Guest editorial

Citation

Kahraman, C. (2007), "Guest editorial", Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeim.2007.08820baa.001

Guest editorial

About the Guest EditorCengiz Kahraman is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey. He received his BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in Industrial Engineering from ITU. He is also a lecturer in the Turkish Air Force Academy and some other universities in Istanbul. His research areas include Engineering Economics, Statistics, Quality Control, Multi-Criteria Evaluation, and the application of Fuzzy Sets Theory on these areas. He has published several international journal papers and book chapters and edited some journal issues and books.

This issue of the journal is on decision-making and management applications. Decision-making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. Selection among logistics information technologies is an example of decision-making process and it has become an important factor in competition. The first paper presents a hierarchical fuzzy TOPSIS model for selection among logistics information technologies. The authors first develop the hierarchical fuzzy TOPSIS method and apply to logistics information technology (LIT) selection problem. LITs are the technologies including real-time interfaces, batch file transfer and electronic data interchange (EDI) for traditional fulfillment and e-commerce. The method has the capability of taking into consideration the vagueness in the evaluation data. The second paper presents an extended process model of knowledge discovery in database. Research experiences of the knowledge discovery process are characterized and a new model, an extension of the model by Fayyad et al. (1996) is formalized. A case study is used to illustrate why the process model is proposed and in what situation it can be used in practice. By using a reduct method from rough set theory, a real demonstration of the application of process model is given. The next paper presents a model and approach of fuzzy bilevel decision-making for logistics planning problem. This study first proposes a fuzzy bilevel decision making model for a general logistics planning problem. It then gives the definition of an optimal solution for this problem. Based on the definition and related theorems, this study develops a fuzzy number based Kth-best approach to find an optimal solution for the proposed fuzzy bilevel decision problem. A numerical example further illustrates this approach. The fourth paper presents the key issues in information systems management in China. Based on data collected from 286 Chinese companies, this paper analyses the key issues in information systems management in Mainland China. By ranking the individual issues and comparing them with the results of an earlier study, the findings reveal that while the top three critical issues remain the same, there are distinguishable changes that took place in the past few years. The authors also present results of further analyses regarding different sectors of companies. The study could be helpful for understanding the situations and challenges in information systems management in China. The fifth paper is on Knowledge management practices in Turkish SMEs. The current knowledge management practices in Turkish SMEs are searched through a survey. The survey is prepared depending on a basic model of knowledge management built by the authors. The results of the survey show that Turkish SMEs do not like to share knowledge even within the company. The managers are afraid of losing the control of knowledge. However, since they close the information channels, they also prevent the incoming knowledge. This paper provides a basis for the research about knowledge management practices in SMEs in developing countries. The last paper presents supplier-customer relationship management and customer loyalty from the banking industry perspective. This paper examines the impact of the relationship marketing underpinnings namely, commitment, competence, communication and conflict handling in one hand and customer loyalty in the other, as well as the mediation effects of trust and relationship quality. Bank customers in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia are surveyed using questionnaire. Bank intercept technique is used in administering the instrument. A total of 220 customers provided the data for the study. Multiple regression analysis is used to measure the construct’s relationship. The results show that relationship marketing strategies namely, communication, commitment, competence, and conflict handling are directly and indirectly (through trust and relationship quality) associated with customer loyalty. Moreover, trust and relationship quality are directly associated with loyalty.

Cengiz KahramanGuest Editor