Information technology and relationship management: a case study of Taiwan’s small manufacturing firm

The contribution of small businesses to the main source of employment and income in many countries and areas is a well-known fact. Therefore, the effect of the implementation of electronic functions on small businesses becomes a critical issue not only on the practices but also on academic research. In Taiwan, 90% of business is small business and the number of employees is less than 150. This paper is a case study which investigates several issues. First, the case firm, Li-ja, a Taiwanese small Polyurethane-manufacturing firm, is intending to implement electronic business. What can they do? Second, a specific business model of relationship management has been explored in the case firm and considered as a basis of business solutions for implementing information technology. Third, a web-based system architecture and a relational database management system are designed and constructed in terms of implementing electronic business in the case firm. Fourth, relationship management is the main objective of electronic business and it shows that data functions and on-line prototype systems can support business solutions in the case firm. Finally, system functions are presented as an example of the case study in support of electronic business implementation on the small manufacturing firm. Managerial issues and future work of this paper are discussed.