share in Taiwan, and the market share of the security company’s underwriting business is about the top place in Taiwan’s market. The contributed capital of company B is more than 5 billion US dollars with more than 100 home branches, and more than 30 oversea branches in 4 countries.
For years, the company dedicates in financial technologies, and keeps trying to strengthen its competitive advantage by financial technologies. Fortunately, the Chief Technology Officer, a senior manager from Fintech and New Financial Service Department, and a senior IT manager from Operation and Technology Department were willing to attend our interview.
Company C
Company C is one of the largest insurance company in Taiwan with more than 400 home branches, more than 60 overseas branches, and more than 20% market share in Taiwan. The company has been in operation for over 50 years, and has more than 8 million customers now. The contributed capital of the company is about 2 billion US dollars, and the company has won many awards for many years.
For years, the company has invested many resources to develop new technology applications in the insurance field. Besides, the company also dedicated to training technology talents, including Big Data talents, in order to improve their services by technologies. Fortunately, the Chief Information Officer was willing to attend our interview and share his experiences.
Company D
Company D is a leading financial holding company with many subsidiaries such as bank, insurance company, and so forth. The company integrated the resources of its subsidiaries and improved overall operating efficiency. The bank is one of the largest bank in Taiwan and it is also the top 50 banks in Asia, and it is currently the top three credit-card issuing bank in Taiwan. The contributed capital of the company is more than 6 billion US dollars, and it has more than 150 home branches and more than 100 overseas branches in 14 countries. Moreover, the company has been in operation for over 50 years and has accumulated more than 7 million customers over the years.
The company keeps innovating and improving its services for decades, and it is a pioneer of financial technology in Taiwan. Fortunately, the Chief Technology Officer and a senior IT manager from Information Service Division were willing to attend our interview and share their opinions.
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Table 3-2 Description of selected cases
Company A Company B Company C Company D
Time 60 minutes 150 minutes 90 minutes 120 minutes
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