Yi-Hui Tai, Wen-Ying Wang and Jerome Katrichis
The purpose of this paper is to describe the interactions between accounting and marketing activities in a Taiwanese telecommunication firm by demonstrating the dramatic impact…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the interactions between accounting and marketing activities in a Taiwanese telecommunication firm by demonstrating the dramatic impact that improved costing methods had on the firm’s customer portfolio management activities and consequently on the firm’s bottom line.
Methodology/approach
The paper presents a case study of a firm in the highly competitive telecommunications industry in Taiwan. The case study was constructed by interviewing key individuals within the organization over an extended period and supplementing those reports with an analysis of internal company documents.
Findings
The firm dramatically increased profitability through the integration of activity-based costing into their customer portfolio framework requiring marketing and accounting functions to work closely together. In this rapidly evolving market, cost allocation and customer portfolio management are indispensable. Identifying accurate costs and keeping key customers is a critical issue for the case company. While theoretically the approach is simple, in practice considerable hurdles needed to be overcome.
Originality/value
While considerable literature suggests that customer profitability drives the management of an organization’s customer portfolio, critical to the success of such an endeavor is the accurate calculation and allocation of costs to individual customers. As an interdisciplinary study, this paper provides insights for both accounting and marketing highlighting their reliance on each other in a sound firm. The results of this paper will serve as a supplement to past customer portfolio management research as well as a reference for any firm seeking to enhance their approach to portfolio management.
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Wen‐Ying Wang and Chingfu Chang
This paper seeks to investigate the impact of intellectual capital elements on business performance, as well as the relationship among intellectual capital elements from a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to investigate the impact of intellectual capital elements on business performance, as well as the relationship among intellectual capital elements from a cause‐effect perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The partial least squares approach is used to examine the information technology (IT) industry in Taiwan.
Findings
Results show that intellectual capital elements directly affect business performance, with the exception of human capital. Human capital indirectly affects performance through the other three elements: innovation capital, process capital, and customer capital. There also exists a cause‐effect relationship among four elements of intellectual capital. Human capital affects innovation capital and process capital. Innovation capital affects process capital, which in turn influences customer capital. Finally, customer capital contributes to performance. The cause‐effect relationship between leading elements and lagged elements provides implications for the management of firms in the IT industry.
Research limitations/implications
The model proposed in this study is applicable to the high‐tech IT industry. Modification of the proposed model may be needed in applying this model to other industries.
Practical implications
This study helps management identify relevant intellectual capital elements and their indicators to enhance business performance.
Originality/value
This paper is a seminal work to propose an integrated cause‐effect model to investigate the relationship among elements of intellectual capital for IT in Taiwan.
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Rong‐Ruey Duh, Thomas W. Lin, Wen‐Ying Wang and Chao‐Hsin Huang
This paper describes the design and implementation of an activity‐based costing (ABC) system for a textile company in Taiwan.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes the design and implementation of an activity‐based costing (ABC) system for a textile company in Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
An in‐depth field investigation by collecting and analyzing 39 months of field data, gathering information from files and archives, direct observation, interviews, and statistical analyses was conducted.
Findings
First, the company's existing cost system adopted a volume‐based cost driver to allocate overhead costs to products. While the company devised an “equivalent factor” to take production‐complexity into account, the weakness of the metric led to product cost distortions. Second, the existing volume‐based cost system ignores the impact of rework processes on product costs. Third, adding complexity‐related cost drivers to the volume‐based cost driver increases the ability to explain variations in overhead costs. Fourth, the newly designed ABC system incorporates both volume‐based and non‐volume based drivers, which considers the effect of rework on product costs. Fifth, the existing volume‐based cost system overestimates the costs of high‐volume products and underestimates the costs of products with high production‐complexity. Finally, the company still stays at the analysis phase of the ABC system implementation, possibly due to revision of strategy, no linkage to incentives, lack of MIS support, and inadequate inventory control.
Practical implications
The above findings have implications for companies attempting to implement ABC.
Originality/value
This paper extends prior research in the following. First, it reports on the entire process of ABC implementation for a given company, as well as facilitators/impediments in the process. Second, while most prior research tends to focus on success cases, our study presents a failure case, which has implications for practitioners trying to avoid the same mistakes.
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Ann Ling‐Ching Chan and Wen‐Ying Wang
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a unified framework of the causal relationships among six aspects of customer capital: customer targeting, ability to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a unified framework of the causal relationships among six aspects of customer capital: customer targeting, ability to identify customers' needs, customer service capability, construction and management of a customer information system, market intensity, and customer loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
A financial holding company in an emerging market, with successful customer relationship management, is selected as the case study object. The authors interviewed the management and distributed questionnaires to positions equivalent to or higher than the junior sales manager within two divisions of the corporate banking group. A total of 80 questionnaires were distributed, with a valid return rate of 73.75 per cent. The total number of subjects is 59 and the partial least squares method was adopted to examine the causal relationships between the different aspects of customer capital.
Findings
The results support the authors' predictions on the causal relationships among the aspects of customer capital. The base aspect, customer targeting, significantly influences the ability to identify customers' needs and construction and management of a customer information system. These two aspects directly affect customer service capability, which further improves customer loyalty and market intensity. The authors also identify several indicators within each aspect to assist management in exploring areas for improvement.
Practical implications
The evidence implies that a business should manage and control the leading aspects of customer capital, as this will help to improve and develop lag indicators. Based on the proposed cause‐effect model, relevant capital elements can be identified which effectively enhance business‐to‐business (B2B) customer relationship management.
Originality/value
The paper investigates the issue of customer relationship management from an integrated perspective. A causal relationship model of customer capital is developed and evidence provided on how different aspects of customer capital are linked to each other.
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Timothy M. Hale, Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, Shelia R. Cotten and Aneka Khilnani
Ying-Wen Liang, Chih-Hung Wang, Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur, Chang-Hua Yen and Jin-Hua Tu
The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact indicators of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition from the perspective of residents and to investigate the effects…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact indicators of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition from the perspective of residents and to investigate the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability through the perceptions of Taipei residents after the exposition.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a literature review and consulted experts to identify the impact indicators of the exposition. This process resulted in 17 indicators of economic impact, 12 indicators of environmental impact, and 13 indicators of social impact, and the authors developed a 12-dimension/42-indicator mega-event impact measurement scale. Using a survey of 1,628 host residents after the exposition, the authors performed regression analysis to investigate the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability.
Findings
The results indicated that economic, environmental, and social impacts exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability. All positive dimensions of economic, environmental, and social impact exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability, and all negative dimensions exerted nonsignificant effects on urban sustainability.
Originality/value
This study identified the impact indicators of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition and investigated the effects of these impacts on the urban sustainability. The findings of this study indicated that economic, environmental, and social impacts of the exposition exerted significant positive effects on urban sustainability.
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Purpose: This chapter examines how healthcare technologies (electronic medical records, personal cell phones, and pagers) help manage patient care work to accelerate processes of…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter examines how healthcare technologies (electronic medical records, personal cell phones, and pagers) help manage patient care work to accelerate processes of communication and blur boundaries between work time and non-work time, thereby revealing dynamics of power as indicated through temporal capital, or the amount of time under an individual’s control.
Method: The data were collected from 35 in-depth semistructured interviews of health practitioners, which included 26 physicians, 7 nurses, and 2 administrators.
Findings: Communication technologies fulfill promises of temporal autonomy and efficiency, but not without cost, particularly as it intersects with organizational/institutional power structures and non-work-related social factors such as pre-existing technological literacy and proficiency. The blurring of work and non-work time gives practitioners perceived higher quality of life while also increasing temporal flexibility and autonomy. The higher up one is in the relevant hierarchy, the more control one has over one’s own time, resulting in higher levels of temporal capital. The power hierarchies serve to complicate the potential recuperation of temporal capital by communication technologies.
Implications: This study uses a critical cultural perspective that takes into consideration structures of institutional power hierarches impact temporal organization through the use of communication technologies by health practitioners. Practitioner-facing research is particularly crucial given the high rates of burnout within the profession and concerns around the well-being of health practitioners, and autonomy and control over one’s time is a factor in work and life satisfaction.
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Ashley Sanders-Jackson, Christopher Clemens and Kristen Wozniak
Purpose: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults smoke at rates much higher than the general population. Young adults, in general, are less likely to seek medical help for…
Abstract
Purpose: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults smoke at rates much higher than the general population. Young adults, in general, are less likely to seek medical help for smoking cessation and LGB individuals are less likely to seek health care generally. Alternative methods to encourage smoking cessation are necessary. This research seeks to establish whether LGB young adults in California would be willing to use social media for smoking cessation.
Approach: We conducted 41 qualitative interviews among LGB young adults in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles in Fall 2014.
Findings: The results suggest that our participants were interested in a LGB-focused social media intervention, as long as the intervention was private or anonymous and moderated. Further, across topical areas our participants spoke extensively about the import of social connections. We may be able to leverage these connections to encourage cessation.
Research Limitations: This is a qualitative, non-generalizable dataset from a fairly limited geographic area.
Public Health Implications: Online smoking cessation interventions aimed at young adults would benefit from further testing with LGB young adults to ensure efficacy among this population. In addition, states and localities concerned about young adult LGB smoking might benefit from investing in an online socially mediated cessation forum. Online interventions could be scalable and might be useful for other groups who regularly face discrimination, stigma, or other stressors that make successful smoking cessation difficult.