Wen Guang Qu - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Wen Guang Qu

Despite the progress scholars have made on the relationship between IT outsourcing (ITO) and indu... more Despite the progress scholars have made on the relationship between IT outsourcing (ITO) and industry environment, our knowledge of this link is still ambiguous and limited. Drawing on recent research on the evolvement of ITO market, we extend our understanding by taking a dynamic view of this issue. Specifically, we focus on software development outsourcing (SDO) and three key elements of industry environment, namely resource munificence, industry concentration and technology change. We argue that the evolvement of ITO market has a moderating effect onthe relationship between SDO propensity and industry environment. Using industry-level data for U.S. private industries from 1998 to 2015, we find that industry environment's impact on SDO propensity does change with the evolvement of the ITO market. Our findings provide insights on the relationship between SDO propensity and industry environment andindicate the importance of a dynamic view for understanding ITO-related phenomena.

Should firms invest in designing software tailored to their needs or directly buy prepackaged sof... more Should firms invest in designing software tailored to their needs or directly buy prepackaged software from the market? The race between prepackaged and tailor-made software has been long concerned by IT scholars and practitioners. However, our knowledge has been relatively fragmented or even contradictor y and empirical evidences are sparse. Drawing on studies on the industry lifecycle, we propose a new framework for understanding the race between them. Using industry-level data for U.S. private industries from 1998 to 2013, we empirically find that the relative advantage between these two kinds of software would change as industries evolve from ferment towards maturity along the industry IT lifecycle. Our findings provide insights on understanding the race between these two kinds of software and offer lessons for the users and policy makers.

Technovation, 2003

Technological learning plays a crucial role in the industrialization of developing countries, esp... more Technological learning plays a crucial role in the industrialization of developing countries, especially with the advent of globalization. The traditional 'staged' model (acquisition, assimilation, and improvement), which led to success in several developing countries during 60s and 70s, may no longer be feasible for countries whose technological learning is emerging. China, for instance, is experiencing a new form of technological learning. It integrates operational, tactical, and strategic learning, which corresponds to acquisition, assimilation, and improvement, respectively, and makes certain Chinese firms more likely to survive and grow in this turbulent time. Using information technology as a facilitator, the new technological learning has multiple objects, multiple sources, multiple subjects, and multiple methods. We develop a framework for the new technological learning and illustrate it by using a case.

Industrial Management & Data Systems

PurposeNowadays, an increasing number of firms choose to develop proprietary software, instead of... more PurposeNowadays, an increasing number of firms choose to develop proprietary software, instead of buying packaged software. What factors will affect different types of software investments? According to the environment-strategy alignment research, environment should be an influential factor. However, environment's role has received scarce attention in the literature. The authors' study addresses this research gap by investigating how industry environment affects different types of software investments. The study identifies three types of software investments (software insourcing, outsourcing, and buying) and examines how the characteristics of the industry environment (including industry munificence, dynamism, and concentration) influence each software investment.Design/methodology/approachThe generalized least squares (GLS) model and the ordinary least squares with panel-corrected standard errors (OLS-PCSE) model are applied to test the hypotheses, based on industry-level p...

How does IT outsourcing affect firm performance? What is the role of internal IT experience in IT... more How does IT outsourcing affect firm performance? What is the role of internal IT experience in IT outsourcing? Prior research has provided different answers for these two questions. This study attempts to address the inconsistencies in the literature. We distinguish between knowledge intensive IT outsourcing (KITO) and infrastructural IT outsourcing (IITO) and suggest that these two types of IT outsourcing have different impacts on firm performance. Our analysis based on a panel data from the US economy shows that KITO has a negative effect on economic performance, while IITO may have a positive effect. Moreover, internal IT experience can mitigate the negative effect of KITO on economic performance. Therefore, strong internal IT experience can help firms to gain from KITO by leveraging the IT capabilities of external vendors.

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2020

PurposePrior IT productivity research usually assumes constant returns on IT investment. This stu... more PurposePrior IT productivity research usually assumes constant returns on IT investment. This study suggests that the impact of IT investment on productivity may not be constant but may change with the IT investment scale and over time. Specifically, we divide IT investment into commercial IT and in-house IT and investigate their changing impacts on industry labor productivity.Design/methodology/approachA model of the productivity impacts of commercial IT and in-house IT with changing effects of scale and over time is developed and empirically tested based on industry-level panel data from the US. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).FindingsThe returns on commercial IT investment increase with scale but decrease over time, while the returns on in-house IT increase over time.Originality/valueThis study provides a new perspective for IT productivity research by investigating the changing productivity impacts of IT investment. It also suggests that commercial IT and in-house IT should be...

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2016

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the value creation potential of cloud computin... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the value creation potential of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships. It examines how cloud-based IT infrastructure capabilities in flexibility and integration contribute to partnering agility and, consequently, firm performance. This study also introduces business lifecycle and market turbulence as internal and external context variables, respectively, to investigate the different roles of cloud computing in value creation. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used to collect data from 184 client firms of the largest cloud computing services provider in China (Alibaba Cloud). The theoretical model was tested using PLS analysis. Findings – Cloud infrastructure (CI) flexibility has a positive effect on partnering agility, while the effect of CI integration on partnering agility is moderated by business lifecycle and market turbulence. Research limitations/implications – The surveyed firms are all Alibaba Cloud clie...

Journal of Business Research, 2015

Supply chain collaboration (SCC) is strategically important in today's business world, and the us... more Supply chain collaboration (SCC) is strategically important in today's business world, and the use of inter-organizational systems (IOS) much facilitates SCC. The present study examines: (1) the differential effects of two types of IOS-open and closed-on firms' use of SCC; (2) the impact of a country's uncertainty avoidance and social trust on firms' use of SCC; and (3) the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance and social trust on the firm-level relationships between open/closed IOS and SCC. Using a large dataset from twenty-four countries, a multi-level analysis suggests that, not only uncertainty avoidance and social trust affect SCC directly, but uncertainty avoidance also moderates the relationship between open IOS and SCC at the firm level. These findings are important for the research and practice of SCC, as they provide novel angles for researchers and managers to look at the factors that may affect the success of SCC.

Enterprise Information Systems, 2014

ABSTRACT In light of the current dynamic business environment, companies nowadays need to respond... more ABSTRACT In light of the current dynamic business environment, companies nowadays need to respond rapidly to changes. Companies often invest heavily in enterprise systems in the hope that these can improve their flexibility in coping with such changes. However, previous studies have shown that the impact of enterprise systems on flexibility can be either positive or negative. To resolve this inconsistency in the existing research, this paper suggests that a company's flexibility should be distinguished between process level and organisational level. Specifically, this paper proposes that enterprise systems will affect process flexibility negatively but affect organisational flexibility positively. The analysis results show that enterprise systems have different effects on process and organisational flexibility. Furthermore, industry clockspeed sets a boundary for the effect on process flexibility but not for that on organisational flexibility. Research and practical implications of this study are discussed.

During past decades, enterprise systems (ES) are becoming increasingly popular and numerous IS re... more During past decades, enterprise systems (ES) are becoming increasingly popular and numerous IS researchers have investigated the adoption of ES. Most of them investigated ERP adoption at the firm level. Few papers investigate ES adoption at multi-level. On the basis of TOE model, this paper propose a multi-level framework that specifies the country-level, the firm-level, and the cross-level effects, examining the effects of two country-level variables and three firm-level factors on ES adoption. We found that a country’s uncertainty avoidance orientation has a positive impact on ES adoption. In addition, the positive impacts of firm size and technology competence on ES adoption become stronger with the increase in a country’s maturity of IT-related law. The study extends the TOE framework by using a multi-level perspective to understand ES adoption. The authors conclude the paper with a discussion of the study’s implications for practice and future research.

Information & Management, 2015

2009 2nd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology, 2009

Business literature identifies trust as a key factor in promoting electronic interfirm cooperatio... more Business literature identifies trust as a key factor in promoting electronic interfirm cooperation (EIC). We believe, however, that such findings cannot be generalized to all forms of trust nor to all types of EIC. Specifically, we propose that a high presence of a certain form of trust called social trust may actually impede EIC when it is supported by proprietary-standard

The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 2010

Although research on the business impact of IT outsourcing abounds, little is known about the rel... more Although research on the business impact of IT outsourcing abounds, little is known about the relative strategic value of IT outsourcing and IT insourcing. Drawing upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, this study postulates that, compared with IT outsourcing, IT insourcing is more effective for developing IT-enabled business processes (IEBP), which subsequently lead to superior firm performance. Our analysis of the data from Information-Week and Compustat shows that IT insourcing is positively associated with IEBP, while the relationship between IT outsourcing and IEBP is not statistically significant. We also find that IEBP have a significant influence on firm performance. Finally, the effect of IT sourcing mechanisms on IEBP and the effect of IEBP on firm performance are both moderated by the type of innovation related to IEBP. The results suggest that in order to improve their performance firms should consider IT an integral part of their strategic core and should be proactively involved in the internal development of IT resources. We conclude with managerial implications and directions for future research.

Journal of Global Information Management, 2011

Research on information technology (IT) outsourcing adoption has been confined to a single-countr... more Research on information technology (IT) outsourcing adoption has been confined to a single-country perspective. The understanding of how country-specific variables influence the adoption of IT outsourcing is limited. This study uses new institutional economics to build a framework that links country-level factors to the adoption of IT domestic outsourcing. The authors suggest that country-level factors, such as the maturity of the IT-related legal system, social trust, uncertainty avoidance, Internet penetration, and the maturity of the IT outsourcing market, affect the opportunism costs and coordination costs involved in domestic IT outsourcing and influence its adoption among firms. The results show that the maturity of the IT-related legal system, social trust, and the maturity of the IT outsourcing market are positively associated with IT outsourcing adoption. The authors conclude the paper with a discussion of the study’s implications for practice and future research.

Journal of Business Research, 2011

Numerous studies examine potential facilitators and inhibitors of open source software (OSS) adop... more Numerous studies examine potential facilitators and inhibitors of open source software (OSS) adoption at the firm level. This study represents the first attempt to propose and test a multi-level framework, examining the effects of five country-level variables and two under-explored firm-level factors on firm OSS adoption. The findings suggest that a country's uncertainty avoidance orientation has a positive impact on OSS adoption, whereas power distance orientation and economic development have a negative impact on OSS adoption. In addition, uncertainty avoidance at the country level sets boundaries for the effect of firm-level IT-based networks in a way that the impact of proprietary IT-based networks becomes stronger, but that of open IT-based networks becomes weaker when uncertainty avoidance is high rather than low. The study also develops public policy implications from these findings.

Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2011

PurposeLittle research to date has investigated how firm experience and industry experience in re... more PurposeLittle research to date has investigated how firm experience and industry experience in related inter‐organizational systems (IOS) affect the adoption of open IOS. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachBased on large‐scale archival data from European countries, logistic regression was used to test the research model.FindingsIt was found that firm experience in EDI and experience in proprietary IOS positively affect the adoption of open IOS; industry experience in EDI and experience in proprietary IOS have a negative effect on the adoption of open IOS; and industry experience in open IOS has a positive effect on the adoption of open IOS.Research limitations/implicationsOne main limitation is that the measures of the variables are based on single‐item and dichotomic scales. Also, this study only focused on the industry level and alternative explanations for the results have not been ruled out. The main implication is that IOS experience a...

This paper investigates the effect of IT on a firm's procurement governance. While some scholars ... more This paper investigates the effect of IT on a firm's procurement governance. While some scholars posit that IT-enabled reduction in transaction costs will lead to more electronic markets, others claim that electronic partnerships will be the predominant governance for procurement. Empirical evidence about the IT effect on procurement governance is mixed. We argue that the phase of the industrial innovation dynamics, at which suppliers are in, will affect the type of predominant governance. More specifically, when suppliers are in the phase of product/process innovation, e-markets will be the predominant governance. However, e-partnerships will become a better choice when suppliers are in the maturity phase. Additionally, we argue that e-procurement governance will keep change as industrial innovation evolves from one phase to another. Our main contribution is to put e-procurement governance into the context of industrial innovation dynamics. The research and practical implications of our framework are discussed.

Journal of Management Information Systems, 2011

School of Management, Zhejiang university, China. he received his Ph.D. in information systems fr... more School of Management, Zhejiang university, China. he received his Ph.D. in information systems from McGill university. his research interests include It business value, It outsourcing, interorganizational systems, and It issues at the macro level. his work has been published or is forthcoming in the