Decision Making Case Study

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE DECISIONMAKING FOR CELL PHONE DEPLOYMENT
Roberts, G. Keith1 [e-mail] Pick, James B. [e-mail]
ABSTRACT The wireless cell phone market has experienced phenomenal growth over the last decade. This paper studies the factors that five companies considered important in deciding to deploy wireless cell phone devices, the extent of current use of wireless cell phones, the extent of existing utilization and/or planning for web-enabled cell phone use, the constraining factors in their deployment decisions, how such decisions are made, and how regulation of the wireless industry has affected their decision-making process. The conceptual model combines the TAM and innovation diffusion models, adding the factors of security/privacy and web connectivity. Case study methodology is utilized for five manufacturing and technology firms. A key finding is that the most important decision factors are security/privacy, provision of quality service to customers, web connectivity, and, for one firm, productivity. Many other findings are presented, and the conceptual model is supported by the findings. The study’s practical implications are examined. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW This study focuses on identifying factors that corporations consider important in their decision to deploy devices designed for mobile telephony and mobile data services. We also consider the approval steps in decision-making, the extent and importance of web-enabled cell phones, and the functional areas of use of cell phones. There has been little research regarding corporate adoption of wireless (mobile) devices, but there is a solid foundation of theories and previous studies on technology adoption for this case study. The decision to adopt a wireless device, especially if the alternative is a wireline device, is in essence a technology adoption issue (Kleijnen and de Ruyter 2003, Van Akkeren and Harker 2003). A number of theories have been

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