Multiple Generation Product Life Cycle Based Marketing Promotion Mix Strategy Definitions by Hybrid MCDM Methods

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1 Iteratioal Joural of Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) Multiple Geeratio Product Life Cycle Based Marketig Promotio Mix Strategy Defiitios by Hybrid MCDM Methods Chi-Yo Huag 1, *, Ya-La Cheg 1 ad Gwo-Hshiug Tzeg 2,3 1 Departmet of Idustrial Educatio, Natioal Taiwa Normal Uiversity No. 62, He-Pig East Road I, Taipei 106, Taiwa 2 Istitute of Project Maagemet, Kaia Uiversity No. 1 Kaia Road, Luchu, Taoyua 338, Taiwa 3 Istitute of Maagemet of Techology, Natioal Chiao-Tug Uiversity 1001, Ta-Hsueh Road, Hsi-Chu, Taiwa Received 27 October 2010; received i revised form 25 November 2010; accepted 5 December 2010 ABSTRACT Marketig promotio strategies, which are about the advertisemet, public relatioship developmet, sales promotio, etc., are oe of the most importat compoets of the high techology marketig mix programs. I a era of fast product ad process iovatios, the iovative product life cycles (PLC) are becomig daily shorter. Most domiat high techology electroic system products icludig mobile phoes, persoal computers, etc. have demostrated multiple geeratio characteristics. Thus, appropriate marketig promotio strategies are especially importat for such multiple geeratio PLC system products so that suitable actios ca be take aimig at promotig the fast cyclig electroic products with comparatively shorter PLCs. Meawhile, marketig commuicatio costs ca be reduced by defiig strategies for multiple geeratio products istead of aimig at some specific geeratio. However, most existig researches o marketig promotio strategies i geeral ad high techology marketig promotio strategies i special usually eglected the multiple geeratio characteristics of products. Further, most existig researchers o multiple geeratios PLCs have bee focused more o techological forecastig while igored the impacts of marketig mix variables. Be aware of the situatio, this paper iteds to propose a aalytic framework for selectig the optimum portfolio of marketig promotio strategies at differet PLC stages of electroic system products. A multiple criteria decisio makig (MCDM) framework cosistig of the Decisio Makig Trial ad Evaluatio Laboratory (DEMATEL) as the tool for cofigurig the decisio problem structure, the Aalytical Network Process (ANP) as the tool for calculatig weights of each criterio, ad fially, the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromiso Reseje (VIKOR) as the tool for rakig the alteratives have bee proposed for defiig the marketig promotio strategies of multiple geeratio PLC system products. A empirical study o the liquid crystal display (LCD) televisios (TVs), oe of the most popular cosumer electroic products which have emerged durig the past decade ad demostrated clear multi-geeratio characteristics, will be selected to demostrate the feasibility of this proposed hybrid MCDM methods. Possible marketig promotio strategies were first derived by literature review. The, experts beig ivited from Taiwaese LCD TV vedors ad market research istitutes were ivited for providig opiios for the proposed marketig promotio strategies. The Empirical aalysis result shows that the best marketig promotio strategies over each PLC stage iclude: (1) *Correspodig author: [email protected]

2 56 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) itroductio stage: advertisig-copy strategy; (2) growth stage: media-selectio strategy; (3) maturity stage: media-selectio strategy; ad (4) declie stage: push strategy. Fially, certai coclusios ad suggestios for the marketig promotio for differet LCD-TV product life cycle stages were preseted. Meawhile, possibilities for further study were proposed. The aalytic results ca also serve as the marketig promotio strategy portfolio of a late comig LCD-TV vedor. Keywords: Marketig promotio strategy, Multi-geeratio product life cycle, Decisio Makig Trial ad Evaluatio Laboratory (DEMATEL), Aalytic Network Process (ANP), VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromiso Reseje (VIKOR), Multiple Criteria decisio Makig (MCDM). 1. INTRODUCTION Marketig commuicatios are the meas by which firms attempt to iform, persuade, ad remid cosumers-directly or idirectly-about the products ad brads they sell (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). Nearly everyoe i the moder world is iflueced to some degree by marketig commuicatio tools icludig advertisig ad other forms of promotio (Belch ad Belch, 2003). Orgaizatios i both the private ad public sectors have leart that the ability to commuicate effectively ad efficietly with their target audieces is critical to their success (Belch ad Belch, 2003). The solid advertisig ad promotio mix is as importat i high-tech markets as i traditioal markets (Mohr et al., 2009). This importace is backed by research that foud higher expeditures o both advertisig ad R&D lower a firm s systematic risk, thereby icreasig stock returs across a variety of publicly listed U.S. compaies (Mohr et al., 2009). Some of the key marketig commuicatios tools iclude traditioal advertisig (i both mass media as well as trade jourals), trade shows, sales promotios (cotests, icetives), public relatios (evet sposorships, etc.), publicity (articles i the ews media), direct marketig (mail, telemarketig), ad persoal sellig (Mohr et al., 2009). Marketig promotio strategies, which are about the advertisemet, public relatioship developmet, sales promotio, etc., are oe of the most importat compoets of the high techology marketig mix programs. Compaies must allocate the marketig commuicatios budget over the eight major modes of commuicatio-advertisig, sales promotio, public relatios ad publicity, evets ad experieces, direct marketig, iteractive marketig, word-of-mouth marketig, ad the sales force. Withi the same idustry, compaies ca differ cosiderably i their media ad chael choices (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). Although marketig commuicatios ca play a umber of crucial roles, they must do so i a icreasigly tough commuicatio eviromet (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). Techology ad other factors have profoudly chaged the way cosumers process commuicatios, ad eve whether they choose to process them at all (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). A product life cycle (PLC) is the depletio of the product s market potetial due to techological obsolescece (Chi ad Liu, 2001) which describes the chagig features of markets durig their evolutio (Werker, 2003). All product sales pass through distict PLC stage (Kotler, 2006). The PLC is a vitally importat pheomeo i marketig maagemet which maagers must uderstad the sales patters ad chage their strategies accordigly (Golder ad Tellis, 2004). PLC maagemet is widely used by practitioers for developig strategies to aticipate ad maage chages (Kepros et al., 2007). Moreover, competitive advatages ca be attaied by successful strategic aligmets of busiess strategy with the curret stage of the PLC, alog with proactive plas to accommodate the crossover to aother stage (Birou et al., 1997). Because of its critical impact o marketig strategy, the PLC has become a cetral, edurig cocept i marketig maagemet (Golder ad Tellis, 2004). The PLC based o sales developmet ca be divided ito four phases itroductio, growth, maturity, ad degeeratio. This divisio seems to be logical ad ca correspod to maagerial experiece (Bauer ad Fischer, 2000). Furthermore, accordig to Che et al. (2000) each stage of the life cycle of a techology may cotai may geeratios of product evolutio. This pheomeo is especially commo i high-techology idustries. Semicoductor memories like DRAM, Static Radom Access Memory (SRAM), ad Persoal Computers (PC) are typical examples (Huag ad Tzeg, 2008). However, rapid rate of techological advace is shorteig PLCs (Lee et al., 2006). Meawhile, the iterval betwee these geeratios becomes shorter as the competitio becomes more itesive (Kim et al., 2005). Faced with abbreviated product logevity, predictig the demad for ad diffusio of ew products is crucial for purposes of ivestmet decisio, of marketig, ad of policy settig (Lee et al., 2006). Accordig to Day (1981), withi the marketig literature, the PLC cocept is a well-kow metaphor for describig ad explaiig market dyamics (Wog ad Ellis, 2007). Over the past decades, the PLC cocept has bee widely discussed for various purposes icludig fiacial maagemet (Rik et al., 1999), ivetory maagemet (Curra et al., 2005), purchasig strategy itegratio (Birou et al., 1997), supply chai strategies (Aitke et al., 2003) as well as strategy defiitios (Krause ad

3 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 57 Kid, 1998) by a huge umber of researchers. Accordig to Speece ad Maclachla (1995), oe of the most widely used models i marketig has bee exteded to the multi-geeratio situatio (Norto ad Bass, 1987) which iteds to trace the diffusio ad substitutio treds for the successive geeratios of a durable techological iovatio (Che ad Wataabe, 2006). However, multi-geeratio research has bee focused o techological forecastig (Chu, ad Pa, 2008; Kim et al., 2005; Huag ad Tzeg, 2008). Moreover, past researches o multiple geeratio techological iovatios have geerally igored the impacts of marketig-mix variables (Daaher et al., 2001). Observig the above metioed pheomeo, the purposes of this research are twofold: (1) defiig a multiple criteria decisio makig (MCDM) theory based marketig mix strategies defiitio framework to resolve the above metioed problem; (2) ehacig the firm level as well as idustrial level competitiveess by itroducig the marketig mix strategies beig defied. Compaies must allocate the marketig commuicatios budget over the eight major modes of commuicatio-advertisig, sales promotio, public relatios ad publicity, evets ad experieces, direct marketig, iteractive marketig, word-of-mouth marketig, ad the sales force (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). Thus, this research has bee completed i accordace with the followig procedure. I the begiig, previous studies beig related to PLC, marketig strategies for PLC ad criteria for high techology marketig mix strategies defiitios will be reviewed. After the literature review, the critical marketig criteria for defiig marketig mix strategies o LCD-TV will be derived by previous reviews. The, the validity of the derived criteria also will be cofirmed by usig Delphic Oracle s Skills of Iterpretatio ad Foresight (Delphi). The structure of the etire decisio makig problem will be developed by usig the Decisio Makig Trial ad Evaluatio Laboratory (DEMATEL), which is based o pair comparisos of the cause ad effect relatioships betwee criteria. Weights of the criteria will be derived based o the structure beig derived above usig the Aalytical Network Process (ANP). Fially, the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromiso Reseje (VIKOR) will be leveraged to rak the criteria. The proposed MCDM framework will be leveraged for selectig marketig mix strategies which are most suitable for the various stages of a PLC. After the aalysis, appropriate marketig mix strategies toward each stage of a LCD-TV PLC ca be defied. A empirical study o the liquid crystal display (LCD) televisios (TVs), oe of the most popular cosumer electroic products which have emerged durig the past decade ad demostrated clear multi-geeratio characteristics, will be selected to demostrate the feasibility of this proposed hybrid MCDM methods. The liquid crystal display (LCD) televisios (TVs), which have emerged durig the past decade ad become oe of the most popular cosumer electroic products demostrated the characteristics of multi-geeratio PLCs as well. While otig that LCD TV is oe of the emergig cosumer electroic products with 170 millio aual demads (Che, 2009) ad comparatively higher growth rate tha others, LCD TVs also demostrate the multiple geeratio cyclic behaviors. Albeit importat, few literatures addressed for LCD TV marketig mix strategies from the aspect of multi-geeratios PLC. Possible marketig promotio strategies were first derived by literature review. The, experts beig ivited from Taiwaese LCD TV vedors ad market research istitutes were ivited for providig opiios for the proposed marketig promotio strategies. The rest of this research is orgaized as follows. I Sectio 2, literature o PLC, multiple geeratios PLC, marketig commuicatio strategies ad defiitio criteria for marketig commuicatio strategy portfolio will be reviewed. I Sectio 3, a itegrated multiple criteria decisio makig (MCDM) framework for selectig marketig strategy will be defied ad demostrated. I Sectio 4 the relative backgroud of idustry will be itroduced. Meawhile, a empirical study has bee illustrated. Furthermore, several strategies for differet priority weights ad resources coditios are take ito accout to verify the effectiveess of the model by usig MCDM methods. Fially, accordig to the fidigs of this research, discussios will be preseted i Sectio 5. Sectio 6 will coclude the whole article. 2. MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AND MULTIPLE GENERATIONS PLC A compay s positioig ad differetiatio strategy must chage as the product, market, ad competitors chage over the PLC (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). I a dyamic marketplace, shorter ad shorter PLCs are curretly witessed (Lee ad Tag, 1998). Most major products succeeded because of firm s cocerted efforts to expad ad exted their applicatios through appropriate PLC maagemet (Ho, 2003). PLCs ot oly ca be determied; they are particularly useful as marketig models (Cox, 1967). The PLC theory reflects marketig ad busiess approaches. So the focus is especially focusig o the developmet of sales, profits, advertisemet, product awareess ad customer loyalty (Tomes, 2008). I the followig sectios, the defiitios of PLC, multiple geeratio PLCs, marketig strategies for a PLC ad criteria defiitios for marketig mix strategies will be described i details. 2.1 Marketig Commuicatio Marketig is a orgaizatioal fuctio ad a set of

4 58 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) processes for creatig, commuicatig, ad deliverig value to customers ad for maagig customer relatioships i ways that beefit the orgaizatio ad its stakeholders (America Marketig Associatio, 2008). Marketig commuicatios are the meas by which firms attempt to iform, persuade, ad remid cosumers-directly or idirectly-about the products ad brads they sell. Marketig commuicatios should supply beliefs ad evaluatios that reiforce the cosumer s choice ad help him feel good about the brad (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). Marketig commuicatios, the most visible to marketig fuctios, iteract subtlety with corporate commuicatios to form what ca be a formidable force for busiess ad other orgaizatios, ad oe that impacts strogly o society geerally (Copley, 2004). Marketig commuicatios strategy covers all efforts to commuicate to target audieces ad chael members (Kotler ad Keller, 2009). As summarized by Copley (2004), the most frequetly adopted model of the commuicatios process i marketig terms is that of Schramm (1971a), revised from Schramm s 1954 model which itself was derived from Lasswell s (1948) sematic descriptio, ad Shao ad Weaver s (1962) model of the commuicatio process. May authors, such as Fill (1995; 1999; 2002) ad Belch ad Belch (1995), use this as a fudametal buildig block (Copley, 2004). The elemets of the process for our purposes here eed to be explaied ad broke dow ito their ow costituets i order that the model ca be better uderstood (Copley, 2004). Takig these i tur (copley, 2004): (1) seder/source, (2) ecodig, (3) the message, (4) the medium, (5) decodig, (6) recipiet/ receiver, (7) feedback ad (8) oise. The basic marketig mix, which icludes tactics ad programs that support product, pricig, distributio, ad marketig commuicatios strategy (Kotler ad Keller, 2009), the usually icludes commuicatio as a fudametal elemet but the commuicatio itself is a mix of elemets (Copley, 2004). The old promotios mix was usually see as cosistig of advertisig, sales promotio, marketig public relatios ad persoal sellig (Copley, 2004). Accordig to Jai (1993), the media-selectio strategy ad the advertisig-copy strategy are the commo strategies for marketig promotio. Further, accordig to Williams ad Curtis (2007), there are two basic promotio strategies, push ad pull. The push strategy maximizes the use of all available chaels of distributio to push the offerig ito the marketplace while the pull strategy requires direct iterface with the ed user of the offerig. Use of chaels of distributio is miimized durig the first stages of promotio ad a major commitmet to advertisig is required. Fially, as summarized by Kotler ad Kelly (2009), the marketig commuicatios mix cosists of eight major modes of commuicatio: (1) advertisig: ay paid form of o-persoal presetatio ad promotio of ideas, goods, or services by a idetified sposor; (2) sales promotio: a variety of short-term icetives to ecourage trial or purchase of a product or service; (3) evets ad experieces: compay-sposored activities ad programs desiged to create daily or special brad-related iteractios; (4) public relatios ad publicity: a variety of programs desiged to promote or protect a compay s image or its idividual products; (5) direct marketig: use of mail, telephoe, fax, , or Iteret to commuicate directly with or solicit respose or dialogue from specific customers ad prospects; (6) iteractive marketig: olie activities ad programs desiged to egage customers or prospects ad directly or idirectly raise awareess, improve image, or elicit sales of products ad services; (7) word-of-mouth marketig: people-to-people oral, writte, or electroic commuicatios that relate to the merits or experieces of purchasig or usig products or services; ad (8) persoal sellig: face-to-face iteractio with oe or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of makig presetatios, aswerig questios, ad procurig orders. 2.2 PLC Levitt defied a PLC as the life of a product to that of a livig orgaism (Levitt, 1965; Dickso, 1997). The cocept of PLC explais the geeral tedecy of products developmet process or a depictio of a product s sales history from its birth or marketig begiig, to its death, or withdrawal from the market (Zikmud ad d'amico, 1999). Schaars (1991) defied the cocept of PLC to be a patter-based approach which tracks treds i product sales histories from their iceptio to their demise. Sakai et al. (2003) ad Che et al. (2006) metioed that PLC could describe the possible product policies i differet stages of PLC as well as helps the eterprise to compare its product with the former similar product to estimate the performace of the products that would be itroduced to the market (Che, 2009). Assael (1993) thought PLC to be a useful tool for suggestig strategies over the life of a brad ad i idicatig whe chages i strategies should take place. It is eve more useful for helpig marketers develop successful, profitable product strategies as the market for a product chages over time (Solomo ad Stuart, 1997). I summary, the cocept of PLC has bee prove to be successful for more tha 40 years, which has impacted the developmet of marketig strategies sigificatly. Fig. 1 demostrates a typical PLC which usually described by a S-shaped sales curve, the course that a product s sales ad profits take over its lifetime (Armstrog ad Kotler, 2000; Doyle ad Ster, 2006; Kotler, 2006). Based o the defiitios beig provided by Kotler (2006), a PLC has four distict stages: itroductio, growth, maturity ad declie.

5 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 59 Sales Itroductio Growth Maturity Declie Time Techological performace idex Geeratio II Geeratio I Geeratio III Evelope route of TLC Time Source: Kotler (2006) Source: Khalil (2000) Fig. 1. PLC Fig. 2. Multiple-Geeratio Techologies (1) Itroductio: Itroductio is a period of slow sales growth as the product is itroduced i the market. Profits are oexistet i this stage because of the heavy expeses of product itroductio. (Product developmet begis whe the firm fids ad develops a ewproduct idea. Durig the product developmet stage, sales are zero ad the firm s ivestmet costs mout. (2) Growth: Growth is a period of rapid market acceptace ad icreasig profits. (3) Maturity: Maturity is a period of the slowdow i sales growth because the product has achieved acceptace by most potetial buyers. Profits level off or declie because of icreased marketig outlays to defed the product agaist competitio. (4) Declie: Declie is the period whe sales fall off ad profits drop. The slow itroductio phase reflects the difficulty of overcomig buyer iertia ad stimulatig trial of a ew product. Rapid growth the occurs as may ew buyers are attracted oce the product is perceived as successful. Maturity of the product s potetial buyers is evetually reached, causig the rapid growth to level out to the uderlyig rate of growth of the relevat target market. Fially, the declie will set i as ew substitute products appear (Doyle ad Ster, 2006). 2.3 Multiple Geeratios PLC Fast-chagig, techology-itese markets are characterized by the successive itroductios of ext-geeratio products (Ofek ad Sarvary, 2003). Accordig to Khalil (2000), a techology eed ot cosists of a sigle compoet or be drived from a sigle iovatio. I cotrast, a techology ca cosist of multiple sub-techologies ad be drive from differet geeratios of iovatio. For example, the persoal computer is a techology ad has a techology life cycle. It cosists of several subtechologies. Oe such sub-techology is the microprocessor, which ca also be defied as a techology with a techology life cycle of its ow. The microprocessor(s) also has/have its/their ow multiple-geeratio techologies or sub-techologies. Each of these geeratios of iovatio helped boost the techology life cycle of the microprocessor ad, i tur, that of the PC (Fig. 2). The emergece of idustry stadards (or domiat desigs) ad subsequet radical departures from product substitutios together make up a techology cycle (Tushma ad O Reilly, 1997). The ewer techology may wide the market by allowig applicatios which were ot feasible before. It will also provide a opportuity for buyers of earlier techologies to substitute the more recet techology for earlier oes which explais the cojuctio of diffusio ad substitutio (Norto ad Bass, 1987). The probable course of a idustry evolutio origiated from the PLC. Oe of the major features of recet market evolutio is that its products, especially high-tech products, become differetiated ito multiple geeratios, with path depedecy i the advacemet of their techological performace (Huag ad Tzeg, 2008). 2.4 Marketig Strategies for a PLC The firm hopes to exted the product s life ad profitability eve kowig that the product will ot last forever (Kotler, 1996). Durig a product s life time, a firm will ormally reformulate its marketig strategies several times. Not oly do ecoomic coditios ad competitive situatios chage. However, i additio, the product also passes through ew stages of buyer iterest ad requiremets. Cosequetly, a firm must pla successive strategies which are appropriate to each stage i a PLC. The PLC theory usually draws implicatios o marketig mix strategies defiitios ad the marketig orgaizatios restructurig. I the itroductio stage the strategic objectives should be developig the market aggressively, focusig o the most iovative customers ad seekig to pre-empt competitio. As the product moves ito the growth stage, ew competitors eter. The iitial product has to be ehaced with features ad lie extesios. Prices have to be cut. Ad the distributio should be itesified while a mass market is emergig. As the market for the product matures, profit margis fall, competitio is itese ad the orgaizatio has to shift from a focus o marketig to oe focusig o efficiecy

6 60 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) ad cost cotrol. Fially, i the declie stage, the future is bleak ad the busiess should seek to milk the product for cash. This cash is the pushed ito ew products ad the PLC repeated (Doyle, ad Ster, 2006). Albeit scholars tried to itroduce the cocepts regardig to product life cycle, multiple geeratio product life cycle as well as marketig promotio strategies, very few literature tried to address how the marketig promotio strategies versus each stage of the multiple geeratio PLC ca be defied, ot to metio the sceario while iflueces betwee criteria are cosidered. Followig, the authors would like to itroduce a hybrid MCDM framework for PLC marketig promotio mix strategies defiitios. 3. A HYBRID MCDM FRAMEWORK FOR PLC MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES DEFINITIONS The aalytic process for defiig PLC marketig mix strategies is iitiated by collectig the criteria for evaluatig the PLC marketig mix strategies by usig the Delphi method. Sice ay criteria to be derived by the Delphi may impact each other, the structure of the MCDM problem will be derived usig the DEMATEL. The priorities of every criterio are based o the structure beig derived by usig the ANP. Fially, the VIKOR techique will be leveraged for calculatig the compromise rakig of the alteratives, which are PLC marketig mix strategies. I summary, this evaluatio framework cosists of five mai phases: (1) derivig criteria usig the Delphi method; (2) buildig the structure of etwork relatio map (NRM) amog determiats by usig the DEMATEL; (3) calculatig the priorities of every determiat by the ANP based o the structure of NRM derived by usig the DEMATEL i (2); ad fially (4) rakig the priorities of PLC marketig mix strategies with the VIKOR. 3.1 Delphic Oracle s Skills of Iterpretatio ad Foresight The Delphi method origiated i a series of studies coducted by the RAND Corporatio i the 1950s (Joes ad Huter, 1995). The objective was to develop a techique to obtai the most reliable cosesus from a group of experts (Dalkey ad Helmer, 1963). While researchers have developed variatios of the method sice its itroductio, Listoe ad Turoff (1975) captured its commo characteristics i the followig descriptio: Delphi may be characterized as a method for structurig a group commuicatio process; so the process is effective i allowig a group of idividuals, as a whole, to deal with a complex problem. To accomplish this structured commuicatio, certai aspects should be provided: some feedback of idividual cotributios of iformatio ad kowledge; some assessmet of the group judgmet or viewpoit; some opportuity for idividuals to revise their views; ad some degree of aoymity for idividual resposes (Listoe ad Turoff, 1975). The Delphi techique eables a large group of experts to be surveyed cheaply, usually by mail usig a self-admiistered questioaire (although computer commuicatios also have bee used), with few geographical limitatios o the sample. Specific situatios have icluded a roud i which the participats meet to discuss the process ad resolve ay ucertaities or ambiguities i the wordig of the questioaire (Joes ad Huter, 1995). The Delphi method proceeds i a series of commuicatio rouds, as follows: Roud 1: Either the relevat idividuals are ivited to provide opiios o a specific matter, based upo their kowledge ad experiece, or the team udertakig the Delphi expresses opiios o a specific matter ad selects suitable experts to participate i subsequet questioaire rouds; these opiios are grouped together uder a limited umber of headigs, ad statemets are drafted for circulatio to all participats through a questioaire (Joes ad Huter, 1995). Roud 2: Participats rak their agreemet with each statemet i the questioaire; the rakigs the are summarized ad icluded i a repeat versio of the questioaire (Joes ad Huter, 1995). Roud 3: Participats re-rak their agreemet with each statemet i the questioaire, ad have the opportuity to chage their score, i view of the group s respose; the re-rakigs are summarized ad assessed for their degree of cosesus: if a acceptable degree of cosesus is obtaied, the process may cease, with the fial results the fed back to the participats; if ot, this third roud is repeated (Joes ad Huter, 1995). 3.2 DEMATEL Method The DEMATEL method was developed by the Battelle Geeva Istitute: (1) to aalyze complex world problems dealig maily with iteractive ma-model techiques; ad (2) to evaluate qualitative ad factor-liked aspects of societal problems. The applicability of the method is widespread, ragig from idustrial plaig ad decisio-makig to urba plaig ad desig, regioal evirometal assessmet, aalysis of world problems, ad so forth. It has also bee successfully applied i may situatios, such as marketig strategies, cotrol systems, safety problems, developig the competecies of global maagers ad group decisio-makig. Furthermore, a hybrid model combiig the two methods has bee widely used i various fields, for example, e- learig evaluatio (Tzeg et al., 2007), airlie safety measuremet, ad iovatio policy portfolios for

7 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 61 Taiwa s SIP Mall. Therefore, i this paper we use DEMATEL ot oly to detect complex relatioships ad build a NRM of the criteria, but also to obtai the ifluece levels of each elemet over others; we the adopt these ifluece level values as the basis of the ormalizatio supermatrix for determiig ANP weights to obtai the relative importace. To apply the DEMATEL method smoothly, the authors refied the defiitios based o Tzeg et al. (2007), ad produced the essetial defiitios idicated below. The DEMATEL method is based upo graph theory, eablig us to pla ad solve problems visually, so that we may divide multiple criteria ito a relatioship of cause ad effect group, i order to better uderstad causal relatioships. Directed graphs (also called digraphs) are more useful tha directioless graphs, because digraphs will demostrate the directed relatioships of sub-systems. A digraph typically represets a commuicatio etwork, or a domiatio relatioship betwee idividuals, etc. Suppose a system cotais a set of elemets, S = {s 1, s 2,..., s }, ad particular pair-wise relatioships are determied for modelig, with respect to a mathematical relatioship, MR. Next, portray the relatioship MR as a direct-relatio matrix that is idexed equally i both dimesios by elemets from the set S. The, extract the case for which the umber 0 appears i the cell (i, j), if the etry is a positive itegral that has the meaig of: the ordered pair (s i, s j ) is i the relatioship MR; it has the kid of relatioship regardig that elemet such that s i causes elemet s j. The digraph portrays a cotextual relatioship betwee the elemets of the system, i which a umeral represets the stregth of ifluece (Fig. 3). The elemets, s 1, s 2, s 3 ad s 4 represet the factors that have relatioships i Fig. 3. The umber betwee factors is ifluece or iflueced degree. For example, a arrow from s 1 to s 2 represets the fact that s 1 iflueces s 2 ad its iflueced degree is two. The DEMATEL method ca covert the relatioship betwee the causes ad effects of criteria ito a itelligible structural model of the system (Hori ad Shimizu, 1999). Defiitio 1: The pair-wise compariso scale may be desigated as eleve levels, where the scores 0, 1, 2,..., 10 represet the rage from o ifluece to very high ifluece. Defiitio 3: The ormalized direct relatio/ifluece matrix N ca be obtaied through Equatios (1) ad (2), i which all pricipal diagoal elemets are equal to zero. where N = za. (1) z = mi 1, 1 max 1 i Σ j =1 a ij max 1 j Σ i =1 a (2) ij I this case, N is called the ormalized matrix. Sice lim k Nk = [0]. Defiitio 4: The, the total relatioship matrix T ca be obtaied usig Equatio (3), where I stads for the idetity matrix. T = N + N N k = N(I N) 1, (3) where g ad T is a total ifluece-related matrix; N is a direct ifluece matrix ad N = [x ij ] ; lim g (N N g ) stads for a idirect ifluece matrix ad 0 Σ x ij j =1 < 1 or 0 Σ x ij < 1, ad oly oe x ij or x ij equal i =1 2 s 3 s 1 3 Fig. 3. A example of the directed graph Σ j =1 Σ i =1 to 1 for i, J. So lim g Ng = [0]. The (i, j) elemet t ij of matrix T deotes the direct ad idirect iflueces of factor i o factor j. Defiitio 5: The row ad colum sums are separately deoted as r ad c withi the total-relatio matrix T through Equatios (4), (5), ad (6). 1 s 2 s 4 T = [t ij ], i, j {1, 2,..., } (4) 3 Defiitio 2: The iitial direct relatio/ifluece matrix A is a matrix obtaied by pair-wise comparisos, i terms of iflueces ad directios betwee the criteria, i which a ij is deoted as the degree to which the i th criteria affects the j th criteria. r =[r i ] 1 = c =[c j ] 1 = Σ t ij j =1 1 Σ t ij j =1 1 (5) (6) where the r ad c vectors deote the sums of the rows ad colums, respectively. Defiitio 6: Suppose r i deotes the row sum of the i th row of matrix T. The, r i is the sum of the iflueces

8 62 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) dispatchig from factor i to the other factors, both directly ad idirectly. Suppose that c j deotes the colum sum of the j th colum of matrix T. The, c j is the sum of the iflueces that factor i is receivig from the other factors. Furthermore, whe i = j (i.e., the sum of the row sum ad the colum sum (r i + c i ) represets the idex represetig the stregth of the ifluece, both dispatchig ad receivig), (r i + c i ) is the degree of the cetral role that factor i plays i the problem. If (r i c i ) is positive, the factor i primarily is dispatchig ifluece upo the stregth of other factors; ad if (r i c i ) is egative, the factor i primarily is receivig ifluece from other factors (Huag et al., 2007; Liou et al., 2007; Tamura et al., 2002). 3.3 The ANP Method The ANP method, a multi criteria theory of measuremet developed by Saaty (Saaty, 1996), provides a geeral framework to deal with decisios without makig assumptios about the idepedece of higher-level elemets from lower level elemets ad about the idepedece of the elemets withi a level as i a hierarchy. Compared with traditioal MCDM methods (Saaty, 2005), e.g. AHP (Aalytic Hierarchy Process), TOPSIS, ELECTRE, etc. (Lee et al., 2006) which usually assume the idepedece betwee criteria, ANP, a ew theory that exteds AHP to deal with depedece i feedback ad utilizes the supermatrix approach (Saaty, 2003), is a more reasoable tool for dealig with complex MCDM problems i the real world. I this sectio, cocepts of the ANP are summarized based o Saaty s earlier works (Saaty, 1996; Saaty, 1999; Saaty, 2005). The ANP is a couplig of two parts. The first cosists of a cotrol hierarchy or etwork of criteria ad subcriteria that cotrol the iteractios. The secod is a etwork of iflueces amog the elemets ad clusters. The etwork varies from criterio to criterio ad a differet supermatrix of limitig ifluece is computed for each cotrol criterio. Fially, each of these supermatrices is weighted by the priority of its cotrol criterio ad the results are sythesized through additio for all the cotrol criteria (Saaty, 1999). A cotrol hierarchy is a hierarchy of criteria ad subcriteria for which priorities are derived i the usual way with respect to the goal of the system beig cosidered. The criteria are used to compare the compoets of a system, ad the subcriteria are used to compare the elemets. The criteria with respect to which ifluece is preseted i idividual supermatrices are called cotrol criteria. Because all such iflueces obtaied from the limits of the several supermatrices will be combied i order to obtai a measure of the priority of overall iflueces, the cotrol criteria should be grouped i a structure to be used to derive priorities for them. These priorities will be used to weight the correspodig idividual supermatrix limits ad add. Aalysis of priorities i a Source: Saaty (1996) C 1 Itermediate Compoet (Trasiet State) C 3 Source: Saaty (1996) Fig. 4. The cotrol hierarchy Source Compoet Cotrol Criteria Goal Criteria Subcriteria A possible differet etwork uder each subcriterio of the cotrol hierarchy Outerdepedece Itermediate Compoet (Recurret State) Ierdepedece loop Source Compoet (Feedback loop) Fig. 5. Coectios i a etwork system ca be thought of i terms of a cotrol hierarchy with depedece amog its bottom-level alteratives arraged as a etwork as show i Fig. 5. Depedece ca occur withi the compoets ad betwee them. A cotrol hierarchy (Fig. 4) at the top may be replaced by a cotrol etwork with depedece amog its compoets, which are collectios of elemets whose fuctios derive from the syergy of their iteractio ad hece has a higher-order fuctio ot foud i ay sigle elemet. The criteria i the cotrol hierarchy that are used for comparig the compoets are usually the major paret criteria whose subcriteria are used to compare the elemets eed to be more geeral tha those of the elemets because of the greater complexity of the compoets. A etwork coects the compoets of a decisio system. Accordig to size, there will be a system that is made up of subsystems, with each subsystem made up of compoets, ad each compoet made up of elemets. The elemets i each compoet iteract or have a ifluece o some or all of the elemets of aother compoet with respect to a property goverig the iteractios C 4 C 2 Sik Compoet (Absorbig State) C 5

9 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 63 of the etire system, such as eergy, capital, or political ifluece. Fig. 5 demostrates a typical etwork. Those compoets which o arrow eters are kow as source compoets such as C 1 ad C 2. Those from which o arrow leaves are kow as sik compoet such as C 5. Those compoets which arrows both eter ad exit leave are kow as trasiet compoets such as C 3 ad C 4. I additio, C 3 ad C 4 form a cycle of two compoets because they feed back ad forth ito each other. C 2 ad C 4 have loops that coect them to themselves ad are ier depedet. All other coectios represet depedece betwee compoets which are thus kow to be outer depedet. A compoet of a decisio etwork which was derived by the DEMATEL method i Sectio 3.2 will be deoted by C h, h = 1,..., m, ad assume that it has h elemets (criteria), which we deote by e h1, e h2,... e hm. The iflueces of a give set of elemets (criteria) i a compoet o ay elemet i the decisio system are represeted by a ratio scale priority vector derived from paired comparisos of the comparative importace of oe criterio ad aother criterio with respect to the iterests or prefereces of the decisio makers. This relative importace value ca be determied usig a scale of 1 9 to represet equal importace to extreme importace (Saaty, 1980; Saaty, 1996). The ifluece of elemets (criteria) i the etwork o other elemets (criteria) i that etwork ca be represeted i the followig supermatrix: C 1 C 2 C m e 11 e 1 1 e 21 e 2 2 e 11 e m1 e mm C 1 e 12 W 11 W 12 W 1m W = e 1 1 e 21 e 22 C 2 e 2 2 W 21 W 22 W 2m e m1 e m2 C 2 e mm W m1 W m2 W mm A typical etry W ij i the supermatrix, is called a block of the supermatrix i the followig form where each colum of W ij is a pricipal eigevector of the ifluece of the elemets (criteria) i the i th compoet of the etwork o a elemet (criteria) i the j th compoet. Some of its etries may be zero correspodig to those elemets (criteria) that have o ifluece. W ij = w i1 j 1 w i1 j 2 w i1 j j w i2 j 2 w i2 j 2 w i2 j j w ii j 1 w ii j 2 w ii j j After formig the supermatrix, the weighted supermatrix is derived by trasformig all colums sum to uity exactly. This step is very much similar to the cocept of the Markov chai i terms of esurig that the sum of these probabilities of all states equals 1. Next, the weighted supermatrix is raised to limitig powers, such as Equatio (7) to get the global priority vector or called weights (Huag et al., 2005). lim θ Wθ (7) I additio, if the supermatrix has the effect of cyclicity, the limitig supermatrix is ot the oly oe. There are two or more limitig supermatrices i this situatio, ad the Cesaro sum would eed to be calculated to get the priority. The Cesaro sum is formulated as follows. lim (1 ψ ν ) ν Σ W j ψ j =1 (8) to calculate the average effect of the limitig supermatrix (i.e. the average priority weights) where W j deotes the j th limitig supermatrix. Otherwise, the supermatrix would be raised to large powers to get the priority weights (Huag et al., 2005).

10 64 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) 3.4 VIKOR While solvig a complex decisio makig problem by usig a MCDM framework, the alteratives ca be raked ad the best oe ca be selected based o the cocept of compromise solutio which was developed by Yu (1973) ad Zeley (1982). The compromise solutio is a feasible solutio, which is the closest to the ideal, ad a compromise meas a agreemet established by mutual cocessios (Opricovic ad Tzeg, 2003). A compromise solutio for a problem with coflictig criteria ca help the decisio makers to reach a fial decisio (Opricovic ad Tzeg, 2003). The VIKOR method was itroduced as oe applicable techique to implemet withi MCDM (Opricovic, 1998). I compariso to oe of the most well kow traditioal compromise rakig method, TOPSIS, which determies a solutio with the shortest distace from the ideal solutio ad the farthest distace from the egative-ideal solutio (Hwag ad Yoo, 1981; Yoo, 1987), the VIKOR ca the prohibit the problem of ot cosiderig the relative importace of these distaces. Followig, based o Opricovic ad Tzeg (2003), the procedures for VIKOR are itroduced as a basis for this hybrid MCDM framework. The VIKOR is applied here to derive the optimal alterative (strategy) with the shortest distace from the ideal solutio. Assume the alteratives ca be deoted as A 1, A 2,..., A k,..., A m. The ratig (performace score) of the j th criterio is deoted by f kj for alterative A i, w j is the weight of the j th criterio, expressig the relative importace of the criteria, where j = 1, 2,...,, ad is the umber of criteria. The VIKOR method bega with the followig form of L p -metric: Σ L p k = { [w j( f * j f kj )/( f * j f j )] p } 1/p j = 1 where 1 p ; k = 1, 2,..., m; weight w j is derived usig the ANP accordig to the NRM based o the DEMATEL method. The VIKOR method also uses L k p = 1 (as S k ) ad L k p = (as Q k ) to formulate the rakig measure (Opricovic, 1998; Tzeg et al., 2002; Opricovic & Tzeg, 2007; Tzeg et al., 2005; Opricovic & Tzeg, 2002; Opricovic & Tzeg, 2004). S k = L k p = 1 = Q k = L k p = Σ j = 1 [w j( f * j f kj )/( f * j f j )], = ma j x{w j ( f * j f kj )/( f * j f j ) j = 1, 2,..., } The compromise solutio mi k L k p will be chose because its value is closest to the ideal/aspired level. I additio, whe p is small, the group utility is emphasized (such as p = 1) ad as p icreases to p =, the idividual maximal regrets/gaps receive more importace, as show by Yu (Yu, 1973; Freimer & Yu, 1976). Therefore, mi k S k emphasizes the maximum group utility, whereas mi i Q i emphasizes selectig the miimum of the maximum idividual regrets. Based o the above cocepts, the compromise rakig algorithm VIKOR has the followig steps. Step 1. Normalize the origial ratig matrix. I this step, we determie the best f * j ad the worst f j values of all criterio fuctios, j = 1, 2,...,. Assumig the j th fuctio represets a beefit: f * j = mi k f kj (or settig a aspired level) ad f j = mi k f kj (or settig a tolerable level). Alteratively, assumig the jth fuctio represets a cost: f * j = mi k f kj (or settig a aspired level) ad f j = mi k f kj (or settig a tolerable level). Moreover, a origial ratig matrix is trasformed ito a ormalized weight-ratig matrix with the followig formula: r kj = ( f * j f kj )/( f * j f j ). Step 2. Compute the values S k ad Q k, k = 1, 2,..., m, usig the relatios S k = Σ w jr kj ad Q k = max j = 1 j {r kj j = 1, 2,..., }, where S k ad Q k show the mea of group utility ad maximal regret respectively. I the traditioal VIKOR method, Q i is represeted as max{w j r kj j = 1, 2,..., }, j which implies group utility is more importat tha maximal regret. Sice Q k is oly a part of S k, S k is uquestioably more tha Q k. Therefore, S i is emphasized more tha Q k i the traditioal VIKOR method. However, the maximal regret is also very importat i practice ad is usually take ito accout i order to improve it. Therefore, i order to balace S k ad Q k, Q k = max{r kj j = 1, 2,..., } is used istead of the j traditioal VIKOR Q k. Step 3. Compute the idex values R k, k = 1, 2,..., m, usig the relatio R k = v(s k S * )/(S S * ) + (1 v)(q k Q * )/(Q Q * ), where S * = mis k, S k = mis k, Q * = miq k, Q = miq k (here, we ca k k k also set the best value to 0 ad the worst value to 1) ad 0 v 1, where va is itroduced as a weight for the strategy of maximum group utility, whereas 1 v is the weight of the idividual regret. Step 11 Rak the alteratives, sortig by the value of S k, Q k ad R k, for k = 1, 2,..., m, i decreasig order. Propose as a compromise the alterative (A (1) ) which is raked first by the measure mi{r k k = 1, 2,..., m} if the followig two coditios are satisfied: C1. Acceptable advatage: R(A (2) ) R(A (1) ) 1/(m 1), where A (2) is the alterative with secod positio i the rakig list by R; m is the umber of alteratives. C2. Acceptable stability i decisio makig: Alterative A (1) must also be the best raked by S k

11 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 65 or/ad Q k, k = 1, 2,..., m. A set of compromise solutios is proposed if oe of the coditios is ot satisfied. The set of compromise solutios cosists of: (1) Alteratives A (1) ad A (2) if oly coditio C2 is ot satisfied, (2) Alteratives A (1), A (2),..., A (M) if coditio C1 is ot satisfied. A (M ) is determied by the relatio R(A (M ) ) R(A (1) ) 1/(m 1) for maximum M (the positios of these alteratives are close). The compromise-rakig method (VIKOR method) determies the compromise solutio; the obtaied compromise solutio is acceptable to the decisio-makers because it provides a maximum group utility of the majority (represeted by mi S), ad a miimum idividual maximal regret of the oppoet (represeted by mi Q). The model uses the DEMATEL ad ANP procedures i Sectios 3.2 ad 3.3 to obtai the weights of criteria with depedece ad feedback ad uses the VIKOR method to obtai the compromise solutio. 4. EMPIRICAL STUDY A hybrid of LCD TV marketig mix strategies beig derived by the proposed aalytical framework will be demostrated. First, the criteria ad alteratives were summarized by literature reviews ad cocluded by the modified Delphi method beig proposed by Murry ad Hammos (1995). The, the structure of this marketig strategies defiitio problem was established by DEMATEL. After that, the weights of each criterio will be derived by usig the ANP. Meawhile, the relatioships betwee the determiats (criteria) will also be derived. Fially, the VIKOR method was leveraged for selectig the compromise solutios from the alteratives. Above all, with the uderstadig of the determiats, appropriate marketig strategies were also proposed by the experts to bridge the gaps betwee the curret level ad the aspired levels of the determiats. Detailed procedures ad results are illustrated below. 4.1 Criteria ad Alteratives by Literature Review ad Modified Delphi Method Table 1. Modified Delphi Results versus Each Criterio Criteria Average (c 1 ) Nature of product (c 2 ) Durable versus odurable (c 3 ) Demad perspectives (c 4 ) Fiacial resources of the orgaizatio (c 5 ) Relative price/relative quality (c 6 ) Geographic scope of market Table 2. Modified Delphi Results versus Each Strategy Alterative Average (a 1 ) Push strategy (a 2 ) Pull strategy (a 3 ) Media-selectio strategy (a 4 ) Advertisig-copy strategy This research first summarized possible determiats for PLC strategies as well as possible marketig strategies by literature review from Davies ad Brush (1997), Keri ad Peterso (1998), Jai (2000), Wier (2000), McGrath (2001), Scott (2001), Mohr et al. (2005), Kolter (2006), etc. After the literature review, determiats beig summarized were reviewed by idustry experts of the LCD TV idustry or related field from marketig, sales or R&D departmets. A total of thirty-five questioaires were issued while te effective questioaires were received. The, marketig strategies ad criteria for evaluatig the marketig strategies were derived by usig the modified Delphi method. The strategies as well as revised determiats beig derived by the modified Delphi method were summarized i followig Tables. Based o the modified Delphi method, criteria ad strategies beig agreed by three fourth of experts were selected accordig to Murry ad Hammos (1995). The average umbers of the scores versus each determiat ad strategy are itroduced also i Table 1 ad Table 2 as refereces. I the modified Delphi, the determiat/criteria or strategies/alteratives with the average grades which were below three fourth were igored. Amog the determiats ad strategies beig igored, i the criteria aspect, durable versus o-durable (c 2 ) was eglected due to their low grades. Regardig to the alteratives, all experts agreed with determiats for selectig the chael strategies ad the summarized chael strategies. The alteratives beig derived by the modified Delphi method were defied below by summarizig strategy proposals by Weilbacher (1979), Jai (1993), Williams ad Curtis (2007). (a 1 ) Push strategy: Accordig to Williams ad Curtis (Williams ad Curtis, 2007), there are two basic promotio strategies, push ad pull. The push strategy maximizes the use of all available chaels of distributio to push the offerig ito the marketplace. (a 2 ) Pull strategy: The pull strategy requires direct iterface with the ed user of the offerig. Use of chaels of distributio is miimized durig the first stages of promotio ad a major commitmet to advertis-

12 66 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) Table 3. The Values of α uder Each PLC Stage PLC Stage Itroductio Growth Maturity Declie Crobach s Alpha ig is required (Williams ad Curtis, 2007). (a 3 ) Media-selectio strategy: Choosig the chaels (ewspapers, magazies, televisio, radio, outdoor advertisig, trasit advertisig, ad direct mail) through which messages cocerig a product/ service are trasmitted to the targets (Jai, 1993). Accordig to Chad (Chad, 2006), strategy ivolvig the determiatio of which media are most appropriate for a advertisig campaig. (a 4 )Advertisig-copy strategy: Copy refers to the cotet of a advertisemet (Jai, 1993). A advertisig copy strategy states, i geeral terms, what iformatio the advertisig will covey ad why this product ca make these assertios of beefit to the cosumer (Weilbacher, 1979). I the advertisig idustry, the term is sometimes used i a broad sese to iclude the words, pictures, symbols, colors, layout, ad other igrediets of a advertisemet (Jai, 1993). c 4 Remark: Threshold = c 5 c 3 c 1 c 6 Fig. 6. The Causal Diagram of Criteria Fially, the direct/idirect matrix T is deducted based o Equatio (3) ad show below. 4.2 Testig of the Reliability by the Crobach s Alpha As the Crobach s alpha coefficiet (α) is closer to 1.0, the greater the iteral cosistecy of the items i the scale is. Based o the above modified Delphi method beig itroduced i Sectio 3.2, there are 20 criteria for testig of the reliability uder each stage. The values of α at each stage of a PLC (refer Table 3) are equal to uder the itroductio stage, α = uder growth stage, α = uder maturity stage, ad α = uder declie stage, respectively. It should be oted that a alpha of 0.8 is a reasoable goal while a high value for α idicates good iteral cosistecy of the items i the scale (Joseph ad Rosemary, 2003). 4.3 Decisio Problem Structurig by DEMATEL Z = X = T = Sice the iter-relatioship for idividual dimesios betwee criteria which are summarized through the above metioed modified Delphi process seems too complicated to be aalyzed, the criteria of the (marketig) decisio problem structure will be derived with the DEMATEL method beig itroduced i Sectio 3.4. At first, the direct relatio/ifluece matrix Z is itroduced as show below accordig to the experts opiios o pairwise comparisos i terms of ifluece ad directio betwee criteria. The, the direct relatio/ifluece matrix X is ormalized based o Equatio (2) ad show below. The, usig Equatios (5) to (7), the causal diagram could be derived by mappig a dataset of (d + r, d r). I the followig Table 4, the values of (d + r) ad (d r) for each criterio are demostrated. The casual diagram cosistig of all criteria is show i Fig. 6. The major relatioships were deducted by settig threshold value as uder the promotio dimesios. If the threshold value is lower tha the give values, the relatioship or likages i the casual diagram of total relatioships will be too may to be aalyzed.

13 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 67 Table 4. The values of (d + r) ad (d r) for each Criterio Criteria (d + r) (d r) (c 1 ) Nature of product (c 2 ) Durable versus odurable N.A. N.A. (c 3 ) Demad perspectives (c 4 ) Fiacial resources of the orgaizatio (c 5 ) Relative price/relative quality (c 6 ) Geographic scope of market Remark: The shaded umbers stad for highest value with (d + r) ad (d r); N.A. stads for ot applicable. 4.4 Calculatig the Weights versus Each Criterio by ANP By settig developig a successful LCD TV marketig mix as the goal, pair wise comparisos of the criteria were executed based o experts opiios. Followig are the illustratios based o the ANP. Based o the defiitios of the ANP procedures i give Sectio 3.4, the weights versus each criterio were derived. Based o the decisio problem structure beig derived by the DEMATEL, the ANP method was applied to calculate the weight versus each criterio. Pair wise compariso results of the importace level of criteria beig coected to the same goal were deprived based o experts opiios ad were provided as iputs for ANP. With the aid of the Super Decisio (Saaty, 2003), a software which is used for decisio-makig with depedeces ad feedbacks by implemetig the ANP, the limit super matrix ca be derived. For the most importat criteria for evaluatig the marketig promotio mix strategies at the itroductio stage, most experts agreed that demad perspectives (c 3 ) ad relative price/relative quality (c 5 ) are importat criteria for makig promotio strategy. For the most importat criteria for evaluatig the marketig mix strategies at the growth stage, most experts agreed that the demad perspectives (c 3 ) is the most importat criterio for promotio strategies defiitios. For the most importat criteria for evaluatig the marketig mix strategies at the maturity stage, most experts agreed that relative price/relative quality (c 5 ) is importat criteria for makig promotio strategy. For the most importat criteria for evaluatig the marketig mix strategies at the declie stage, most experts agreed that fiacial resources of the orgaizatio (c 4 ) is importat criterio for promotio strategies defiitios. 4.5 Rak the Alteratives by VIKOR The alteratives were assessed based o the criteria beig defied i Sectio 4.4 for appropriate marketig mix strategies defiitios uder each stage. The detailed weights ad performace scores (ratigs) are preseted i followig Tables. If the rages of the scores of f kj are set from 1 to 5, it ca be accepted the aspired level is 5 ad the worst level is 1, ad ca the set all f * kj = 5 ad f kj = 1. I additio, if we wat f * kj = aspired_level = 5 ad f kj = tolerable_level = 1, ad v = 0.5, the use the above steps of the VIKORRUG method to gai the marketig mix strategies results over PLC stages, which are preseted i followig Table DISCUSSION The marketig strategy defiitios i geeral ad the high techology marketig strategy defiitio i special is by ature a MCDM problem which complex criteria should be surveyed ad evaluated for alterative(s) selectios. I this sectio, fidigs ad cotributios from both aspects of maagerial implicatios as well as research methods will be discussed from both aspects of major fidigs ad cotributios. The three mai cotributios of this research are: (1) developig a multi criteria decisio makig (MCDM) framework for marketig promotio mix strategies defiitio at differet stages of LCD TV PLCs; (2) defiig a set of marketig mix strategies for a LCD TV PLC ad (3) providig a LCD TV idustry aalysis ad market research. However, the limitatio of this research will be the amout of available experts due to the limited umber of available Taiwaese experts who could be got ito cotact i the related fields. For the marketig commuicatio mix beig derived, for the itroductio stage, the pull ad push strategies were derived as compoets of the marketig commuicatio mix; for the growth stage, the pull, push ad advertisemet-copy strategies were selected; for the saturatio stage, push ad pull were selected while for declie stage, advertisemet-copy ad medium selectio strategies were selected. At the begiig stage, customers may be little aware of ew products which is goig to eterig to the market. So at this situatio, we ca through a large umber of advertisig-copy strategies so that people kow that this message as well as icrease the impressio of the product for customers. I both growth ad maturity stages, as to promotio aspect, the media- selectio strategy will be adopted o lot of emphasis o brad differeces, eve to ecourage customers to process brad switchig from competitors or maitai origial market share. The fial objective for media strategy is also aspired to achieve high levels of message registratio agaist the target group, through high message cotiuity ad frequecy/ reach (Craves, 1997). I a declie stage, whe the merchadise discover

14 68 Iteratioal Joural of the Iformatio Systems for Logistics ad Maagemet (IJISLM), Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) Table 5. The VIKOR Based Rakig of Marketig Commuicatio Mix Strategies at Each PLC Stage Alteratives Itroductio Stage Growth Stage Criteria (Strategy) Weight Ratig (1) Ratig (2) Sk Qk Rk (3) Weight Ratig (1) Ratig (2) Sk Qk Rk (3) c c Push c c c c c Pull c c c c c Mediac selectio c c c c Advertisig c copy c c Alteratives Maturity Stage Declie Stage Criteria (Strategy) Weight Ratig (1) Ratig (2) Sk Qk Rk (3) Weight Ratig (1) Ratig (2) Sk Qk Rk (3) c c Push c c c c c Pull c c c c c Mediac selectio c c c c Advertisig c copy c c that the sales volume has become stagat or the updated product have already etered to the market, the customer s behavior also have bee coverted to a passive mid for purchasig goods. Therefore, the firms must combie with a variety of promotioal tools i order to accelerate cosumers to buy goods. Desigig the marketig commuicatio strategy portfolio by cosiderig the iteractios betwee criteria

15 C. Y. Huag et al.: LCD-TV Promotio Strategies versus Differet PLC Stages by a VIKOR Based MCDM Methods 69 as well as characteristics of the PLC is ot a easy task. Meawhile, there are few straightforward aswers addressig how the marketig commuicatio strategy portfolio ca be desiged to fit ay high techology busiess cotext. Not to metio how a marketig commuicatio strategy ca be desiged by cosiderig factors beig related to the product life cycle. Meawhile, from the aspect of MCDM (multiple criteria decisio makig), very few researches addressed this global maufacturig ad logistics system desig issue. I this research, a ovel MCDM framework combig the modified Delphi, DEMATEL techique, ANP as well as VIKOR was proposed to address the above metioed problems ad reached satisfactory results. The ovel MCDM model cosistig of Delphi, DEMATEL, ANP, VIKOR ad GRA was desiged to overcome: (1) the global maufacturig ad logistics strategy defiitio issue, (2) traditioal MCDM approaches for resolvig the global maufacturig ad logistics strategy defiitio problem based o the wrog assumptios o the idepedeces betwee the determiats, (3) the vague correlatios betwee determiats ad maufacturig as well as logistics strategies, (4) the lack of priorities of the promotio strategies. Meawhile, we based o the cocept of VIKOR which ca be used to derive the optimal strategy which is closest to the ideals solutio. Through the case study, we foud the hybrid MCDM model to be applicable. I compariso to existig MCDM methods, this hybrid MCDM method based approach provides aother feasible ad ratioale way of dealig with MCDM problems. Compared with to the traditioal Aalytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which has the limitatio of a liear hierarchic structure that assumes the idepedece o of upper levels from lower levels, ANP provides a geeral framework to deal with decisios without makig assumptios about the idepedece of higher-level elemets from lower level elemets ad about the idepedece of the elemets withi a level as i a typical hierarchy (Saaty 2005). Thus, for the global maufacturig ad logistics system ad strategies defiitio case illustrated i the paper, ANP is apparetly a more reasoable tool for aalyzig the etwork structure with feedbacks. Meawhile, by leveragig the ANP, the most importat criteria ca be selected. Furthermore, i compariso with most ANP based researches without a appropriate approach for the decisio problem structure defiitio, the DEMATEL based approach provides a reasoable ad better alterative for structurig the decisio problem structure based o experts opiios. The VIKOR method uses a aggregatig fuctio Q, represetig closeess to the ideal. I compariso with the TOPSIS (Techique for Order Preferece by Similarity to a Ideal Solutio), which determies a solutio with the shortest distace from the ideal solutio ad the farthest distace from the egative-ideal solutio (Che & Hwag, 1992; Tzeg et al., 1994), VIKOR ca select the real closest to idea solutio. O the other had, a solutio by TOPSIS is ot always the closest to the ideal. A detailed compariso of TOPSIS ad VIKOR has already bee preseted i the article by Opricovic ad Tzeg (Opricovic & Tzeg, 2007; Tzeg et al., 2005; Opricovic & Tzeg, 2002; Opricovic & Tzeg, 2004). Meawhile, based o the empirical study results, the compromise rakig by VIKOR differs from the rakig beig derived by TOPSIS. This differece implies that itroducig VIKOR i this Hybrid MCDM framework really makes sese. By summarizig the ratioality of the MCDM methods beig itroduced i the research, apparetly, the Delphi, DEMATEL, ANP, VIKOR ad GRA based hybrid MCDM method ca overcome followig problems of a sigle traditioal MCDM method or a combiatio of some methods beig icluded: (1) the assumptio of decisio problem structure for the ANP without sigificat supports; (2) the assumptio of idepedeces betwee criteria; (3) a lack of a appropriate method for correlatig multiple criteria with multiple strategies as a portfolio; (4) the compromise solutio by TOPSIS which is ot the always closest to the ideal oe. 6. CONCLUSIONS I this sectio, both of coclusios ad future possible research will be preseted ad suggested. First of all, the promotio strategies have played a crucial strategic role, especially for high-tech products with short PLC characteristics. Eve, umerous high techology compaies are expectig the strategies to be established ad executed with effectively i order to leverage competitive advatages at each PLC stage. However, it seems to eglect placig importace o marketig variables ad marketig implicatios. This research arises from solvig the above problems o costruct a MCDM based (decisio-makig marketig strategies) model. Through a quatificatio solutio method based o combied DEMATEL, ANP ad VIKOR approach to provide compaies for evaluatig ad selectig marketig strategies systematically. The assessmet method is based o gatherig opiios ad evaluatig alteratives by the experts with usig the mathematical model of evaluatig criteria, ad this approach could be cosidered as a cotributio of this paper. These research results showed that the coectio degree betwee criteria as well as fid out the importat criteria which sigificatly ifluece the choice of marketig strategies uder each PLC. 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