E-BUSINESS

RESEARCH BASED ASSIGNMENT

ON
Factors affecting the implementation of e-business strategies
- An empirical study in Taiwan
Jung-Chi Pai and Chi-Hung Yeh

Journal of Management Decision

Management Decision Vol. 46 No. 5, 2008 pp. 681-690 q
Emerald Group Publishing Limited

1. INTRODUCTION
2. STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4. MAJOR FINDINGS
5. CRITICISM
6. LOGICAL FLOWS
7. SUGGESTIONS
8. CONCLUSION

1. INTRODUCTION
The evolution of e-business and its various strategies are some of the crucial
issues information systems executives and academic researchers encounter.

Most researches in e-business are cornered on the development of the

conceptual framework and case studies related with it. Enterprises have
implemented innovative e-business applications to boost their competitive
advantage. But these approaches have failed to meet the corresponding
expectations.
This research paper titled Factors affecting the implementation of e-business
strategies - An empirical study in Taiwan deals with the various contingency
factors, its influence on e- business strategies and the respective influence of
these factors on the above strategies. The hypothesized relationships were
empirically tested using a eld survey of manufacturing enterprises in Taiwan.
The research and its findings are quite useful to business managers or strategic
planners involved in initiating or conducting e-business strategic planning
exercises and to researchers in e-business domain. Numerous internal and
external factors inuence the implementation of e-business strategies;
organizations thus should consider contingency factors that may inuence the
quality of the implementation process for e-business strategy
2. STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER
The research paper starts with the introduction to e-business followed by
literature review which mentions about the contingency theory used as the
foundation on which the hypothesis for the topic under study was constructed.
According to contingency theory, functional-dependent relationships can be
established for environmental and managerial variables, with the environmental
variables being independent variables and the management variables being
dependent variables. For e.g. the effect of task complexity, system complexity,
user inuence, and user-developer communication in the dependency between
user participation and user satisfaction. This is followed by research model and
hypothesis section which was constructed on the basis of literature review
utilizing contingency, organizational and information systems management
theory as reference disciplines. A set of hypothesis are developed.
This is followed by explanation about the research methodology and data
analysis. The results are explained opening the platform for discussion and
further research and finally with conclusion about which all hypothesis stands
true before and after survey.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research model was constructed based on a literature review utilizing
contingency, organizational and information systems management theory as
reference disciplines. Samples have been obtained from a business directory
published by the China Credit Information Service, Ltd. in Taiwan.
Questionnaires were mailed to information systems executives. Questionnaires
were mailed to the information systems executives of 650 manufacturing rms.
The research variables were dened as briey as possible using multiple
indicator items. Organizational readiness was measured using four items
amended from the works of Legare (2002) as well as Ying and Wang (2007).
Environmental dynamism was measured using the approaches developed by
King and Sabherwal (1992). IS core competence was measured using ve items
amended from the work of Teo and King (1997). The quality of the
implementation of e-business strategies was amended from the work of Ying
and Wang (2007). Finally, a seven-item measure taken from the works of Chen
and Chuang (2003) as well as Plant et al. (2003) were used to assess the ebusiness performance. All variables were measured with multiple items on a
ve-point Likert-type scale, ranging from (5) strongly agree to (1) strongly
disagree.
The six hypotheses used in the study are as follows:
H1. Organizational readiness is positively related to the quality of the
implementation process for e-business applications.
H2. IS core competence is positively related to the quality of the
implementation process for e-business applications.
H3. Environmental dynamism is negatively related to the quality of the
implementation process for e-business applications.
H4. In high task uncertainty, greater organizational readiness leads to better
quality of the e-business implementation process.
H5. In high task uncertainty, greater IS core competence leads to better quality
of the e-business implementation process.
H6. The quality of the implementation process for e-business strategies is
positively related to e-business performance.
4. MAJOR FINDINGS

 Organizational readiness is signicantly related to the quality of ebusiness implementation process, so H1 is supported.
IS core competence is signicantly related to the quality of e-business
implementation process so H2 is supported.
Environmental dynamism is not signicantly related to the quality of ebusiness implementation process, so H3 is not supported.
The quality of e-business implementation process is signicantly related
to the e-business performance, so H6 is supported.
Based on the results of the regression analysis for the interaction model
and the main effect model for these variables: the interaction was positive
and insignicant. Furthermore, the improvement of the goodness-of-t (R
2) only increases 0.014. These results do not support hypothesis H4. Task
uncertainty and organizational readiness did not exhibit an interaction
effect on the quality of the implementation process for e-business
applications. The results did not support the contingency relationship
between the two variables as suggested by the theoretical model.
Regression analysis of the interaction and main effect models for these
variables: the interaction was positive and insignicant. The
improvement of goodness-of-t (R 2) only increases 0.014. These results
do not support hypothesis H5.
In short, three hypotheses H1, H2 and H6 are supported. The other three
hypotheses are not supported, including H3, H4 and H5.
5. CRITICISM
The subjects involved are IS executives and managers of manufacturing
rms in Taiwan, yet cultural differences may exist between Taiwan and
other countries which fails any mention in the article.
The sample is limited to manufacturing rms in Taiwan only.
Other than the factors mentioned, numerous other environmental,
organizational and technological factors may also affect the
implementation of e-business strategies which are neglected by the
author. This may result in gaps which opens scope for descriptive
researches on similar topics. Future studies should rectify these
drawbacks by also considering the effects of
more general

organizational and technological factors such as decision-making models

and organizational structure.
The items which were used for each measure such as Organizational
readiness, Environmental dynamism, IS core competence, Task
uncertainty, Environmental dynamism, Quality of the implementation
process, E-business performance is not defined or described in the
research paper. A short summary of the number of items used for each
measure is only given in the paper under study.
6. LOGICAL FLOWS
Introduction Research model and hypotheses Sample and data collection
Measure development (Organizational readiness, Environmental dynamism,
IS core competence, Task uncertainty, Environmental dynamism, Quality of the
implementation process, E-business performance) Pre-testingSample
characteristics Reliability and validity of the research variables Hypothesis
testing Discussion and Conclusion
7. SUGGESTIONS
This study has some important implications for practitioners initiating or
implementing e-business strategies. Future research should include the
scope for these implications
Empirical analysis results demonstrated that environmental dynamism
did not inuence the quality of the implementation process for e-business
strategy. A possible explanation for this could have been included in the
paper under study.
Other industries in tertiary sector could have been included in the topic
under consideration

8. CONCLUSION
Based on the empirical results of this study, businesses should emphasize
organizational readiness and core competence in information systems to avoid
failure in implementing e-business applications. Organizational readiness
includes top management commitment to providing resources and improving

business process in the process of e-business implementation, and

organizational members are ready to accept the associated change and risks in
implementing new e-business applications. This paper has presented a whole
new dimension to researches related to e-business. The future is looking green
for both e- business as well as the researches associated with it.

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