A Comparison of American-Taiwanese Customers‘ Attitudes Towards Door-to-Door Logistics Using AHP

• Main Authors: Matthew David Hopkins, 霍修文
• Other Authors: Ying-Chin Ho
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y67j9p

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 企業管理學系 === 106 === Abstract Purpose - This paper’s contention is to provide a comparative analysis of American and Taiwanese consumers to gain insight into preferences with regards to logistics supplier services. The purpose of this paper was to focus on the differences between two sample populations in order to increase company competitiveness in the market place. Design/Methodology/Approach – This research used pre-surveys to validate three dimensions along with a total of fourteen criteria allocated within each dimension respectively. Once this had been finished the use of The Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP) to systemically locate which tangible and intangible factors directly impact consumer’s attitudes in the hope of gaining crucial information regarding attracting and retaining customers which can be invaluable to a manager looking to expand operations into new markets. If differences are found the correct utilization of the results can improve share of wallet, customer satisfaction scores, and overall company outlook. Findings – According to the research there exists certain expectations between each of the sample population groups. The American group puts large emphasis on Reliability, Order Condition and Freight Price, whereas the Taiwanese sample population put emphasis on Information at Order Placement, Reliability, and Conformance. These differences can be attributed to size of country, cultural attitudes towards services which are provided to them as well as general standard operation procedures which exists in each country respectively. Research implications - In this thesis, the services provided by a logistics provider will be examined from the viewpoint of an average customer. Using AHP to way to gain insight into certain preferences that customers have with regards to logistic services. The results will have indicated which company is an ideal choice, but the qualifications that made this company the ideal choice is the true motivation of writing this paper. For this reason, the software Super Decisions V2 was chosen for the functionality of its unweight and weighted matrices. These matrices allow for easy access to weights associated with each criteria which in turns measures the importance as indicated by each sample population. Hopefully this method will bear fruit which is useful for others in the logistics field and other academic areas. For simplicity sake the main research contribution this paper hopes to make is within the domains of problem identification and comparison. By using AHP’s pair-wise comparison to do a comparison of two distinct sample populations I hope to identify specific problems each sample has and conduct a meticulous comparison of each group. Keywords: logistics, AHP, consumer knowledge management.