Hande Kimiloglu, Meltem Ozturan and Asli Sencer Erdem
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to study collaborative research in general and identify its characteristics, advantages and disadvantages by conglomerating various…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to study collaborative research in general and identify its characteristics, advantages and disadvantages by conglomerating various views and ideas from the literature and from expert opinion research. Second, to determine the importance of and attitudes toward the usage of information technology (IT) in collaborative research projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Initially, an extensive literature review and ten in‐depth interviews have been conducted to determine the identifying characteristics of collaborative research. Consequently, a questionnaire is used as the major data collection tool to assess academicians' opinions about collaborative research and attitudes toward IT utilization in such studies.
Findings
Collaborative research has been most distinctively defined with the concepts of teamwork, knowledge and experience sharing and direct and continuous communication. Increased visibility and recognition of such projects and enhanced access to various resources have also been pinpointed as important advantages. Academicians have shown a highly positive tendency to utilize IT and adopt IT tools that will enhance convenience and communication and contribute to the conduction of various basic and support processes of collaborative research projects.
Research limitations/implications
The major implication of this research is the general need for more collaborative research projects in academia and the necessity to develop and employ various IT tools that can be used in such studies. Similar studies can be done with larger sample sizes or across various contexts, for comparative purposes, to overcome the limitations of the study.
Originality/value
In this paper, the dispersed literature about collaborative research has been assembled and a unified scope has been drawn around the concept. Attitudes toward collaborative research and the potential value of utilizing IT in such projects, which has been studied at an inadequate level in the literature, have been evaluated comprehensively from the perspective of academicians.
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Hande Kımıloğlu, V. Aslıhan Nasır and Süphan Nasır
This paper aims to discover consumer segments with different behavioral profiles in the mobile phone market. For this purpose, it seeks to analyze the decision‐making criteria of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discover consumer segments with different behavioral profiles in the mobile phone market. For this purpose, it seeks to analyze the decision‐making criteria of 302 mobile phone consumers in Turkey and cluster the sample meaningfully into four behaviorally different groups.
Design/methodology/approach
Factor analysis is conducted on 32 different attributes to which consumers attach importance in purchasing a mobile phone. Nine major decision‐making criteria emerge from this analysis. These criteria are used for segmenting this consumer market into four behavior clusters, namedly as pragmatic, abstemious, value‐conscious, and charismatic.
Findings
Pragmatic consumers are found to give high importance to the functional, physical and convenience‐based attributes of the product. The abstemious group also gives importance to functionality along with design. While value‐conscious consumers focus strongly on price, the charismatic segment represents the want‐it‐all group valuing many attributes such as technological superiority, practicality, durability, functionality, and design. The study also includes findings and discussions about the differences these clusters display in terms of their involvement and loyalty styles.
Research limitations/implications
High‐tech products such as mobile phones are becoming indispensable in people's lives; thus leading to a high‐involvement decision‐making process. It is crucial for marketers of these products to understand behaviorally different consumer segments that show significant variations in their decision‐making criteria for such products, and approach them accordingly.
Originality/value
The study applies cluster analysis as a behavioral segmentation tool in a high‐technology product market and successfully identifies four distinct consumer groups with alternative decision‐making styles.
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Hande Kımıloğlu and Hülya Zaralı
This paper seeks to use the balanced scorecard approach to create a performance measurement tool for e‐CRM implementations, distinguishing the criteria which signify higher levels…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to use the balanced scorecard approach to create a performance measurement tool for e‐CRM implementations, distinguishing the criteria which signify higher levels of success in e‐CRM for internet businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
A performance measurement tool assessing the success of e‐CRM implementations under the customer, internal business, innovation and learning, and financial perspectives of the balanced scorecard is constructed. A total of 72 internet businesses in Turkey were surveyed about how much their CRM implementations contributed to the improvement in various measures under these four perspectives. These businesses are categorised as those with high versus moderate levels of perceived e‐CRM success. T‐tests are conducted to find out which success criteria distinguish these two groups more significantly.
Findings
Companies with higher levels of perceived e‐CRM success claimed significantly higher levels of improvements in customer satisfaction, transaction amounts and frequency, brand image, effective database management and customer targeting, efficient business processes, technology utilisation, excellence and innovation in services, improved sales, profitability and decreased service support costs.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size is relatively small due to the difficulty of collecting data from internet businesses on a strategic issue such as e‐CRM. Perceived e‐CRM success is assessed based on the answers of a single respondent from each business.
Practical implications
With successful e‐CRM programs, internet businesses can experience significant levels of improvements under all the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard, including tangible measures such as financial outcomes and the less tangible indicators such as customer value, innovation, excellence, and efficiency in business processes.
Originality/value
A general strategic management tool is applied to a specific process in internet businesses. Performance in e‐CRM is assessed extensively.