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Electronic learning (e‐learning) has gradually become an important part of university education. There is a trend among universities in Taiwan to offer more and more e‐learning courses. The effectiveness of teaching or learning in an e‐learning system can be quantified by multi‐criteria measures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching or learning in an e‐learning system measures in linguistic preferences.

A generalized quantitative evaluation model that considers both the interdependence among measures and the fuzziness of subjective perception is currently lacking in the literature. The results indicated that the fuzzy analytical network process is a simple, suitable, and effective method of identifying the primary measures that influence the effectiveness of e‐learning, specifically in the context of interdependent measures and varying linguistic preferences.

The most significant measures of e‐learning effectiveness were the quality of the e‐learning system and learner attractiveness. Enhanced usage of multimedia features can attract learner attention and may eventually increase learner attractiveness. Reducing the waiting time for learning materials to load may improve the quality of the system. Furthermore, the management should actively maintain and improve the responsiveness of instructors to learner inquiries.

The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, the evaluation can be considered as a complex‐dependence, hierarchical decision‐making problem. This study contains a review of the literature and identifies 21 criteria and five aspects to measure e‐learning system effectiveness. Second, this study integrates fuzzy set theory and the ANP to develop an evaluation model that prioritizes the relative weights of the proposed measures. The proposed method can be used to handle dependence within a set of measures and to construct a hierarchical structure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of various dimensions of customer relationship management (CRM) on innovation capabilities. Five dimensions of CRM (information sharing, customer involvement, long‐term partnership, joint problem‐solving, and technology‐based CRM) and five aspects of innovation capability (product, process, administrative, marketing, and service innovations) are identified. The one‐to‐one associations between the two constructs are developed and verified.

Data from 107 Taiwanese computer manufacturers are collected. Multiple regression analysis is employed to examine the effects of CRM on innovation capabilities.

The following results are offered: computer manufacturers in Taiwan perform various levels of CRM and, consequently, display different levels of effects on each of the five innovation capabilities. Generally, firms are able to increase their innovation capability by ad hoc CRM; the relationship between customer involvement and process innovation; customer involvement and administrative innovation; and long‐term partnership and marketing innovation are not significant; and technology‐based CRM has positive effects on all five types of innovation.

The findings suggest that not all CRM activities contribute to innovation programs, which clearly indicates the need for applying other mechanisms, such as supplier integration, to form a complete innovation program. Managers should align the development of their supplier management and CRM practices with the desired innovation capability.

The one‐to‐one relationships between CRM practices and innovation capabilities have not been properly examined. The findings suggest the need for more research in this area, and the statistical results provide managers with useful guidelines for implementing appropriate CRM practices to develop specific innovation capabilities to respond to enhanced competitiveness.

Despite the stimulation provided by market demand and green issues on business performance, the exact nature of the relationships among these aspects remains an issue of contention. This study sought to bridge this gap in the research by examining the effects of market demand on firm performance using green innovation and environmental performance as mediators. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The Taiwanese hybrid vehicle industry was targeted as the scope of research. Using random sampling method, survey questionnaires were distributed to retailers, wholesalers, and component sale firms in the industry through post and e-mails. AMOS 5.0 and the structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the hypotheses and the theoretical model.

Except for the impact of market demand on environmental performance, all relationships were found to be significant. The mediating effect of green innovation which was proven to be significant, while that of environmental performance remained insufficient.

This study has a number of limitations. The use of figures from a single industry partly restricts the generalizability of these findings.

These results suggest that firms should make greater efforts to understand customer needs and promote core competencies in the innovation of green products and processes to align green initiatives with consumer values in order to satisfy market demand and ensure sustainable performance.

This study has important implications for the hybrid vehicle industry in particular and all businesses in general. The results provide guidelines for the enhancement of business performance. Based on the significant impact of market demand on green innovation, this study strongly recommends that firms make greater efforts to understand customer needs and expectations.

This study was the first to establish a model for investigating the links among market demand, green innovation, environmental performance, and firm performance in the Taiwanese hybrid vehicle industry. The findings provide effective guidelines for the achievement of market leadership and sustainable performance.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) purportedly enhances a firm's competitive edge, but its alignment with specific dimensions of manufacturing flexibility has not been convincingly documented. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of several identifiable aspects of EO on particular types of manufacturing flexibility.

Using the data collected from 115 motherboard manufacturers, the study employs multiple regression analysis to examine the effects of entrepreneurial practices on manufacturing flexibility.

The statistical results lead to the following conclusions: autonomy, innovativeness, risk‐taking and proactiveness have significant positive effects on new product flexibility; autonomy, innovativeness, and competitive aggressiveness improve product mix flexibility; innovativeness, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness determine volume flexibility.

The research focuses exclusively on external manufacturing flexibility, ignoring, for the time being, internal manufacturing flexibility factors.

The outcomes of the present study reveal that manufacturing flexibility cannot be achieved by simply installing a computer‐aided system; rather, it needs to be planned, managed, and integrated with a firm's entrepreneurial endeavors.

This is the first empirical study to investigate the effects of EO on manufacturing flexibility rather than on business performance, which most of the previous research on this topic has emphasized. In terms of practical applicability, the findings provide plant managers with valuable guidelines for improving manufacturing flexibility by undertaking appropriate entrepreneurial action.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of purchasing activities and the purchasing function's involvement with corporate strategy on manufacturing competitiveness as it is affected by national differences. In particular, the authors are interested in the research question: do purchasing theories built on samples from mainly North American and Western European countries apply in other countries with different cultural contexts?

Based on the 511 samples collected from ten countries or two distinct cultural groups (Group 1: Asia; Group 2: Western Europe/USA), the authors tested a purchasing model that is well‐grounded in the literature. Two statistical methods were applied. First, multiple‐group structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to test the model. The authors then applied regression analysis to examine whether the two country groups differ in their choice and efficacy of purchasing activities and strategic involvement.

The results suggest that the intensity and efficacy of purchasing activities and strategic involvement vary between the two country groups, Asia and Western Europe/USA. The Western Europe/USA samples adequately fit the purchasing model, but the Asian samples do not. At the item level, the study finds a common set of purchasing activities contributing to manufacturing competitiveness regardless of national differences. The findings suggest that national differences matter in implementing purchasing activities.

This study represents a first attempt at using national culture to explain differences in purchasing activities and strategic involvement.

Improvement of flexibility is among the top concerns of manufacturing managers, however, managers are advised to choose the appropriate types of flexibility needed in their plants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of manufacturing proactiveness dimensions (manufacturing involvement, commitment to manufacturing technology advancements and multi‐skilled workforce developments, and manufacturing's integration with marketing and design functions) on three types of manufacturing flexibility (new product, volume, and product mix).

Using the data collected from 108 motherboard manufacturers in Taiwan, this study develops valid and reliable measures of manufacturing proactiveness and flexibility. The study used multiple regression analysis to examine how different proactiveness dimensions link with specific types of manufacturing flexibility.

The study found that manufacturing involvement, multi‐skilled workforce developments, and manufacturing/design integration have significant positive effects on new product flexibility. Statistical results indicated that manufacturing technology advancements, multi‐skilled workforce developments, and manufacturing/design integration lead to better product mix flexibility. In addition, manufacturing involvement, manufacturing technology advancements, and manufacturing/marketing collaboration are determinants of volume flexibility. This research provides deeper insights regarding the impact of manufacturing flexibility upon the proactiveness programs.

This research focuses on the effect of manufacturing proactiveness only on external manufacturing flexibility. It does not address the issue of internal manufacturing flexibility. The use of a single indicator for the manufacturing flexibility measure may limit the generalization of the statistical results.

These findings have two main managerial implications. With rigorous and comprehensive measures of proactiveness, investigations of its impact on competitive priorities (e.g. delivery, cost, and quality) are issues to be addressed in future studies of manufacturing strategy. Outcomes of the research also enable practitioners to implement the appropriate practices of manufacturing proactiveness based on the specific types of manufacturing flexibility which their plants require.

The uniqueness of this paper is twofold. It is the only empirical study to explore the relationship between manufacturing proactiveness and flexibility from the manufacturing strategy process aspect. This may inspire researchers to focus on other related process issues such as the effect of supplier or customer involvement on manufacturing flexibility. The study also generated five dimensions of manufacturing proactiveness that differ from previous empirical works which overlooked the critical factors of manufacturing/design integration and manufacturing/marketing collaboration. Future researchers and practitioners should be able to apply these results to study and assess related issues of manufacturing proactiveness more rigorously and precisely.

Organizations are facing a rapidly changing environment and there is a greater need to understand customers' demands and competitors' strategies for the development of product innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of market orientation, market knowledge and customer knowledge management on product innovation performance from the perspective of dynamic capability.

The data were collected from high‐tech firms in Taiwan. This study employs the structural equation model (SEM) to examine the relationships between market orientation, market knowledge, customer knowledge management and product innovation performance.

The findings of this study suggest market orientation has no significant impact on product innovation performance, and market knowledge and customer knowledge management mediate the relationship between market orientation and product innovation performance.

This paper suggests the consideration of various types of mediators or moderators in order to acquire more information for future study; the framework can be expanded to other industries due to this study's limited focus on the high‐tech industry.

This paper implies that besides utilizing market orientation for innovative practices, the high‐tech industry should focus more on market knowledge and customer knowledge management. In high‐tech industries, the process of knowledge management, which transfers customer knowledge to product innovation, can effectively seize market information.

This study examines the mediating effects of market knowledge and customer knowledge management and clarifies the relational inconsistencies between market orientation and product innovation performance from knowledge management viewpoints.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of green supply chain management (GSCM) research in terms of how the field is represented along a number of dimensions including journal, year, country, university, publishing house, authors, research design, research methods, data analysis techniques, multi criteria decision-making methods, research topics/issues and major industries actively involved.

A range of online databases from 1998 to August 2013 were searched containing the word “green supply chain” in their title and in the phrases to provide a comprehensive listing of journal articles on GSCM. Based on this a total of 177 articles were found and the information on a series of variables was gathered. Each of these articles was further reviewed and classified. The review and classification process was independently verified. All papers were allocated to the main and sub-categories based on the major focus.

The major findings shows that survey research holds greater credibility and the trend in survey research is moving from exploratory to model building and testing. GSCM research related to organizational practices, environmental issues, process, performance and sustainability were found to be most widely published topics within the GSCM domain.

This paper is limited in reviewing those articles which contains the word “green supply chain” in the title and the phrases of the articles.

The present review will provide increased understanding of the current state of research and what still needs to be investigated in the GSCM discipline.

This paper examines how market orientation and competence of knowledge reinforce the innovation and in turn improve the business performance.

This research applied research design with quantitative approach based on positivism philosophy, that is, research aimed to test the theory and data which is general to produce findings that are special through hypothesis test. This study was supplemented by field studies as a necessary source of data in the form of trends, attitudes, opinions, perceptions of owners, managers or senior employees of SMEs in the textile industry in Bali, related to the variables used in this study.

(1) Market orientation influences business performance, (2) competence of knowledge moderates the influence of market orientation on business performance, (3) innovation moderates the influence of market orientation on business performance.

(1) Novelty of this research is developing the concept of competence of knowledge associated with business performance in which this relationship has not yet been expressed. (2) Building the concept of innovation development of small-scale industry based on the market orientation. (3) Developing the concept of innovative development of small and medium enterprises of textile industry based on competence of knowledge. (4) Investigating the concept of market orientation and competence of knowledge in an integrated and holistic way to strengthen the innovation and business performance of SMEs of the textile industry in Bali.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the relationship between customer-oriented strategy (COS) and financial performance (FP) of firm, to examine the role of supportive human resource management (HRM) in COS implementation and contribution toward FP of firm. It also examines the mediating role of innovation capability (IC) between COS and FP of firm.

The approach used for this study is quantitative. Data required for testing of hypothesis were gathered from the managers of manufacturing firms of Gujranwala, Pakistan. To conduct the data analysis, structural equation modeling was used.

Findings of this study showed that there is significantly positive relation between COS and FP with the significant positive mediating effects of supportive HRM and IC.

This research has been conducted in manufacturing sector only. So, it is suggested to future researchers to carry out this research in other sectors. Second, this research focused only on IC but there are many other organizational capabilities (OC) that can be used.

This research would be helpful for all firms adopting COS to understand that how to mobilize their HR to accomplish the purpose of strategy. It will enable manufacturing firms to understand and work on IC.

This study is anticipated to add value to the existing literature of strategy process and OC. This study is one of the first to examine IC as mediator between COS and organizational FP so it opens new areas for research.