The impact of information technology on financial performance: the importance of strategic choice

Impact of Diversification on Performance of Top Indian ICT Outsourcing Firms: An Entropy Analysis

Indian outsourcing industry undeterred by recent plummeting growth of global ICT market is experiencing robust growth. Indian ICT firms, by and large, follow success breed success formula by replicating the strategies adopted by the leaders in the market. Two top Indian ICT outsourcing firms have adopted diversification strategy to expand their presence in multiple industry verticals across geographies by offering a diversified range of services. This study, using an entropy analysis, measures the degree of diversification of the top two and most successful Indian outsourcing firm in five different dimensions. The second part of the study analyzes the overall impact of diversification on the performance of the firm. This study reveals that although overall diversification signifies a positive impact on the firm performance, each dimension leaves a different impact on the different firms’ performance.

Strategic Advantage in Web Tourism Promotion

This research informs the means to develop an e-commerce strategy for web based tourism promotion of hotels located in developing countries. The study explored the aspects related to the use of information systems in web based tourism promotion, along with a focus on the organizational factors affecting the use of e-commerce strategy. Interviews were conducted with the managers of selected five sample hotels located in Sri Lanka. A structured web content analysis was undertaken for all five sample hotels to trace process level data on the e-commerce web content. Specific aspects of web content analysis include interactivity, trust, information and value adding features. Instrument for web content analysis was developed by the researcher. The outcome of research produces an outline for developing an e-commerce strategy for hotels located in developing countries to achieve strategic advantages in web based tourism promotion.

A hybrid decision tree based methodology for event studies and its application to e-commerce initiative announcements

The event study methodology has been applied in various business disciplines. This methodology typically has two goals: (1) to determine whether an event such as the announcement of an e-commerce initiative in the public media leads to cumulative abnormal returns (CAR); and (2) to examine the factors that influence the observed CAR. Most studies have used parametric statistical analysis in estimating CAR and regression for achieving the second goal. In this paper, we propose a hybrid methodology that involves using nonparametric statistical analysis to obtain the first goal, and the use of Decision Tree (DT) induction as a novel approach to reach the second goal. We apply the hybrid methodology to e-commerce announcements. The use of nonparametric analysis enables us to address some of the prior concerns of event study research in the e-commerce domain with regard to the limitations of short run event windows. The use of the novel DT-based approach leads to additional insights beyond what is reported in the literature through the examination of contingency effects. Specifically, our results indicate that the impact of Governance, Customer Type and Firm Type on CAR is contingent on the innovativeness of the e-commerce initiatives. Our study makes both methodological and theoretical contributions regarding the use of DT induction and nonparametric analysis in event studies especially in situations where prior studies present mixed results and where there are concerns about return variability. We present both research and managerial implications of the findings.