Kuei-Ying Hsu

In this study, we explore the needs of different valuable customer groups for service quality and how limited resources are allocated to enhance service quality. Accordingly, we propose a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool that uses fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) in combination with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to help companies enhance understanding of quantitative data (the weights of the factors that affect service quality) and qualitative information to identify valuable customers. Fifty-three experts and 304 consumers at convenience stores (CVS) comprise the data set. We employed the AHP to obtain index weights in the second step of FSE and conducted FSE to determine the importance of various valuable customer groups. The results demonstrate that different valuable customer groups have dissimilar perceptions and feelings about service quality. The findings indicate that customers between “20 to 29 years old” are the most valuable customer group and that most consumers do not care much about “problem solving”. The analysis is distinct from extant work in that it examines the effect of receiving service quality from a consumer viewpoint, as we conducted a comprehensive analysis from both customer and expert perspectives.

Internationalisation is an important issue for firms, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as compared to large enterprises, SMEs possess limited internationalisation experience and face unknown risks due to limited resources. However, if SMEs understand the determinants for entering into a foreign market and their relative importance, they could deploy their relatively limited resources optimally and maximise the success of entering the global market. Through literature review, this study proposed a three-level factor hierarchical table of SMEs entering foreign markets based on the dynamic capabilities framework. Through expert questionnaires, factor weights were obtained by using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), and the advantages of the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method were then used to objectively identify six critical success factors (CSFs). The results can be used as reference for Taiwanese SMEs to optimise their decision-making and resource allocation processes for entering into foreign markets.

A review of the literature identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) of project execution revealed two research gaps: a too subjective selection of CSFs rather than an objective selection and too many critical factors, resulting in doubts about their criticality. To overcome these two research gaps, this study proposed a hybrid method that uses the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to obtain weightings of factors and ranks their importance. The meaning of criticality, in combination with the concept of acceptable advantage of VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), was then used to objectively identify the CSFs of project execution, using the environmental consultancy service industry in Taiwan as an example. Finally, six CSFs were found and five management implications were identified, and these findings can serve as a valuable reference for project execution in the environmental consultancy service industry. This combined method can also be used to identify the CSFs of project execution in other fields.

This study examined the factors that influence customer value in a TV shopping context. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) was then applied to obtain the weights of these factors, and their importance was decided based on this. The results reveal that the top five important factors are as follows: payment security, private data security, commodity discount, short delivery time, and product usage security. Among these, payment security, private data security and product usage security are within the category of cost of security/safety. The results suggest that TV shopping operators should pay attention to their reputations in order to maintain a good corporate image and reduce doubts about security/safety. Meanwhile, logistics efficiency should be raised in order to shorten delivery times, and offering more discounts will act as an incentive to attract more shoppers and enhance customer value.

Purpose: – The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the factors that influence the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) in the logistics industry in Taiwan, and to objectively identify the key factors (KFs) for successful adoption. Design/methodology/approach: – First, the factors were collected from a review of the literature, and then arranged in a three-layer hierarchical table. The fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (FAHP) was then used to determine the weighting of each factor, based on the opinions of various logistics professionals. The acceptable advantage concept of VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) was then used to identify the KFs. Findings: – Nine important factors were identified from the total of eighteen factors, with a total accumulative weight of 64.68 percent, and from these, four KFs were determined: meeting the demands of clients, sharing real-time information, creating advantages in overall delivery, and reducing operational errors. Practical implications: – The results show that the logistics industry in Taiwan should focus on the improvement of four KFs when adopting RFID. Eight practical implications of this study are also discussed in the paper. Originality/value: – This study used multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tools to obtain the importance (weighting) of each factor and to identify the KFs that influence the adoption of RFID. The research results can serve as a reference for the logistics industry, enabling firms to better allocate their resources when adopting RFID, and thus, to achieve a good outcome at lower cost and with greater efficiency.