Driving Efficiency through Technological Innovations

A case study of McGees POD Father System

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ABSTRACT
The current is designed to explore how organizations derive efficiency by the way of technological innovations. For this purpose the McGee which is Europes leading and most trusted Civil, Structural and Demolition Engineering Contractors Company was explored as a case study. The company has transformed to new technological innovation and is using PODFather for carrying out their operations. The data for the current study was collected by quantitative approach by employing questionnaire which was sent through email. the major variables which were explored are ease of use, efficient delivery, cost reduction, employee performance, firm performance and edge over competitors. The first three variables are used as constructs/measures of technology while the remaining three are the dependent variables. The results of the study reveal that PODFather has helped the company to achieve better efficiency in terms of firm performance and employee performance, moreover the technology lead to cost reduction by eliminating the obsolete ways of operations and created a paperless environment moreover the company was in a better position to deliver and transfer logistics on time all these factors provided the company a competitive edge over competitors. This is the result of adoption of latest technology which is the life blood of todays businesses.

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Acknowledgement

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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. II Acknowledgement................................................................................................................... III List of tables................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. 1. Introduction:..................................................................................................................... - 1 1.1 McGee Group ........................................................................................................... - 3 McGee Aim ....................................................................................................... - 3 -

1.1.1 1.2 1.3

The PODFather system: ............................................................................................ - 4 Aim and objectives of Study: .................................................................................... - 4 -

The following are the aim and objectives of the current study: .......................................... - 5 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.4 1.5 1.6 Aim of study:..................................................................................................... - 5 Objectives: ........................................................................................................ - 5 -

Research questions: ................................................................................................. - 5 Rationale of Study ..........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Organization of the study: ........................................................................................ - 6 -

Chapter 1: ......................................................................................................................... - 6 Chapter 2: ......................................................................................................................... - 6 Chapter 3: ......................................................................................................................... - 6 Chapter 4: ......................................................................................................................... - 6 Chapter 5: ......................................................................................................................... - 6 2. Literature Review: ............................................................................................................ - 7 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 Technology importance ............................................................................................ - 7 Role of innovation .................................................................................................... - 7 Technology is man created innovation .................................................................... - 9 Organization faces problems adapting technological innovations .......................... - 9 Technology dominated world................................................................................. - 10 Technology is human dependent ........................................................................... - 11 Organizations Adapting Technological Innovation for the growth and Survival .... - 12 Logistic, IT(Information Technology) and the organization size............................ - 13 Information & Communication Technology in Logistics ........................................ - 14 Supplier & Customer relationship with logistics services....................................... - 15 PODFather .............................................................................................................. - 15 Page IV of 92

2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15

The PODFather system ........................................................................................... - 16 PODFather Use in Industry ..................................................................................... - 16 PODFather speedy management at Balfour Beatty ............................................... - 17 PODFather at Oxfam for enhancing working practices .......................................... - 17 -

2.16 PODFather use at BCW Group (UKs premier provider of credit management and debt recovery services) for high efficiency & real time Solutions...................................... - 18 2.17 2.18 2.19 3. Increasing Profitability in logistics .......................................................................... - 19 Service Quality in logistics ...................................................................................... - 20 Theoretical frame work: ......................................................................................... - 22 -

Research Methodology: ................................................................................................. - 24 3.1 Research Approach:................................................................................................ - 24 Quantitative method: ..................................................................................... - 25 Qualitative Research: ..................................................................................... - 25 -

3.1.1 3.1.2 3.2

Case Study: ............................................................................................................. - 27 Cross sectional Case study:............................................................................. - 27 Multiple Case studies: .................................................................................... - 28 Single case study............................................................................................. - 28 -

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.1

Types of case studies: ............................................................................................. - 29 Instrument Development: ...................................................................................... - 30 Questionnaire: ........................................................................................................ - 31 Sampling Technique to be employed: .................................................................... - 32 Sample Size: .................................................................................................... - 33 -

3.1.1 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.

Data Coding and Feeding:....................................................................................... - 34 Ethical Issues: ......................................................................................................... - 34 Summary of Research Methodology: ..................................................................... - 34 -

Findings and Analysis:..................................................................................................... - 35 4.1 4.2 4.3 Socio-demographic Analysis: .................................................................................. - 35 Correlation: ............................................................................................................. - 38 Regression Model: .................................................................................................. - 40 Objective1:...................................................................................................... - 40 Objective 2:..................................................................................................... - 43 Objective 3:..................................................................................................... - 46 Objective 4:..................................................................................................... - 47 -

4.3.1 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.4

Question: Give your opinion about PODFather: .................................................... - 48 Page V of 92

5.

Conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and future research: ............. - 50 5.1 Recommendations, limitations of the study and future research: ........................ - 53 -

References: ............................................................................................................................. - 54 Appendix: 1............................................................................................................................. - 55 Appendix 2 .............................................................................................................................. - 58 Regression results: ............................................................................................................. - 58 Appendix 3:............................................................................................................................. - 64 -

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Table 1 ............................................................................................................................ - 36 Table 2 ............................................................................................................................ - 36 Table 3 ............................................................................................................................ - 37 Table 4 ............................................................................................................................ - 39 Table 5 ............................................................................................................................ - 58 Table 5.1 ......................................................................................................................... - 58 Table 5.2 ......................................................................................................................... - 59 Table 5.3 ......................................................................................................................... - 59 Table 6 ............................................................................................................................ - 59 Table 6.1 ......................................................................................................................... - 60 Table 6.2 ......................................................................................................................... - 60 Table 6.3 ......................................................................................................................... - 60 Table 7 ............................................................................................................................ - 60 Table 7.1 ......................................................................................................................... - 61 Table 7.2 ......................................................................................................................... - 61 Table 7.3 ......................................................................................................................... - 61 Table 8 ............................................................................................................................ - 61 Table 8.1 ......................................................................................................................... - 61 Table 8.2 ......................................................................................................................... - 62 Table 8.3 ......................................................................................................................... - 62 Table 9 ............................................................................................................................ - 62 Table 9.1 ......................................................................................................................... - 63 Table 9.2 ......................................................................................................................... - 63 Table 9.3 ......................................................................................................................... - 63 Firm performance ........................................................................................................... - 64 Table 10 .......................................................................................................................... - 64 Table 10.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 65 Table 10.2 ....................................................................................................................... - 66 Table 10.3 ....................................................................................................................... - 67 Table 10.6 ....................................................................................................................... - 69 Cost reduction: ............................................................................................................... - 70 Table 11 .......................................................................................................................... - 70 Table 11.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 71 Ease of use ...................................................................................................................... - 72 Page VII of 92

Table 12 .......................................................................................................................... - 72 Table 12.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 73 Table 12.2 ....................................................................................................................... - 74 Table 12 .3 ...................................................................................................................... - 74 Employee performance .................................................................................................. - 75 Table 13 .......................................................................................................................... - 75 Table 13.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 76 Table 13.2 ....................................................................................................................... - 76 Efficient delivery ............................................................................................................. - 77 Table 14 .......................................................................................................................... - 77 Table 14.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 78 Table 14.2 ....................................................................................................................... - 79 Table 14.3 ....................................................................................................................... - 80 Edge over competitors: .................................................................................................. - 81 Table 15 .......................................................................................................................... - 81 Table 15.1 ....................................................................................................................... - 82 Table 15.2 ....................................................................................................................... - 83 Table 15.3 ....................................................................................................................... - 83 Table 15.4 ....................................................................................................................... - 84 -

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CHAPTER 1
1. Introduction:
Over the last few decades, technology has been viewed as a primary source through which mangers and leaders tend to execute and implement business approaches and drive innovation (Frery, 2006). Likewise, currently the most exhilarating and disruptive innovations are happening at the intersection of technology and market insights. However, many companies which were earlier following the traditional business approaches are now adopting technology driven strategies to run their business in order to survive in the competitive environment of today (Salavou et al., 2004). The companies adopting technological innovations and technology driven strategies have many implications such as technology really matters if the companies want to grow, further technology is also very important for companies to be competitive as technology is being the basis of many innovations in telecom industry, companies providing household appliances and vending machines, banking sector, companies providing delivery services etc. (Berman and Hagan, 2006). According to Gaynor (2002), technological innovation in the competitive environment of today is a leading and central aspect that helps companies maintain their performance and compete with the rest of the organizations; moreover it works as a catalyst or fuel in the growth and expansion of the businesses around the world. It allows organizations to further maintain their performance with the same forces and can derive efficiency and success. In the current situation where the technology is boosting and new discoveries are taking place every day, those companies which adopt and bring change in the way they conduct their operations by employing latest technological
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methods and shedding the obsolete technological equipments are actually the companies which succeed, strive and survive in the neck to neck competition and these are the companies which survive for a longer period of time. However, with the changing trends of technology the customers are also having priorities accordingly, like wise customers prefer to get products and services from the company which provide them the latest products and efficient services. Therefore it has become imperative for the organization to adopt the latest technology and provide their customers with latest products and services (Porter and Stern, 2001). Professionals from all over the world working with technology have identified the need of adopting technological innovations in all type of organizations and with software intensive systems. However professionals realized that regarding the knowledge and different working environments of different organizations the need for technological innovations and software intensive systems vary from organization to organization. But irrespective of the type of organization whether it is an aerospace organization or organization providing delivery services or a government institute a common thing which is required by all the organization is the change in terms of technology and business processes. A pervasive lesson to be learned and shared with technology organizations is that the most predictable aspect of the technology environment is that it is truly unpredictable and is always in a state of change (Schaer, 2001, p. 2) The rationale of this study is to investigate the impact the technology has on a business. However, the major purpose of adopting technology is to update the business requirements and add a value to the business (Berman and Hagan, 2006). In the same way, technology has brought a lot of innovation in the field of information technology which has transformed the world into a global village by the means of internet. Such

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changes when adopted by organizations bring drastic changes and success for them (Hess, 2005). The focus of the study will not be a supply-chain perception the study will focus investigating the more general context of innovation and technology and how this may work in practice in an organization. For this purpose the current study has targeted
McGee which has adopted innovative technology in its operations such as the PODFather system for logistic management of goods to be transported to sites for construction

1.1 McGee Group

McGee Group is one of Europes leading and most trusted Civil, Structural and Demolition Engineering contractors. Its a London based group established over 50 years, a large and very well known group that have been awarded many major, national projects and pride themselves on being innovators in the civil engineering and demolition sectors as their major core businesses. 1.1.1 McGee Aim

Like other organization the major focus of McGee is to achieve high customer satisfaction which interns brings customer loyalty toward the selection of organization and results in customer retention which is organization ultimate goal as the retention of the customer confirms the organization business success. McGee during its working tenure has achieved many huge projects and also worked diligently for the best customer satisfaction. As McGee believes that customer is their fuel for their business generation so their satisfaction is of first and major priority. Furthermore McGee group has happily announced that one of their projects, student accommodation project for Balfour Beatty in Newcastle has won the coveted Specialists Awards 2012. For this achievement McGee has warmly thanked all their project working staff for their

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considerable efforts huge commitment and dedication till the attainment and smooth completion of the project. McGee has made a good trusted name during their 50 years business working. McGee has not reached the success at once they availed this success in a period of 50 years and strengthen their roots in all sectors of the construction industry and is now regarded as one of the leading specialist contractors in the United Kingdom. The winning of the specialist award 2012 has put light on their good expertise, high level of innovation, their strong capability and the strength of the organization taking huge projects and performing them really well. Like other successful organization McGee has also planned to use the PODFather for combating the mountain of the paper tickets that were used with their large scale earthworks projects, McGee was earlier following the traditional paper work for their conveyance notes after the deployment of PODFather for Earthworks system they replace their traditional paper work. Initially the deployment meant to check the vehicle and material movement at the civil site. Therefore the company required such a management system to manage the operation well.

1.2 The PODFather system:

PODFather is another innovation in the field of technology is used to transfer data and information from one place to another. It is widely used by companies to reduce the haulage cost and the cost spent on obsolete methods providing the companies with an efficient solution for delivery of products (Feng & Huang, 2006). Also the implementation of the PODFather system has reduced the administrative, paper and printing costs significantly.

1.3 Aim and objectives of Study:

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The following are the aim and objectives of the current study:

1.3.1 Aim of study: The main aim of the current study is to explore how PODFather which is a new innovation in technology is deriving efficiency in McGee organization. 1.3.2 Objectives: To critically analyse the role of technological support innovation for business success in the exceedingly competitive logistics industry from literature point of view. The following objectives will be attained in through primary resources: To identify to what extent the use of technology (PODFather) has helped McGee to reduce costs and enhance business performance. To investigate, in particular, the attribute of 'ease-of-use' of technology (PODFather) in relation to enhanced employee performance and business performance. To explore the claim of efficient delivery through technology (PODFather) and how this impacts on business performance. To examine the extent to which technology (PODFather) has provided McGee with a competitive edge.

1.4 Research questions:

The following research question would be covered in the current study:

What are the characteristics of the software management system PODFather and how it is making an impact on business operations?
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1.5 Organization of the study:

The current study is comprised of following chapters. Chapter 1: This chapter is based on the brief introduction of the subject under investigation and includes the objectives of conducting the current study; it also contains the research question of the study and the rationale for conducting the current study. Chapter 2: The chapter 2 of the current study consists of the detailed literature review which consists of different studies that are already done on the same subject in past. With the help of these studies the researcher can develop a better understanding of the selected topic. Chapter 3: The chapter 3 of the current study comprise of the research methodology that is designed in order to collect the data and design a complete methodology with the help of which the current study will be conducted. Further the research methodology will contain the technique through which the results of the study will be interpreted. Chapter 4: This chapter will include the analysis of the data collected through the methodology explained in chapter 3; further this chapter will discuss the findings in light of literature and will reveal whether the literature supports the findings of current study or oppose the findings. Chapter 5: This chapter of the study concludes the study providing necessary implications for the managers and also enlisting the limitations of the study and providing the scope for future research.

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CHAPTER 2

2. Literature Review:
This chapter highlights the previous literature that is already done on the subject of current study.

2.1 Technology importance

Technology is always a very efficient application of physical forces for the production of material and services. Technology can best be explained as a tool, a well-made system, a method or a procedure, a set of knowledge used in the formation of goods and the provision of services. Technology is usually a set of the hardware, software, and brain ware (Dauda, 2012). Hardware is the materials structure i.e. the equipment or the machinery. Software is the knowledge of using the hardware to carry out the required tasks Brain ware is the reason for using technology in a particular way.

The dependency of all three is upon the need of the work and its demand for the better growth and the success of an organization and the operation of that technology. Organization and nations need to cope up along with the changes in the technological needs to meet the expectancy and the innovation need of the society and the market. The status of nation development also plays a vital role here as under develop and developing nations have not much promoted the technological innovation due to their under development and poverty nature. So technology is an expensive process that cant be easily adopted but technological innovations are very important for organizational performance.

2.2 Role of innovation

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The role of innovation is huge world wide as it plays as a crucial factor in the competitive world of technology today. Innovation plays as a fuel for the fast growth of organization and better success of organization. Innovation works as an engine that let the sustainability and capability of the organization in the huge global economy (Gaynor, 2002). In the fast world of today organization are under great pressure of attaining the excellence while focusing on big competitions, reformation, reasonable cost, with high quality of service and production and customer service are not enough. Porter and Stern (2001) focuses on the technological innovation needs for the company growth and sustainability and said that to compete the market industry a company is always in need of the innovation in their technological advancement that can be in term of their product or process. According to Peter Drucker (2002) all the organizations are in need of a capability and that is innovation for their business their growth and their sustainability. Innovation comes with the introduction of technology in todays world, technology is a necessity for the growth and the success of any organization (Gaynor, 2002; McDermott and Sexton, 1998). For increasing their service productivity, many organizations focus on the need of using mechanization more rather than using human force. However, it has also been observed that the high use of mechanization not always results in very high quality of productivity and services (Gaynor, 2002; McDermott and Sexton, 1998). Almost more than a century the business people consider technology as their huge mean of working system of the strategies implementation and execution. Todays improvements are the result of the market needs and the technological information, this shows that technology is an input that smoothly starts a process many of the companies that have taken the initiative of working with strategies based on technology (Berman and Hagan, 2006)

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2.3 Technology is man created innovation

Technology is the result of humans learned and acquired knowledge or the technical skills individual acquires for doing right things (Khalil, 2000). The acquisition of the technology its use and the maintenance are the major finding factors for the proper survival in all the organisations. Technological innovation is considered as the organization lifeblood, and all this happen due to the human involvement and intervention (Zahra & Covin, 1994). Quinn (1969) said that it is important for any organisation to check the technological changes, then training and motivation of employees to innovate, because technology covers all the aspect in any organization. So with the introduction of the technology an organization faces problems to like training that not usually produces results and is cost increasing as well. (Kubbr, 1977) observed that the introduction of the new technology in any organization changes the operational procedures of the organization and that cannot essentially be useful it can be positive as well as negative.

2.4 Organization faces problems adapting technological innovations

The organization have to face many challenges in the global economy especially the technological change, technological changes determines the organizational

competitiveness. According to Merrifield technology changes includes complete knowledge, skills and procedures and physical requirement of the innovation technological tools and machines (Merrifield, 1983). The effect of the rapidly changing technology has brought about the need for the hiring of high skilled and knowledge workers and giving them the motivation to cope up with the provided technological change. These technological innovations is man dependent as proper need of human
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involvement is required for its working and implementation

The advancement of technology affects the effectiveness of the implementation of the new technology which makes possible the use of service methods that are both more efficient and more effective. For example, the airline passengers dont like the airport check-in kiosks when they were initially installed, but with the passage of the time, this technology has became more mature, comfortable for the passengers and they get benefited with this offer. Usually the results of improved efficiency and effectiveness is because of the technological innovation and improvement (Baily and Lawrence 2001; Meuter et al. 2000; Meuter et al. 2005), the result of improved technological innovation also improves the service quality provided by the organizations

2.5 Technology dominated world

Logistics and supply chain innovation are becoming a topic high on the international research agenda as well as in practice. New business models based on new ways of designing logistics flows and supply chains have emerged during the past couple of decades. Companies such as IKEA, Dell and the Spanish apparel retailer Zara are
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renowned in the global business world for their innovative thinking in logistics and supply chain solutions for reaching their customers. Logistics and logistics innovation are, however, not only about industrial production and products. Recently, firms and organizations from other sectors such as healthcare have started working with practices and programs to increase the flow of production. (Bartlett, 2009; Su et al., 2009). In today's information technology dominated world, equipment and machineries have become as complicated as they are made up of many different technologies and tools. The combination of the optics and the electronics created optoelectronics, that has given birth to the optic-fiber communication system same as the combination of mechanical and electronic technologies has given rise to the mechatronics revolution, which has changed many industries. These all are the result of much improved technological innovation that are in many developed and some developing countries of the world.

2.6 Technology is human dependent

Technology from its birth has worked great in the improvement of human resource and their organisational performances. However human resource management are still occupying a very critical position in the complete setup of any organisational settings. It is the human resources whose innovation brings about the huge change and had promoted the technological development in all nations and industries. The major reason of the Japanese success in the technology and different sciences was because of the high level literacy rate among their citizens; their traditional systems of business management follows the technological awareness and also use them in their daily routines for better awareness and improvement (Deming, 1986)

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Pagiani (1997- Pg 8) corroborated this and said "We are in the midst of a new wave of knowledge management, knowledge has emerged as a critical factor of production, as important and sometimes more important than capital ". According to him

engineering need is crucial at all aspects, maintenance improvement, motivation, trainings and development of engineers and scientists for improved technological innovation is very important. Pagiani studies shows that technology is human dependent innovation so alone its nothing.

Galbraith (1988) stated that all organisations are in need of innovation that are helpful for their survival that is, innovation regarding their management structure, management practices, rewards and introduction of new technology required as market need of innovation.

2.7 Organizations Adapting Technological Innovation for the growth and Survival
Due to the dynamic market the high need of the innovation is the first requirement of an organization. Organizations have to face changes as the demand of client changes with the passage of time so organization are in need of innovations the most and that innovation is usually the introduction of the required technology for the improvement and the requirement as a result of changing need. Technological improvements are meant for time saving and efficient working. As long ago as 1950, Schumpeter said that organizations are in need of innovation in order to work and survive. According to Bessant et al. (2005) the role of innovation is very important in success and growth of an organization. He called it as renewal process in any organization as the changing demands and organization have to cope up for survival.

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Organization needs to be up-to-date

According to Kelley and Littman (2006) organizations have to value all types of the innovation, they need to focus on the changing demands and adaptation accordingly. They explained the importance of innovation at every point of the organizational development, in business and among every team member. If organization failed to value innovation it loses its market worth. Market adapts changes and technology brings those changes. An organization need to develop more value and efficiency than its rivals as this shows the competitive level of any organization (Porter, 1985; Brandenburger and Stuart, 1996).

2.8 Logistic, IT(Information Technology) and the organization size

IT has bring about a revolution in food selling and delivering etc specially the logistics related operations (Smith and Sparks, 1993) and IT has also played an important function of cooperating ware house operations with logistic in organization (Davis, 1995). Though, earlier studies have specified that there is a strong association amongst the logistic volume and the IT system. Pokharel (2005) explained according to the findings of his studies that the IT system improves with the with the improvement in size of the logistics organization. Contrary to Pokharel, Morrell and Ezingeard (2002) concluded from their studies that small organization are under greater influence of facing problems then huge organizations after introduction of the IT, this is due to weak economy and organizational ability. According to Smith and Sparks IT has grown huge importance in retail section (Smith and Sparks, 1993). The logistics approach of any organization is based on its logistic capabilities (Fabbe-Costes and Colin, 1999),
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while IT approach provides organization with the new ways to do better than rivals and also reducing down the cost of the organization (Porter and Millar, 1995).

2.9 Information & Communication Technology in Logistics

Customer satisfaction is an important and necessary for an organization as only satisfied customer brings business. Customer loyalty and customer satisfaction are two different definitions. The customer satisfaction comes with meeting the customers need and expectation while customer loyalty assesses about the buying and the rebuying of the customer. Satisfaction is necessary and sufficient condition for gaining customer loyalty without satisfaction (Richheld, Markey & Hopton 2000; Anne, 2003). The logistic services in a supply chain involves the proper arrangement, designing, executing and running the resources, and the information exchange in order to support functions as procurement and manufacturing. The logistics companies adopt customer service as their strategic feature rather than their cost feature and this is for gaining their strategic management the logistics companies use high class logistics tools and procedures (Bowersox and Closs, 1996) among which the information and communications technology (ICT) is the most important. ICT plays a very positive role on the working and performance of a company (Byrd and Davidson, 2003). ICT requires a need of restructuring of logistics processes (Rizzi and Zamboni, 1999). ICT also provides helpful role in the organizations for improving organizational efficiency and efficacy (Cohen et al., 2002). ICT helps to carry out the activities faster, support independent decision-taking processes, and also allow distributive operations (Huang and Nof, 1999). The use of ICT makes the processes more transparent to the stakeholders, which in turn, could lead to adoption of better business practices to meet the customer service levels (Bharadwaj, 2000; Yazici, 2002; Andersen, 2001) and increase in organizational ability to respond to a vibrant
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environment (Monteiro and Macdonald, 1996) thus decreasing the rate of operation to half as that of the traditional business practices (Gattorna and Berger, 2001).

2.10 Supplier & Customer relationship with logistics services

According to Bloemer and Kasper (2004); Oliver (1999) there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, i.e., higher the satisfaction level of customers the higher the loyalty they show in result to the services provider (Carter, 2008). Fader and Schmittlein found a positive relation among market share and loyalty (Gianmario & Emanuela, 2002). Many researchers conclude that the services quality is by far a critical determinant of product quality perception. Logistics outsourcing consists of an association among a provider of logistics services and a customer to whom the provider offers his range of offering services. It is usually a long-term connection and a relationship with some shared benefits (Murphy and Poist, 1998). According to Morphy and Poist customer and the service provider have some shared benefits, the relationship generally grows deeper in search of the mutual profits that working together can provide (Murphy and Poist, 1998).

2.11

PODFather

PODFather is a tool that provides completely incorporated support office traffic and it is a mobile PDA system that is having a huge ease of use separately or completely iwith some existing IT systems, The PODFather designed to cope with haulage and logistics operations of all the types and the sizes no matter how difficult they are. (www.thepodfather.com) The PODFather is designed in away to track all the jobs from the mian office and assign to the drivers and then back again to office through the mobile networks. An

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electronic Proof Of Delivery tickets (PODs) are received by both the office and the staff and by the valuable customers aswell within few seconds of the task and delivery being done, where it is automatically archived so there is no manual work. It provides a hassle free paper work that is cost cutting, time saving, fast, reliable, accurate and very simple to follow. It helps in : Good cash flow: no pending invoices as no paper work hassle and real time entry No Administration : has reduced the manual involvement Good Customer Services: customer are satisfied as receiving real time solution and as organization knows that customers are the asset for any organization. Increased sales: real time solution brings out customer satisfaction and organization feel the comfort of staying ahead from competitors

2.12

The PODFather system

PODFather is a simple Proof Of Delivery system that helps providing data and information from the working sites to the receiving office of the company the directly encoded data reduces the logistics cost of the company (Feng & Huang, 2006). The PODFather system has proved helpful in reducing the administrative, paper and printing costs significantly.

2.13

PODFather Use in Industry

PODFather is a tool a system that is helping companies to reduce the burden of paperwork. Many companies have installed the PODFathers handheld solution for the elimination of paperwork which resulted in cost efficient solution. The PODFather is a top integrated system for proof of delivery and is deployed by many organizations like
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McGee, Balfour Beatty Company, C Butt Limited, Oxfam etc. These companies are in generally concerned with the logistic services and they all focus on decreasing the trouble produced by paper based logistics systems. During a last year event of the PODFather RBTE (Retail Business Technology Expo), held on 16th to 17th March 2011 at Earls Court in London they exhibited their product at Retail Business Technology Expo which is the completely new expo for the solution exhibition for helping the organization facing huge challenges in their business, including reducing costs, improving efficiency and maximizing their revenue with the increase in customer satisfaction and customer retention. Here again PODFather proved to be a best business solution.

2.14

PODFather speedy management at Balfour Beatty

The Balfour Beatty Company has introduced a waste management system for the reduction of waste (David, 2011). As the waste materials are hazardous so a system is required for years which could follow the collection sites and rounds to the depots, the company has generated revenue from the waste disposed material. The PODFather handheld solution has also been incorporated in the construction works connected transportation and documentation management (Rehfeld, 1994).

2.15

PODFather at Oxfam for enhancing working practices

PODFather is also helping Oxfam to enhance their procedures and their working practices in the Oxfam. The PODFather was used for the better focus on the drivers daily working practices, using the completely integrated collections schedules with the PODFather PDA system. This provides the real time reports, removing and lightens the complex paper work which results in time and cost savings an online marketing business online delivery of products is a major activity. It is important for the firms to
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keep track of the activities like order taking, marketing and sale of goods, order taking and the process of shipment of goods (Mentzer & Williams, 2008). According to the Andrew Flintoff, the transport Manager of Oxfam Wastesaver adds, the implementation of the PODFather has changed their collection practices. It has the technology that remotely captures information and helps make scheduling and collection operations the more cost effective for an organization. The PODFather is helping alot in enhancing the working procedures and working practices at Oxfam and the organization is very much happy with the PODFather successful implementation. They consider PODFather as the best logistic solution.

PODFather use at BCW Group (UKs premier provider of credit management and debt recovery services) for high efficiency & real time Solutions 2.16

Supply Chain Management activities consist of traditional purchase function along with several other activities needed to maintain the relationship between suppliers and distributors (Bowersox, Closs, & Cooper, 2002). In the recent years the logistics services has been observed improving its functions and associated activities by implementing information technology and automation with consistency keeping the business characteristics as core objectives (Kasper, 1997).

Logistic firms should apply and use knowledge professionally and resourcefully so that long-term objects are met and the competitive advantage is achieved and they become innovation based logistic company (Kasper, 1997). BCW Group is the UKs premier provider of credit management and debt recovery services. The company seeks to secure the maximum recoverable net return for its clients. This can involve providing
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assistance to trace debtors, arranging payment plans and helping to recover monies owed in a sensitive, pragmatic and ethical manner. The use of innovative technology underpins the working practices of the company thanks to a robust IT system designed by the companys development team. The company operates a team of field agents called as Debt Investigation Officers, who work to seek the recovery of unpaid debt from different sources BCW Group work with debtors to establish payment plans and help customers to apply for state benefits, returns, markdowns and releases which they are entitled to, but are unaware of their entitlement and in hardship. Tom Kay the IT Manager at BCW Group said that BCW manages its debt collection service by using a software system called Caseflow. The system assigns 25 visits per day to each DIO (Debt Investigation Officer). Until recently, this was done on a paper based system, which is time consuming and hassle. According to BCW Group the introduction of PODFather has transformed the working practices of BCW Group and has condensed all their paper based work. Work completion that takes weeks are real time and efficient and cost saving. BCW Group considers PODFather as a very helpful tool for Logistics operations.

2.17

Increasing Profitability in logistics

Its a common practice that excellence highly effects on revenue and profitability of any organization. Improving logistics operation firms have remarkably increased their value in the market and have created a competitive difference with marketing offerings of the most successful organizations (Mentzer et al., 2002). The technology innovation helps organizations explore the relationship present in the logistics services quality and customer loyalty. Knowing this fact and with the help of performance analysis, the

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customer preferences and loyalty increases with the increase in betterment of logistic service quality (Yu-Kai et al., 2009).

2.18

Service Quality in logistics

Globally in the logistics market, service quality management has become a very major and a crucial issue to deal with the competitiveness in logistics and timely delivery. There are many definitions and explanations about the satisfaction of customers (Hess, 2005). During the last decade, researches have conducted several researches concerning the theoretical working for quality services in business, especially the quality of logistics services and the logistics industry should be taken as service industry (Feng & Huang, 2006; Harding, 2001; Joseph & Elliott, 2005; Kahn, 1995; Mentzer et al., 2002). I For increasing the customer satisfaction the need of quality logistic services with good performance factors the marketing and the organizational objectives can be easily achieved and that will in return helps creating the high customer satisfaction (Mentzer & Williams, 2001). Logistics plays a crucial role in any organization, organization reaches excellence on the basis of their logistic operation and excellent logistic services provide competitive difference which influences this industry, for this logistics managers should work in coordination with marketing department (Fornell, 1992). However, there is huge need for much more work to be done on the domain of retail delivery especially for the online business environment. Internet has also played an excellent role as it found very helpful and has increased the flow of information between the chain members in retail industry (Mentzer et al., 2000). The integration of

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IT and logistics operations is a critical issue, as firms employs information technology systems to deliver on logistics information needs (Fitzgerald and Willcocks, 1994).

Literature Summary
Summarizing the overall literature it is concluded that innovation of technology plays an important role for increasing the efficiency. Technology gives rise to high service quality which increases profitability and provides efficient and real time solution. The use of technology improves the working practices of an organization it provides cost reduction with the ease of use and the smart and efficient solution. Technological innovation affects positively the collection and management procedures. It has also been observed that with the innovation both the advantages and disadvantages are associated with the firm size (Maylor, 1997). It has concluded from the studies that small business may be more innovative they often have trouble bringing innovation to market (Abbernathay and Utterback, 1978 ) and the large firms faces more problem more trouble innovating because they are more formal and bureaucratic. From the studies it has also been observed that the organization faces hiring of skilled labor and trainings which indirectly increases the cost of the firm and if technology didnt work well the organization faces huge financial loses. Technology also brings about the change in the operational setup of an organizational setup which is not always favored and well adopted by the organization. Organization always needs to be updated to meet their customer expectation and for the survival of their business. Technology reduces the human interference but still it is human dependent. In the next chapter i.e. Chapter 3 a detailed research methodology is explained which is employed to collect the data with the help of which we can calculate that how the

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McGee can drive the efficiency and the reliability by using technology and innovation (PODFather)

2.19

Theoretical frame work:

From the above discussions the following theoretical frame work could be designed:

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Technology and Innovation

POD Father

Cost Reduction

Ease of Ease of Use Use

Efficient Delivery

Employees Performance

Firm Performance

Edge over Competitor

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CHAPTER 3

3. Research Methodology:
The Research methodology is an integral part of any research study, as it is a philosophical approach that could be used to design a strategy with the help of which the objectives of the study under investigation could be achieved and it provides a support to the study as well (Saunder et al., 2007). The current chapter contains all the necessary steps which will help in attaining the objectives of the study and have taken into account all the necessary concerns in order to shape and finalize the methodology to conduct the current study practically. The current chapter will highlight the approach to be adopted both ontological and epistemological, further sampling technique and instrument development will be discussed. Further a proper justification is provided for selecting the approach, method.

3.1 Research Approach: For conducting a research, it is essential to select the research approach to be adopted for the study; in the same way it is important for the researcher to select either quantitative research or qualitative research approach. As both these methods are unique in their own characteristics and are suitable to the nature of the study accordingly. Similarly Bryman and Bell (2003) refers to the decision of the researcher that the choice of researcher to select either quantitative or qualitative research depends upon the nature of the study he/she is planning to conduct and also upon the suitability of the approach for the study.

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3.1.1 Quantitative method:

Many researchers have defined and explained quantitative research but concisely it could be described as a research adopted to gain numerical data or the data that could be transformed to numbers in order to have a statistical review of the data gathered. The data in quantitative research is commonly collected by the way of questionnaire or survey. Another important characteristic of quantitative research is the advantage its provides to the researcher in terms of numbers over words but at the same time it has the disadvantage as numbers may lose the richness of meaning which the researcher intends to convey and the researcher may not adopt this method due to its inappropriateness. But if the researcher aims at explaining the variables and to

investigate the relationship between different variable, and to find the cause and effect relationship (what effect independent variable has on dependent variable), then quantitative research is the right choice as quantitative research enables use of sampling techniques (such as consumer surveys) whose findings may be expressed numerically, and are amenable to mathematical (statistical) manipulation enabling the researcher to estimate (forecast) future events or quantities (Creswell, 2003, p. 75). Burns and Grove (2005) also say that quantitative research involves a formal and systematic process to get data in statistical form about the issue the researcher is investigating.

3.1.2 Qualitative Research:

According to Babbie (2004), qualitative research deals with words not with numbers and the data collected for this kind of research is mostly through interviews, as the data is obtained through verbal recitation this may make the meaning of information very

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subjective leading to unclear declaration and can distract the researcher from his/her main subject which he/she is investigating. Therefore the researcher needs to be much focused in asking the correct questions from the respondent and also interpret the answer correctly while narrating the results. In the same way, few of the important aspects which could not be neglected while selecting either qualitative or quantitative approach are the factors in course of role of the theory with the research in terms of inductive and deductive approach, epistemological or ontological approaches (Miles and Huberman, 1994). For the current study as the researcher aims at finding how efficiency is driven through technological innovations by evaluating the PODFather system adopted by McGee. Further the study aims to explore the impact of adopting PODFather system on the performance of the organization. As in this study the researcher is aiming at investigating the relationship of technology and innovation with the performance of the employees and overall organizations performance, therefore for such kind of study quantitative approach would be appropriate. The reason for selecting quantitative research is that the nature of this study is consistent with the characteristics of this method as it provides to investigate the relationship of different variables. Similarly deductive approach is being implemented as this approach allows the testing of existing theory instead of developing new theory as in case of inductive approach (Saunders et al., 2007). The reason for not choosing the qualitative research is the limitation of the cost and time constraint, as it was costly to visit McGee personally to conduct interviews and for telephonic interviews the staff was not willing to share much information due to the reason of confidentiality and this activity was time consuming as well due to which the employees availability was not possible. Due to these reason the qualitative research was not possible to conduct, few other reasons that does not
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support qualitative research are the social desirability and in this situation the respondent may not provide the researcher with the accurate information in presence of his fellow colleagues and mostly in such situations the respondent speaks good about the organization leading to incorrect information. In the same way, as qualitative research is based on the sequential flow of the information or events that occur thus the researcher should be capable of retrieving the meaningful information from the interview according to the purpose of the research but this requires great competency of the researcher to interpret the information in the same way as the respondent intended and further this is a very time taking activity as well.

3.2 Case Study:

A case study is referred as an in depth study involving different approaches in order to investigate or observe an issue or subject matter under exploration and it further involves the different variables of the subject. The purpose of a case study is to capture the intricacy of the subject under investigation. Generally a case study is of three different types possessing different characteristics according to its nature and requirement. The different case studies that are adopted by researchers are cross sectional case study, multiple case studies and single case study (Bill, 2001). 3.2.1 Cross sectional Case study: The cross sectional case study usually involves in depth study of more than one case or subject at a specific point in time. This study investigates different patterns of associations of different variables of the subject/case under investigation without considering the time frame. Further this case study investigates different organizations at one time but it focuses on a special or particular aspect/ issue of the selected organizations and does not study the whole organizations.

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3.2.2 Multiple Case studies: On the other hand multiple case studies tend to investigate the subject under research by the way of replication strategy (Yin, 1994). The replication strategy performs a number of separate experiments on the related subject. Usually the replication process is based on two stages such as: Literal replication stage Theoretical replication stage In the literal replication stage the subject is selected in order to get similar outcomes and in the theoretical stage the subject is selected to investigate, approve or negate the patterns which were discovered in the beginning. However, if the results of all the cases or majority of the cases present are alike then there would be enough support for developing a preliminary speculation in order to explain the subject/ study under investigation (Eisenhardt, 1989). 3.2.3 Single case study The single case study tends to conduct an in-depth investigation of the phenomenon under study of the selected organization (Mathew et al., 2007). According to Yin (1984), single case study captures the density and nature of the subject to be explored. In the same way, Yin (1984) has also highlighted some of the external issues about the validity of a case study that some of the cases are critical in nature and require additional understanding, however in such cases usually a hypothesis is determined in the beginning and later the case is developed in order to test the hypothesis in order to accept it or reject it. In case of the current study, as single organization that is McGee is selected therefore the current study falls in the category of single case study. Further the subject to be investigated in depth is the implementation of PODFather to check whether the form has gained any efficiency or not particularly in the logistics department. As stated
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above that in case of single case study a hypothesis is specified in the beginning, in the current study as well the hypothesis are developed and there are many studies that are already done in literature over the similar topic to check how efficiency is driven through technological innovations. The important reason for selecting single case study is the size of the company as McGee Group is one of Europes leading and most trusted Civil, Structural and Demolition Engineering contractors. It is based in London for more than 50 years and recently the company has adopted PODFather. However, the McGee Company is worth to be studied as a single case study. Moreover the current study does not fall in either cross sectional and multiple case studies due to the characteristics of these case studies.

3.3 Types of case studies:

Some of the important aspects which need to be considered are the types of case to be adopted either of exploratory, descriptive or explanatory (Stake, 1998). In exploratory research there is lack of early studies or research conducted on a particular topic or there is little evidence found. The aim of adopting such kind of study is to determine the hypothesis, pattern and the idea but not to testify or validate the hypothesis (Johansson, 2003). In case of Descriptive case study, the case or phenomenon under investigation is described the way it exists. This study highlights the characteristics of a particular case; however the researcher is capable of deriving results or exploring an issue in more details than he/she can do in exploratory case study (Shields, 2006). On the other hand explanatory case study is an extended form of descriptive case study and it investigates the subject under study in depth and also provides the reason for studying the subject rather than just explaining it. Explanatory case study tend to determine the relationship of different variables among each other and the researcher by adopting the explanatory can identify, control and explain the critical variable well in the entire
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study. As there is sufficient literature available on the topic under investigation and the researcher does not aim at only developing the as well therefore exploratory case study does not match the requirements of the current case study, further descriptive case study also does not fulfil the requirements of the current study therefore this type of study is also not adopted however, the characteristics of explanatory case study are consistent with the requirements of the current study as the researcher aims at investigating the relationship of different variables such as firm performance, cost reduction efficient delivery, ease to use, employees and edge over competitors with technology and innovation and the researcher also aims at investigating the subject in depth therefore the current study id explanatory in nature (Franklin, 1997).

3.4 Instrument Development:

Instrument development is an important area where the researcher needs to focus, as a section of reliable and valid instrument results in valid measurements and findings of the study. For a researcher, it is difficult to develop a new questionnaire as it requires broad and extensive research which is too time consuming, and in case of developing new questionnaire, its validity is also not assured therefore it is recommended to take on such a questionnaire whose scales has been developed, in this way there will be no issue regarding the reliability and validity of the scale as it has been already used by researchers previously. However the researchers who have adopted already developed scale include Covin and Slevin (1989), Wong and Shoal (2002) and Panagopulous and Avlonitis (2005). In case of the current study, such studies were found which contained the variables that are being adopted in the current study as well therefore different constructs were adopted from different researches. However the details of the scale adopted is given below:
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The scale for the variable of firm performance was adopted from the study of Carmeli and Tishler (2005) and (Mentzer et al., 2002). The questions related to this variable are annexed in appendix. The scale for the variable of Cost reduction were adopted from the study of Cordella (2001), Brynjolfsson and Malone (1645) and Alchian and Harold (1972). The questions related to this variable are annexed in appendix. The scale for the variable of efficient delivery was adopted from the study of Bowersox, et al., (2002) and (Kasper, 1997). The scale for the variable of ease of use was adopted from the study of Rose and Fogarty (2006) and Ehrhart (2005). The questions related to this variable are annexed in appendix. The scale for the variable of Employees performance was adopted from the study of Dauda et al., (2011). The questions related to this variable are annexed in appendix. The scale for the variable of Edge over competitors was adopted from the study of Porter and Millar (1985). The questions related to this variable are annexed in appendix.

3.5 Questionnaire:
The questionnaire that is developed for the current study comprise of close ended questions as respondents feel easier to answer close ended question relatively open ended. However, only one question in the questionnaire is open ended that is to inquire about the opinion of employees about the usage of PODFather. The questionnaire was sent to Mr. Michael Kelly (IT Project Manager) at McGee and he was requested to forward the questionnaire to concerned departments such as IT and Logistics in order to fill the questionnaire. In the beginning the questionnaire was aimed to be filled by 100
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respondents but only 35 responses could be gathered. However the head of departments (HODs) (both IT and logistics) were asked to fill the questionnaire as well along with the questions in the questionnaire Mr. Michael Kelly other HOD was asked to give their opinion about the overall performance of PODFather in the company. The questionnaire contains variables such as cost reduction, ease of use, efficient delivery, firm performance, employee performance and edge over competitors. Among these variables three variables such as cost reduction, ease of use, efficient delivery, are being used as attributes/constructs of technology, moreover these variables are used as measures the of technology and are independent in nature where as the remaining three variables are used as measure of organizational performance and are dependent variables.

3.1 Sampling Technique to be employed:

The respondents selection is one of the critical area which the researcher needs to select very carefully as the selection of correct respondents can lead to accurate and valid results, a little negligence at the part of researcher in selecting the respondents can lead to ambiguous and incorrect results as it is very important to target the such respondents who are directly related to the research study as selecting such sample of respondents who does not know much about the subject cannot generate comprehensive and accurate results which can lead to failure of the research study and objectives. For the same reason for the current study, only those employees of McGee were targeted who were fully aware of the functions and characteristics of PODFather and who practically used PODFather. For this Mr. Michael Kelly was requested to hand over the questionnaires to the employees who are fully aware of the application of PODFtaher and also to complete is the questionnaire as well. The sampling technique employed through which the data was collected is non probability sampling. The Non-probability
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sampling is a sampling technique where the samples are gathered in a process that does not give all the individuals in the population equal chances of being selected (Catillo, 2009;8) . This kind of technique could be employed for any kind of research such as organizational or social sciences. As the researches are limited by the resources such as time, money and workforce therefore it becomes difficult for the researchers to go for random sampling which is very difficult to obtain, in such cases the researchers prefer non probability sampling technique, as this technique in contrast to probability sampling is easier to achieve as it is not a product of randomized selection procedure, and in case of non probability sampling the subjects are chosen on the basis of their ease of access or by the way purposive judgment done by the researcher. The type of non probability sampling employed is the convenience sampling. It is the easiest of al the sampling methods. As it provides to select the sample with the ease of its access to the researcher. This technique is considered to be less time consuming and is also quite cheap. In the current study the researcher has close correspondence with Mr. Michael Kelly and due to this correspondence the researcher was able to interact with rest of the employees and collect the required information. 3.1.1 Sample Size:

The sample size for the current study was chosen and selected to be 70. However, the questionnaire was shared with Mr. Michael Kelly, to get it filled from Information Technology (IT) and Logistics department by the way of e-Mail. The questionnaire made was easy and explanatory therefore there was no need of explaining any point. In case of any doubt and uncertainty the employees were requested to contact the researcher. The employees were given a period of one week for filling the questionnaires keeping in mind their occupied and busy timetable. However after a week only 20 questionnaires could be received, after a soft and friendly follow up
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further 05 questionnaires could be received in second week and finally 10 more questionnaire forms could be received in the beginning of third week. A final sample size of 35 respondents could be gathered and the employees were send a thank you email for taking time out from their busy schedules and sending the questionnaire documents.

3.1 Data Coding and Feeding:

The data collected by the way of questionnaire was entered/fed into SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) which is a software used for to get regression and correlation results. The options of likert scale were recorded from 1-5 as 5 is for Strongly Agree, and 1 for Strongly Disagree.

3.2 Ethical Issues:

The respondents who were contacted for the purpose of filling the questionnaire were informed well about the purpose of conducting the current research that it is being conducted primarily for academic purpose and the information shared will not be used for any wrong purpose. Further the voluntary participation of respondents was encouraged. The names and identity of the employees of McGee was absolutely optional and if anyone mentioned it was kept confidential. The respondents who were interested in getting a copy of the current study were requested to share the email addresses so that a copy of the study could be sent to them.

3.3 Summary of Research Methodology:

The methodology employed for the current study is employed with the objective of getting comprehensive and accurate results and importantly in order to obtain the objectives of the study. However, quantitative approach with questionnaire was applied to the current study. The questions for questionnaire were adopted from the earlier
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studies done on the same subject. The data was fed in SPSS to obtain regression and correlation.

Chapter 4
4. Findings and Analysis:
This chapter has been designed to present the findings of the data which was collected with the help of methodology employed in chapter 3 by the way of quantitative approach through a questionnaire. This chapter is categorized into two sections, first comprising of socio demographic analysis of the respondents such as their age, education and gender. In the second section, a detailed analysis of the variables employed is given. The variables ease of use, efficient delivery and cost reduction are used as constructs of technology and innovation and thus are independent variables. These variables are regressed with firm performance, employee performance and edge over competitors in order to know the relation between technology and organizations as how they drive efficiency. For this purpose SPSS was run in order to have linear regression model and correlation. Before running the regression and correlation, the mean of each variable (containing answers to all the questions against each variable in the questionnaire) was taken, and then each dependent variable was regressed with independent variable.

4.1 Socio-demographic Analysis:

The table 1 listed below represents the gender table showing that out of 35 respondents at McGee, 22 respondents were male and 12 respondents were female.

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Table 1
Gender Cumulative Frequency Valid Male Female Total 22 13 35 Percent 62.9 37.1 100.0 Valid Percent 62.9 37.1 100.0 Percent 62.9 100.0

The table 2 shows the different age group the respondents belong to. From the table it is evident that 6 respondents belonged to the age group of 16-24, 8 respondents are from age group of 25-34, 10 respondents belong to age group of 34-44, 3 from 45-54 and 8 respondents were from the age group of 55 or above. Table 2
Age Cumulative Frequency Valid 16-24 25-34 35-44 6 8 10 Percent 17.1 22.9 28.6 Valid Percent 17.1 22.9 28.6 Percent 17.1 40.0 68.6

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45-54 55 or above Total

3 8 35

8.6 22.9 100.0

8.6 22.9 100.0

77.1 100.0

The table 3 presents the education level of the respondents of the current study, 5 respondents were from the education level of high school or lower, 14 respondents belonged to further education and 16 respondents had higher education. Table 3
Education Cumulative Frequency Valid High School or Lower Further education Higher education Total 5 14 16 35 Percent 14.3 40.0 45.7 100.0 Valid Percent 14.3 40.0 45.7 100.0 Percent 14.3 54.3 100.0

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4.2 Correlation:
Correlation is employed in order to determine the relation between different variables and coefficient of correlation r is employed to determine the strength of two variables. In the current study the three constructs of technology and innovation that are cost of reduction, ease of use and efficient delivery are hypothetically liked with the technology and innovation (Berenson et al., 2009) With respect to the hypothetical relation between technology and innovation and the three constructs the table for correlation shows positive relation among the variables. However, the strong relation subsists between efficient delivery and technology and innovation i.e. 0.615, as it is more close to 1 therefore it shows strong relationship among the variable technology and efficient delivery, moreover positive sign shows that as the value of one variable changes, the second variables also changes in value. The remaining constructs such as cost reduction and ease of use also tend to have positive relation; however they exhibit week relation with technology and innovation. The Pearson Correlation of cost reduction is 0.359 and that of ease of use is 0.274. On the other hand, the dependent variables such as firm performance, employee performance and edge over competitors also tend to have positive relation with the constructs of technology and innovation. Among the three dependent variables the
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variable edge over competitors sows the strongest relation i.e. Pearson correlation is 1 which means that changes in variable technology and innovation is strongly correlated with the changes in variable edge over competitors. In the same way the remaining two variables firm performance and employee performance also show positive correlation with technology and innovation. The Pearson correlation for firm performance is 0.458 and that for employee performance is 0.518. Thus, from the correlation results it could be summarized that the variables firm performance, employee performance and edge over competitors tend to have positive relation with technology and innovation. Table 4

Correlations Mean_E Mean_fir Mean_Em Mean_Edge Mean_Cost_red Mean_Efficie ase_of_ m_perfro ployee_pe _over_comp uction Mean_Cost_reduction Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Mean_Efficient_delivery Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Mean_Ease_of_Use Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Mean_firm_perfromance Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Mean_Employee_perfromance Pearson Correlation 35 .158 .363 35 -.074 .674 35 -.046 .791 35 .089 35 .297 .083 35 .522
**

nt_delivery 1 .158 .363 35 1

Use -.074 .674 35 .297 .083 35 1

mance rfromance -.046 .791 35 .522

**

etitors .359
*

.089 .613 35 .466

**

.034 35 .615
**

.001 35 .038 .830

.005 35 .206 .236 35 .053 .762

.000 35 .274 .111 35 .458

**

35 .038 .830 35 .206

35 1

.001 35 .466
**

.006 35 .518
**

35 .053

35 1

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Sig. (2-tailed) N Mean_Edge_over_competitors Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

.613 35 .359
*

.005 35 .615
**

.236 35 .274 .111 35

.762 35 .458
**

.001 35 .518
**

35 1

.034 35

.000 35

.006 35

.001 35 35

4.3 Regression Model:

The data collected through questionnaire was examined by running regression model to get ANNOVA, t-test in order to analyze the results and show the relationship between different variables individually. 4.3.1 Objective1:

The first objective of the current study is regarding the impact of technology in deriving better performance of the organization. The objective is to identify to what extent the use of technology (PODfather) has helped McGee to reduce costs and enhance business performance. The results for this objective were obtained by taking the mean of the answers of both the variables and then cost reduction which is taken as a measure of technology is regressed with the variable of firm performance. The results of the regression model are found significant as the p value i.e. 0.001 in table 5.3 which indicates that due to technology the firm performance has enhanced. Further looking at the individual results it is evident that 54 percent employees agreed to the statement, that I believe by using POD father the firm performance has increased. 28 percent employees strongly agreed to the statement five. Hence it is proved from the result that PODFather has helped McGee improve its firm performance. Moreover, the value of R
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square is 0.040 at 33 degree of freedom which has very good descriptive power and it means 40 percent of the variation in the dependent variable is because of independent variable that is cost reduction. In the same way, the value of t-statistic at 33 degree of freedom should be bigger than 1.96 and the value of coefficient of beta should be .385, then the results are found to be significant. In case of the current study the results reveal that t statistics is 0.267which is positive and greater than 1.96 and is 0.046 which is also positive and greater than .385 which further affirms the significance of the results. For the second question 51 percent of the employees strongly disagreed with the statement. Regarding the cost reduction questions 42 percent employees agree that the new technology has helped the company to reduce its cost. The regression results are appended in appendix 2. The tables and graphs for the rest of the questions asked in questionnaire are annexed in appendix 3.

Table 10

I believe by using POD father the firm performance has increased? Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 1 5 19 10 35 Percent 2.9 14.3 54.3 28.6 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 14.3 54.3 28.6 100.0 Percent 2.9 17.1 71.4 100.0

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Table 10.1
I believe by using POD father the firm performance has decreased? Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 18 3 7 3 4 35 Percent 51.4 8.6 20.0 8.6 11.4 100.0 Valid Percent 51.4 8.6 20.0 8.6 11.4 100.0 Percent 51.4 60.0 80.0 88.6 100.0

Table 11
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The new technology has helped the company to reduce its cost? Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 11 15 6 35 Percent 8.6 31.4 42.9 17.1 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 31.4 42.9 17.1 100.0 Percent 8.6 40.0 82.9 100.0

4.1.1

Objective 2:

The second objective of the study is: to investigate, in particular, the attribute of 'easeof-use' of technology (PODFather) in relation to enhanced employee performance and business performance. The results for this objective were obtained by taking the mean of the all the answers of the three variables and the taking ease of use variable as independent it was regressed with the dependent variables employee performance and firm performance. The results of ANNOVA model and the value of p in table 6.3 is .002 which is less than 0.05, therefore it shows the results are significant and positive.
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The value of R square is 0.84 at 33 degree of freedom which means 84 % variation in dependent variable is caused by independent variable that is ease of use attribute of technology. Further the value of t-statistic is more than 1.96 and that of is .305 therefore the results are found in favor of the company and proves that by employing PODFather the employees performance has enhanced. From the tables below it is evident that 71 percent of the employees strongly agreed to the statement that PODFather has replaced the obsolete methods of entering all the data in spread sheets. However, 28 percent agreed to the statement and none of the employees disagrees or strongly disagreed with the statement. This shows PODFather is very easy in use and the employees can provide and keep a better record of the employees and the hassle the employees had to face previously has been reduced and they can work efficiently improving their own performance and the organizations as well. Hence from the results it is evident that the technology has raised the firm and employee performance. The regression results are appended in appendix 2. The tables and graphs for the rest of the questions asked in questionnaire are annexed in appendix 3.

Table 12

PODFather has replaced the obsolete methods of entering all the data in spread sheets. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 10 25 35 Percent 28.6 71.4 100.0 Valid Percent 28.6 71.4 100.0 Percent 28.6 100.0

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From the results of below table it is evident that 60 percent of the employees agree to the statement that PODFather has enhanced their performance. 60 percent employees strongly agreed to the statement that Employees can operate efficiently with the help of PODFather and none disagreed. 68 percent employees strongly agreed that they can work smartly with PODFather instead of putting extra effort and hard work. remaining tables are annexed in appendix 3. Table 13 The

PODfather has enhanced the performance of employees. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 21 14 35 Percent 60.0 40.0 100.0 Valid Percent 60.0 40.0 100.0 Percent 60.0 100.0

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4.1.2

Objective 3:

The third objective of the study is: To explore the claim of efficient delivery through technology (PODFather) and how this impacts on business performance. The regression results obtained are positive and significant with the p value equal to 0.001 which is less than 0.05. The table 8.1 shows the value of R square is 0.27 at 33 degree of freedom which means 27 percent (approx) of the variation in dependent variable i.e. firm performance is caused by efficient delivery which is the construct of technology and innovation. Further the t-statistics in table 7.3 is 3.515 and is .522, thus the results are found significant. The individual results for the variable efficient delivery shows that 34 percent employee agree that with the help of POD father our company is capable of delivering the goods to customers efficiently. 22 percent employees strongly agreed to the statement, 14 percent disagreed with the statement and only 2 percent strongly disagreed. However, majority of the employees agreed with the statement. 65 percent employees strongly agreed to the statement that the customers are satisfied with the delivery of products. 45 percent employees agreed that it takes less hustle than
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before to deliver the order on time. The regression tables are appended in appendix 2 and tables against each question of questionnaire is appended in appendix 3.

Table 14

With the help of POD father our company is capable of delivering the goods to customers efficiently. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 5 9 12 8 35 Percent 2.9 14.3 25.7 34.3 22.9 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 14.3 25.7 34.3 22.9 100.0 Percent 2.9 17.1 42.9 77.1 100.0

4.1.3

Objective 4:

The fourth objective of the current study is: to examine the extent to which technology (PODFather) has provided McGee with a competitive edge. For this objective, the three constructs of technology ease of use; cost reduction and efficient delivery were taken as independent and were regressed with the mean variable edge over competitors. The regression results are found to be significant and positive showing positive impact of technology in providing edge over competitors. The significance value p of three variables is .001 for ease of use, .001 for efficient delivery and .004 for cost reduction in table 9.3. The regression tables are annexed in appendix 2. However, the results of the questions of questionnaire also show positive responses from the employees, as 65 percent employees agree to the fact that providing orders on time efficiently with the help of PODFather gives a competitive edge to McGee, 48 percent employees strongly
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agree that increased sales due to efficient delivery enhance McGees performance and give its competitors tough time. 42 percent employees agree PODFather has enabled McGee to cope with the increasing demands of its customers by providing them efficient and timely delivery. 37 percent employees strongly agreed to the statement that PODFather helped McGee to reduce its cost and concentrate more on quality of products and services. However, 60 percent employees agreed that improved products and services enabled McGee to attract more customers and retain them as well which provide them to have an edge on its competitors.

Table 15

Providing orders on time efficiently with the help of PODfather gives a competitive edge to McGee. Cumulative Frequency Valid Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 23 9 35 Percent 8.6 65.7 25.7 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 65.7 25.7 100.0 Percent 8.6 74.3 100.0

4.4 Question: Give your opinion about PODFather:

Mr. Michael Kelly: PODFather Earthworks provided a real-time ticketing system by utilizing the rugged mobile handhelds and printers. The accuracy of data is improved and the entry time reduced by the use of barcode technology for tracking the vehicles, the site location, and the types of material within the system. The working cycle is: the automobile collects a load from the specified site, all the data is captured on the handheld and a unique bar-coded transportation note is created instantly from the mobile printer and is given to the automobile driver. The tickets have been tailored that suits the McGee's requirements, that have imprinted with all the information to make
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sure all the specified requirements are met for the proper transport of substance and the waste management. The driver shows that ticket at the proposed site, where the barcode is scanned for ensuring the movement has been successfully completed along the ticket information also confirmed to ensure that the details were perfectly entered upon collection. He further added while comparing with the already used paper based processes replaced with the PODFather system, the resulted benefits are huge. Results showed that time savings is up to 60% less time taken to produce a waste ticket, and the manpower has reduced up to 25% and the similar results for the data entry. This concluded that a huge improvement in ticket accuracy has met with real-time reports generation from the system that hardly takes minutes on the work that use days.

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CHAPTER 5
5. Conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and future research:
This chapter is designed to conclude the entire study. In the first part of the chapter the findings will be discussed in the light of literature whether the literature supports the findings of the current study or not. Later few recommendations will be given to managers to help them device practical approaches derived from the study. Further, limitations of the study will also be listed which the researcher faced during the course of the research and last but not the least scope of future study has also been given. In order to see how technological innovation derives efficiency, the researcher used ease of use, efficient delivery and cost reduction as the constructs of technology and innovation and their effect was analysed on employee performance, firm performance and edge over competitors. From the results and findings it was found that the correlation results were positive for all the dependent and independent variables, however in case of regression, the relation between the variables cost reduction and firm performance was found positive and significant, significant results were found between the variable ease of use and firm and employee performance, on the other hand the results for effect of technology on firm performance, employee performance and edge over competitors were also positive and significant. Looking at the results of first objective which is being supported by the literature as
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Peter and Stern (2001) is of the view that technological innovation is required by the organization in order to grow and reduce their costs, similarly in PODFather RBTE (Retail Business Technology Expo) held in 2011 presented a complete new solution for helping organizations to overcome huge challenges in their business, such as cost reduction, improving efficiency and maximizing their revenue. This shows by employing latest technology the organizations can enhance their performance but it has also been observed that the high use of mechanization not always results in very high quality of productivity and services (Gaynor, 2002; McDermott and Sexton, 1998). Similarly literature shows that excellence impacts significantly on revenue and profitability of any organization. With the help of technological innovation firms have managed to create competitive difference with marketing offerings of the most successful organizations (Mentzer et al., 2002). As technology tends to reduce the cost of the organization spent on obsolete methods and helps the organization create a paperless environment, this in return enables the organizations to invest that amount on the other important aspects such as exploring the relationship present in the logistics services quality and customer loyalty by enhancing this area the organizations tend to enhance its services quality which helps the organization to retain its customers which ultimately leads to better revenue hence increasing the efficiency of the firm and providing it a competitive edge over its competitors (Yu-Kai et al., 2009). In the same way, Hess (2005) says service quality has become a major and crucial issue to deal with the competitiveness in any organization. The objective 2 of the study which is ease of use attribute of technology and innovation enhances employee and firm performance. The results of this objective are also significant and positive. The literature also supports the findings as we look at the practical implementation of PODFather in Oxfam which has helped the company to
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enhance their procedures and their working practices. The PODFather was used to focus the drivers daily working practices, using the completely integrated collections schedules with the PODFather it provided Oxfam real time reports, removed the obsolete methods and lightened the complex paper work which resulted in time and cost savings and better efficiency of employees. Similarly if the employees generate better results by employing latest technological equipments this will in return also enhance the firm performance, taking BCW example into account, the introduction of PODFather has transformed the working practices of BCW Group and condensed all of their paper based administration and reconciliation from every job report. Previously the work completion took weeks but with the use of PODFather the Debt Investigation Officers worked in real-time which resulted in time and cost saving the most. BCW Group considers PODFather as a huge help for their operations and has also enhanced the performance of their employees and organization altogether. Further, Kelley and Littman (2006) suggested that organizations are in need to value all types of innovation, they should focus on the changing need with passage of time and need to be adapt technological innovation that casts a positive effect on their organization. The findings for objective 3 and 4 are also consistent with the literature. From literature such studies are found which support the current study findings, such as by Porter (1985); Brandenburger and Stuart (1996). They say organizational competitive benefit depends on the ability of that organization to develop and attain much more value in terms of technological innovation than its rivals. Higher the value attainment, in turn, leads to more innovation of technology successfully and enhances the firms performance. According to Yu-Kai et al (2009), through technology and innovation organizations can have the competitive edge over their rivals. As innovation will enable the organization to take the lead to bring change and diversity in their products and
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services which will distinguish them from their competitors. Further as a result of innovation new improved products with more advanced features come in the market, this innovation in the long run increases the efficiency of the firm (David, 2011). Similarly Zahra and Covin (1994) has termed technological innovation to be the lifeblood of an organization. Quinn (1969) says that the organisation which adopt the technological changes, provide training to motivate their employees to be innovate, for the reason they know technology covers all the aspect in any organization and will provide long term benefits such as time and cost saving, better efficiency of the employees which ultimately provides enhanced performance and competitive edge over competitors to the company. Kubbr (1977) also observed that the introduction of the new technology in any organization changes the operational procedures of the organization and usually it brings efficiency and profitability in the organization. From the above discussions it is proved that technology and innovation plays a major role in brining efficiency, enhanced performance of employees, better revenues time and cost savings in any organization. The objective of the study To critically analyse the role of technological support innovation for business success in the exceedingly competitive logistics industry, from the research and questionnaire survey, it could be found that PODFather has greatly helped McGee in providing real time solution for their earth works. It has improved the accuracy of their data and reduced the obsolete use of bar code for tracking different vehicles. PODFather increased the efficiency with which the operations are done at McGee.

5.1 Recommendations, limitations of the study and future research:

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From the above discussions, it is recommended to the managers that with the passage of time and with new technological advancements, they should be adaptive to new technologies and equipments in order to enhance the profitability of the company, save time, reduce cost and enhance labour efficiency. Moreover, with the adoption of latest equipments, innovative procedures the companies tend to get a competitive edge over their rivals as well along with profitability and enhanced performance. Regarding PODFather, this system is robust and is capable of handling a variety of jobs such as deliveries, collection and exchange, it is an idea technology with the help of which companies can move their items from one to another easily, it replaces the obsolete paper work environment and further speed ups the operations of the organization. The limitations which were faced during the course of research were mainly the time and cost constraints. Further the data collected could be gathered from 35 employees which limits the generalization of the results and these results may not be similar for any other company. In future a study could be conducted primarily in the logistics industry as the current study was done to investigate the impact of technology and innovation on organizations generally. Moreover, in future more than one company could be selected as case study in order to have a comparison as well.

References

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Appendix: 1

Questionnaire Section 1
Gender: Age 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55 or above [I would like you to enter your profile information]

Male/Female Education High School or Lower Further Education Higher Education

Section 2:
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Technology and innovation:

Cost Reduction
The new technology has helped the company to reduce its cost? The new technology has created a paperless environment and reduces the cost spent on paper.

Efficient delivery
With the help of POD father our company is capable of delivering the goods to customers efficiently. The customers are satisfied with the delivery of products. It takes less hustle than before to deliver the order on time. There are absolute no or very little errors of addresses where the orders are to be delivered?

Ease to use:
PODFather has replaced the obsolete methods of entering all the data in spread sheets. POD father is easy to use and mange. With the help of PODfather software a proper record of orders to be delivered could be managed. PODfather has helped employees to provide customers with the correct information.

Firm performance
ee Agr ee Ne utr Dis al Str agr ong ee ly dis agr ee
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Please indicate to what extent you agree/disagree with the following statements: ( where, 1=strongly

Str ong ly Agr

disagree and 5= strongly agree) I believe by using POD father the firm performance has increased? I believe by using POD father the firm performance has decreased? The new POD father has helped employees to maintain the customers record efficiently. By providing efficient services has increased the number of customers. POD Father has transformed logistics allowing employees to work more efficiently. POD father has allowed to prioritize the deliveries and arrange the orders, letting the employees work efficiently POD Father has further strengthened the companys administration procedures.

Employees performance:
PODfather has enhanced the performance of employees. Employees can operate efficiently with the help of PODfather. Employees can work smartly with PODfather instead of putting extra effort and hard work.

Edge over competitors

Providing orders on time efficiently with the help of PODfather gives a competitive edge to McGee. Increased sales due to efficient delivery enhance McGees performance and give its competitors tough time. PODfather has enabled McGee to cope with the increasing demands of its customers by providing them efficient and timely delivery. PODfather helped McGee to reduce its cost and
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concentrate more on quality of products and services. Improved products and services enabled McGee to attract more customers and retain them as well which provide them to have an edge on its competitors.

Question: Give your opinion about PODFather.

Appendix 2 Regression results:

Table 5
Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Cost_red uction
a b

Variables Removed Method . Enter

a. All requested variables entered. b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 5.1
Model Summary

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Adjusted R Model 1 R .046

a

Std. Error of the Estimate

R Square .040

Square .028

.46485

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Cost_reduction

Table 5.2
ANOVA Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares .015 7.131 7.146 df 1 33 34
b

Mean Square .015 .216

F .071

Sig. .001
a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Cost_reduction b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 5.3

Coefficients

Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Mean_Cost_reduction B 3.489 -.025 Std. Error .357 .095 .046 Coefficients Beta t 9.783 1.267 Sig. .000 .001

a. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 6
Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Ease_of_ Use
a b

Variables Removed Method . Enter

a. All requested variables entered. b. Dependent Variable: Mean_Employee_performance

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Table 6.1
Model Summary Adjusted R Model 1 R .351
a

Std. Error of the Estimate

R Square .123

Square .114

.77756

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Ease_of_Use

Table 6.2
ANOVA Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares 8.317 59.251 67.568 df 1 33 34
b

Mean Square 8.317 .605

F 13.756

Sig. .000
a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Ease_of_Use b. Dependent Variable: Mean_Employee_performance

Table 6.3
Coefficients
a

Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Mean_Ease_of_Use B 2.136 .386 Std. Error .347 .104 .351 Coefficients Beta t 6.156 3.709 Sig. .000 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Mean_Employee_performance

Table 7
Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Ease_of_ Use
a b

Variables Removed Method . Enter

a. All requested variables entered. b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

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Table 7.1
Model Summary Adjusted R Model 1 R .377
a

Std. Error of the Estimate

R Square .142

Square .133

.46430

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Ease_of_Use

Table 7.2
ANOVA Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares 3.501 21.126 24.628 df 1 33 34
b

Mean Square 3.501 .216

F 16.242

Sig. .000
a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Ease_of_Use b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 7.3
Coefficients
a

Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Mean_Ease_of_Use B 2.636 .250 Std. Error .207 .062 .377 Coefficients Beta t 12.724 4.030 Sig. .000 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 8
Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Efficient_ delivery
a b

Variables Removed Method . Enter

a. All requested variables entered. b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 8.1
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Model Summary Adjusted R Model 1 R .522

a

Std. Error of the Estimate

R Square .272

Square .250

.39695

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Efficient_delivery

Table 8.2
ANOVA Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares 1.946 5.200 7.146 df 1 33 34
b

Mean Square 1.946 .158

F 12.353

Sig. .001
a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Efficient_delivery b. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 8.3
Coefficients
a

Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Model 1 (Constant) Mean_Efficient_delivery B 2.263 .344 Std. Error .329 .033 .522 Coefficients Beta t 6.871 3.515 Sig. .000 .001

a. Dependent Variable: Mean_firm_perfromance

Table 9
Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Cost_red uction, Mean_Efficient_ delivery, Mean_ease_of_ use
a b

Variables Removed Method

. Enter

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Variables Entered/Removed Variables Model 1 Entered Mean_Cost_red uction, Mean_Efficient_ delivery, Mean_ease_of_ use
a

Variables Removed Method

. Enter

a. All requested variables entered. b. Dependent Variable: Mean_Edge_over_competitors

Table 9.1
Model Summary Adjusted R Model 1 R .696
a

Std. Error of the Estimate

R Square .485

Square .435

.35967

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Cost_reduction, Mean_Efficient_delivery, Mean_ease_of_use

Table 9.2
ANOVA Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of Squares 3.777 4.010 7.787 df 3 31 34
b

Mean Square 1.259 .129

F 9.733

Sig. .000
a

a. Predictors: (Constant), Mean_Cost_reduction, Mean_Efficient_delivery, Mean_ease_of_use b. Dependent Variable: Mean_Edge_over_competitors

Table 9.3
Coefficients
a

Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Model B Std. Error Coefficients Beta t Sig.

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(Constant) Mean_ease_of_use Mean_Efficient_delivery Mean_Cost_reduction

1.328 .238 .344 .183

.719 .162 .096 .077 .377 .500 .320

1.848 1.674 3.582 2.369

.074 .001 .001 .004

a. Dependent Variable: Mean_Edge_over_competitors

Appendix 3:
Answers of the questions in questionnaire: Firm performance Table 10
I believe by using POD father the firm performance has increased?

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Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 1 5 19 10 35 Percent 2.9 14.3 54.3 28.6 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 14.3 54.3 28.6 100.0 Percent 2.9 17.1 71.4 100.0

Table 10.1
I believe by using POD father the firm performance has decreased? Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree 18 3 Percent 51.4 8.6 Valid Percent 51.4 8.6 Percent 51.4 60.0

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Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total

7 3 4 35

20.0 8.6 11.4 100.0

20.0 8.6 11.4 100.0

80.0 88.6 100.0

Table 10.2
The new POD father has helped employees to maintain the customers record efficiently. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Total 1 6 7 21 35 Percent 2.9 17.1 20.0 60.0 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 17.1 20.0 60.0 100.0 Percent 2.9 20.0 40.0 100.0

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Table 10.3
By providing efficient services has increased the number of customers. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 13 13 5 1 35 Percent 8.6 37.1 37.1 14.3 2.9 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 37.1 37.1 14.3 2.9 100.0 Percent 8.6 45.7 82.9 97.1 100.0

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Table 10.4
POD Father has transformed logistics allowing employees to work more efficiently. Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 7 19 8 35 Percent 2.9 20.0 54.3 22.9 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 20.0 54.3 22.9 100.0 Percent 2.9 22.9 77.1 100.0

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Table 10.5
POD father has allowed to prioritize the deliveries and arrange the orders, letting the employees work efficiently Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 3 8 15 8 35 Percent 2.9 8.6 22.9 42.9 22.9 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 8.6 22.9 42.9 22.9 100.0 Percent 2.9 11.4 34.3 77.1 100.0

Table 10.6
POD Father has further strengthened the companys administration procedures. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 1 8 21 4 35 Percent 2.9 2.9 22.9 60.0 11.4 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 2.9 22.9 60.0 11.4 100.0 Percent 2.9 5.7 28.6 88.6 100.0

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Cost reduction:

Table 11
The new technology has helped the company to reduce its cost? Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 11 15 6 35 Percent 8.6 31.4 42.9 17.1 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 31.4 42.9 17.1 100.0 Percent 8.6 40.0 82.9 100.0

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Table 11.1
The new technology has created a paperless environment and reduces the cost spent on paper. Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 6 6 18 5 35 Percent 17.1 17.1 51.4 14.3 100.0 Valid Percent 17.1 17.1 51.4 14.3 100.0 Percent 17.1 34.3 85.7 100.0

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Ease of use

Table 12
PODFather has replaced the obsolete methods of entering all the data in spread sheets. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 10 25 35 Percent 28.6 71.4 100.0 Valid Percent 28.6 71.4 100.0 Percent 28.6 100.0

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Table 12.1
POD father is easy to use and mange. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 12 23 35 Percent 34.3 65.7 100.0 Valid Percent 34.3 65.7 100.0 Percent 34.3 100.0

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Table 12.2

With the help of PODfather software a proper record of orders to be delivered could be managed. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 9 26 35 Percent 25.7 74.3 100.0 Valid Percent 25.7 74.3 100.0 Percent 25.7 100.0

Table 12 .3
PODfather has helped employees to provide customers with the correct information. Cumulative Frequency Valid Neutral Agree Strongly agree 1 14 20 Percent 2.9 40.0 57.1 Valid Percent 2.9 40.0 57.1 Percent 2.9 42.9 100.0

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PODfather has helped employees to provide customers with the correct information. Cumulative Frequency Valid Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 14 20 35 Percent 2.9 40.0 57.1 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 40.0 57.1 100.0 Percent 2.9 42.9 100.0

Employee performance Table 13

PODfather has enhanced the performance of employees. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 21 14 35 Percent 60.0 40.0 100.0 Valid Percent 60.0 40.0 100.0 Percent 60.0 100.0

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Table 13.1
Employees can operate efficiently with the help of PODfather. Cumulative Frequency Valid Agree Strongly agree Total 14 21 35 Percent 40.0 60.0 100.0 Valid Percent 40.0 60.0 100.0 Percent 40.0 100.0

Table 13.2
Employees can work smartly with PODfather instead of putting extra effort and hard work. Cumulative Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

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Valid

Agree Strongly agree Total

11 24 35

31.4 68.6 100.0

31.4 68.6 100.0

31.4 100.0

Efficient delivery Table 14

With the help of POD father our company is capable of delivering the goods to customers efficiently. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 5 9 12 8 35 Percent 2.9 14.3 25.7 34.3 22.9 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 14.3 25.7 34.3 22.9 100.0 Percent 2.9 17.1 42.9 77.1 100.0

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Table 14.1
The customers are satisfied with the delivery of products. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 4 5 23 35 Percent 8.6 11.4 14.3 65.7 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 11.4 14.3 65.7 100.0 Percent 8.6 20.0 34.3 100.0

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Table 14.2
It takes less hustle than before to deliver the order on time. Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 1 9 16 8 35 Percent 2.9 2.9 25.7 45.7 22.9 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 2.9 25.7 45.7 22.9 100.0 Percent 2.9 5.7 31.4 77.1 100.0

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Table 14.3

There are absolute no or very little errors of addresses where the orders are to be delivered? Cumulative Frequency Valid Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 1 2 10 13 9 35 Percent 2.9 5.7 28.6 37.1 25.7 100.0 Valid Percent 2.9 5.7 28.6 37.1 25.7 100.0 Percent 2.9 8.6 37.1 74.3 100.0

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Edge over competitors:

Table 15
Providing orders on time efficiently with the help of PODfather gives a competitive edge to McGee. Cumulative Frequency Valid Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 23 9 35 Percent 8.6 65.7 25.7 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 65.7 25.7 100.0 Percent 8.6 74.3 100.0

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Table 15.1
Increased sales due to efficient delivery enhance McGees performance and give its competitors tough time. Cumulative Frequency Valid Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 2 16 17 35 Percent 5.7 45.7 48.6 100.0 Valid Percent 5.7 45.7 48.6 100.0 Percent 5.7 51.4 100.0

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Table 15.2
PODfather has enabled McGee to cope with the increasing demands of its customers by providing them efficient and timely delivery. Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 2 7 15 11 35 Percent 5.7 20.0 42.9 31.4 100.0 Valid Percent 5.7 20.0 42.9 31.4 100.0 Percent 5.7 25.7 68.6 100.0

Table 15.3
PODfather helped McGee to reduce its cost and concentrate more on quality of products and services. Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 2 8 13 12 35 Percent 5.7 22.9 37.1 34.3 100.0 Valid Percent 5.7 22.9 37.1 34.3 100.0 Percent 5.7 28.6 65.7 100.0

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Table 15.4
Improved products and services enabled McGee to attract more customers and retain them as well which provide them to have an edge on its competitors. Cumulative Frequency Valid Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Total 3 5 21 6 35 Percent 8.6 14.3 60.0 17.1 100.0 Valid Percent 8.6 14.3 60.0 17.1 100.0 Percent 8.6 22.9 82.9 100.0

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