Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise

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Abstract

The report titled “Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise” was

an attempt to explain and describe trends on mobile and wireless technology prevalent in

today’s world, especially with regard to the global business scenario. The various sections in

the report are an attempt to provide a structured frame work to this study. The concepts and

the correlation between mobile and wireless technology makes an interesting study. The past

researches have not really delved into understanding the trends of these technologies that

shape our present and past, shapes our businesses and lives. This study was precisely meant

to do so. The secondary research undertaken by surveying two companies belonging to the

same industry help us to understand the impact of these technologies on the businesses as

well as the project management approaches. It was found that mobile and wireless technology

play a vital role in several aspects of business and employees are generally aware of the these

technological setups in the company make use of these technologies in their day to day job

responsibilities. Overall, this research helped us to understand the rising trends of mobile and

wireless technology within organizations that and showed their impact on every aspect of

human lives including commerce.

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Acknowledgments

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Table of Contents

Contents Page

Abstract 2

Acknowledgments 3

Table of Contents 4

1.0 Introduction 6

1.1

1.1.1

1.1.2

1.1.3

Thesis Statement

Project Aim

Project Scope

Structure of Dissertation

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7

8

9

2. 0

2.1

2.1.1

2.2

2.2.1

2.3

2.4

3.0

Literature Review

Mobile Technology

Elements, Applications and Trends in Mobile Technology

Wireless Technology

Elements, Applications and Trends in Wireless Technology

Company Profile: Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

Company Profile: Crocodile Garments Limited

Research Methodology

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3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

Research Objectives

Research Questions

Sampling

Research Methods

Rationale for Method Selection

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4.0

4.1

4.2

5.0

5.1

5.2

5.3

Analysis, Findings and Discussion

Factor Analysis and Discussion

SWOT Analysis for Mobile and Wireless Technology

Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

Recommendations

Limitations of Research

References

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Appendix - Questionnaire 63

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Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise

1.0 Introduction

This section is an attempt to collaborate the thesis statement that drives the research, the

project aim, and project scope. This section introduces the structure of the dissertation, the

description of the mobile and wireless technologies and their trends and also highlights two

organizations whose employees will be surveyed for research purpose.

With the advancements in the fields of mobile and wireless technology, the world is

becoming a smaller place every day. The concept of “information for all” is the latest buzz

word carving the path of mobile and wireless technology’s future. The research titled

“Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise” is an attempt to understand the

various facets that govern the mobile and the wireless technology, making it possible for the

service providers to bring information to every doorstep across the globe. This research will

also be an attempt to understand the future of the mobile and wireless technology in terms of

its role in the success or failure of businesses.

The research project titled “Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise” is one of

the projects that will add another new chapter in understanding the various trends that are

defining how mobile technology and wireless technology are shaping the world of today. The

research for such a topic may not be called comprehensive or complete since it includes the

ever changing dynamics of technological evolution that transforms on a daily basis along

with the highly fluidic business factors that alternate with season, time and demand. The

research is aimed at opening up areas of further investigation into studying how the present

technological trends can affect our future businesses and what role does these technologies

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play in project management scenarios. This research will be an attempt to at understanding

the current technologies and their affect on management of varied projects across various

organizations.

1.1.1 Thesis Statement

The present day scenario of communication, information sharing and media exposure has

been acting as a two edged sword that not only upholds the ‘right to information’ ideology

but has redefined the rights of ‘privacy’ as well. With our everyday life becoming fast and

information oriented, understanding the evolving trends of mobile and wireless technology

might help answer several questions. These technologies have not only changed the way

people interact, share and store information but also the basic concepts of “work from home”

or “working on the move”. The wireless and mobile technology have become the everyday

aspects drive the markets, the customer choices and have led to flourishing as well as failure

of business (4G Wireless Evolution, online) .

1.1.2 Project Aim

The research is aimed at identifying the trends that govern the mobile and wireless

technologies of today. These trends will help us not only understand the direction that these

technologies will take in the future but will help us relate their impact on the business

scenarios of project planning and management. The research would aim to understand the

developments that have led to the present condition of the mobile technology as well as

wireless technology and how these developments have formed the platform that gave us the

present scenario of the 3G technology and Wi-Fi systems. The aims of the research project

can be outlined as below:

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- Identify technological trends of mobile technology and wireless technology that

signify current technological advancements and thereby define a path for the

future.

- Identify trends in mobile and wireless technology that help in project

management.

- Relate the study of the current trends in mobile and wireless technology to its

growth from the past and study the use of such technology to gain competitive

advantage for businesses.

1.1.3 Project Scope

The project scope is based on the limitations of time, geography and information

accessibility. The time scope spans from the early 2000 till 2008. The time scope for the

project is being limited to around 9 years of technological advancements since the rate and

the rapidity of changes to the wireless and mobile technology would otherwise prove to be

difficult and tremendous information overload. The geographical scope is not limited to a

specific territory give the availability of information and includes books and researches

across the globe. However, the data collection for the understanding the relevance of current

trends of mobile and wireless technology on the businesses in general and project

management in particular will be limited to the two companies Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

and Crocodile Garments Limited. The choice was limited to these two companies because of

the availability of their employees for questionnaire administration as well as the similarity of

the business in which both of these companies are in. the choice of similar companies would

help to reduce the error that might result if two different industries are considered for data

collection.

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1.1.4 Structure of Dissertation

This part of the proposal is an attempt to elaborate upon the project details in terms of the

methodology that has been used for data collections as a part of primary research and the

defining the scope for secondary research as well as the tentative flow of the thesis.

The theoretical framework of the thesis covers brief description about mobile technology as

well as wireless technology showing the correlation between the two and tracing back to the

past developments and consists of studying and understanding books and research papers

related to the topic. This is followed by a section that discusses the current technological

trends of mobile and wireless technology and the researches and studies that have led to the

determination the aims of this research.

The research methodology used in this research is a combination of primary and secondary

research methods. In the secondary research, theoretical framework and past researches

related to the topic has been studied and inspiration taken from them to understand and thus

leading to the planning of the secondary research of the project. The secondary research

provided the understanding of the problem being discussed and researched upon and research

objectives or aims being formulated. The primary research helped in the collection of data

through questionnaire method to understand the perception of businesses towards the role

played by mobile and wireless technology trends in helping them achieve competitive

advantage over their competitors as well as the scope of mobile and wireless technology in

project management scenarios. The data collected has been analyzed using factor analysis

method.

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The use of factor analysis was planned since it has several benefits that helped to analyze and

understand the business factors and relate it to the technological trends of mobile and wireless

technology. This analysis method made it possible to predict the effect of a key business

indicator (business impact of mobile and wireless technology on project management) on the

basis of interaction of other related business drivers. It also helped to predict the future

influence of these technologies depending on other business parameters.

The final section of the dissertation includes the discussions about the findings of the data

analysis and also the future and managerial implications for the research and the research

limitations.

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2.0 Literature Review

The section of literature review attempts to understand the various aspects of mobile

technology and the wireless technology, their elements and applications in helping businesses

achieve success as well as grow. This section also looks at trends of mobile and wireless

technology that might pave way for the future days.

The theoretical framework that helped to determine the need for further research into the

subject and also helped determine the research aims and objectives are presented in this

section. In today age, no one technology can remain in isolation from the other. Similarly, the

two ground breaking technologies of wireless and mobile communication has changed the

way the world functions. It will not be wrong to say that one is the precursor of the other. The

impact of these technologies on the way businesses are run, project are managed have been

tremendous. Mobile technology signifies portability. The devices that are commonly used to

ensure information accessibility on the go or the devices that use mobile technology to ensure

information portability are laptop computers, cellular phones and smart phones, palmtop

computers, PDAs (personal digital assistants, mobile GPS (Global positioning systems)

navigators or trackers, wireless debit card and credit card readers and payment terminals, etc.

Wireless technology on the other hand signify ‘not being tied down’ due to ‘absence of

wires’. These two technologies together enable the process of amalgamation of a number of

other current technologies including a spectrum of communication technology gadgets such

as smart phones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, GSM, GPRS, and VPNs etc (Zheng and Ni, 2005).

These two technologies combined together help to manage businesses around the world

without the barriers of distance, time zones or even information availability.

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The research papers of Coyle (2001), Beaulieu (2002), and Phillips (2002) have gone on to

discuss the trends and the affects of wireless and mobile technology. They have highlighted

not only the technological aspects but the commercial aspects of these technologies and the

effect that these technologies have in the way a business of today functions. Ancar and

D’Incau (2002) in their paper talk about their findings of the perception of consumers

regarding the value proposition of mobile technology. They highlight the perceived values of

the consumers as against other technological initiatives at commerce. The paper also tries to

relate the current trends in mobile commerce with the future of commerce. Kenyon and

Perkins (2000) in their research paper titled “China: Data in the Air” try to highlight the role

played by mobile and wireless technology in the everyday lives of the people in the most

populated country in the world, thereby trying to throw light on the depth of technological

imprints in human lives. In another extensive research in China, conducted by Zhang (2001),

titled “The road of Developing CDMA Mobile Networking in China”, the researcher had

endeavored to understand and study the effects of cellular CDMA technology that affects the

business, social and cultural aspects of the multibillion population of China. This research

also tries to put into perspective the extent penetration of various technologies within the

range of mobile and wireless technology and how each plays a role into the future of these

technologies.

Goldman (2000), Dorman (2001) and Burnham (2002) in their respective research papers

mentions the applications of mobile and wireless technologies especially in terms of

communication and how these technological advances can even help in project management

for business. Similarly, Ostermiller (2001) in his paper titled “Mobile Commerce” also

undertakes the study of the benefits and future of mobile commerce and how these

technologies will change the face of business in years to come.

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The studies and reports that have been instrumental in promoting the understanding of the

future of mobile and wireless technologies have been the studies by Abramowicz et al (2004),

Srivastava (2005) and Varshney and Vetter (2001). The studies and reports by these authors

among many others have inspired researches into what the future holds for these

technologies, the businesses using these technologies and for the human race in general. The

trends of today that affect the future of tomorrow for both mobile technology and wireless

technology have been discussed providing further impetus to understanding the role of these

technologies in shaping the social, cultural, political, and commercial aspects across the

globe.

Macker, Park and Corson (2001) studies the drawbacks of these technologies in their research

titled “Mobile and Wireless Internet Services: Putting the Pieces together”. They bring up

several questions that tend to point in the direction of justification required for unabashed

utilization of these technologies. Even though the benefits of these technologies are manifold,

yet one cannot disregard the drawbacks that these technologies have brought forth. The costs

involved in implementing and using these technologies is immense. It is creating a new

divide of haves and have not’s. It has led to unauthorized access of confidential and critical

data to be misused by people. It has threatened our privacy and invaded our private spaces.

The question also arises as to what is the future, how far will these technologies grow, when

can we invest in human beings more than investing in technologies?

2.1 Mobile Technology

As the name suggests, mobile technology is the technology that transportable and

manageable, in short portable. This type of technological advancements has helped to provide

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people with the liberty to use information technology without the need to be tied down to a

solitary location or place. Businesses that use the concept of telecommuting are reaping the

benefit of this technology along with sales forces that are constantly on the move trying to

reach customers, away from their office desks (Merwe and Brown 2006). This technology

has ensured seamless onsite and offsite connectivity between businesses and customers and

though there might be opposition to outsourcing, mobile technology has indeed made it

possible to transcend the barriers of geography and time zones to increase profitability for a

business, among other things. Laptop computers, mobile phones and smart phones, Global

Positioning Systems (or GPS), palmtop computers, PDAs (or personal digital assistants),

wireless debit card or credit card payment terminals are all examples of IT devices using

mobile technology (Ling, 2004). These devices use an assortment of communication

technologies that help to provide mobility with connectivity, and include the technologies

such as:

- Wi-Fi or wireless fidelity (that helps to access internet and intranet connections

using the technology of wireless local area networks)

- Data networking services such as dial up connections that use modem and

telephone lines to connect to internet.

- Bluetooth technology that helps to connect different mobile devices wirelessly.

- Virtual Private Networks (or VPNs) which provides a secured right of entry

(access) to a private network.

- The data networking technologies for mobile phones such as the ‘third generation’

(or 3G) technology, the global systems for mobile communication (or GSM)

technology and the general packet radio service (or GPRS) technology.

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These devices and technologies are what comprises the gamut of mobile technology and

helps an individual or a group of individuals to connect with each other or to an office or the

internet even while on the move (Goggin, 2006).

Though there are several advantages and benefits of the mobile technology, it has its own

share of disadvantages as well. One of the most important issues with mobile technology is

the cost associated with the installation, implementation and maintenance aspects of this

technological setup. The cost of the training required for using and maintaining the mobile

devices and the cost associated with upgrades of this ever evolving technology makes it one

of the most expensive initiatives for an organization. The biggest drawback that threatens the

proponents of mobile technology however is the security of the data and information which

when in wrong hands can have catastrophic results (Kupper, 2005).

2.1.1 Elements, Applications and Trends in Mobile Technology

Rheingold (2002) points out the importance of mobile technology in putting together the

aspects of social revolution including mobile and remote schooling. Irrespective of the time

or geographic distance, mobile technology in the form of third generation (or 3G) or smart

phones, virtual private networks (or VPNs) or Wi-Fi, etc. help the employees and the

management of an organization to stay connected with each other and with the customers,

making productivity the buzzword. The gamut of devices that form a part of the mobile

information technology domain, have changed the way a business is conducted and can help

the way a business is carried out (Schneiderman, 2001). The mobile technology of today have

started to mold the way things work within a business setup, empowering businesses to reach

out to their customers with newer products and services ever so often. This technological

wave have brought in the ability of the businesses to diversify, expand and grow beyond what

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could have been imagined even 20 years ago. The benefits of mobile technology

encompasses a list of unending possibilities that not only includes customer service, remote

business, mobile sales force connectivity, RFID (radio frequency identification) for retail

business, teleworking or telecommuting, work from home, work on the move, manage project

spread across continents, use of virtual money in the form of credit cards or debit cards

(Kraut, Brynin and Kiesler, 2006).

The elements of mobile technology in a nutshell consists of the devices and the ability to

connect remotely that enables to access data and information from anywhere and anytime

without being limited to one space and having the ability to do things while on the move

(Godwin-Jones, 2008). According to Mehul Patel, the innovation lead for Accenture’s

product soft-wave group, points out the eight trends that typify present day mobile

technology and that is set to govern the coming years, include:

- ‘Wireless memory’ on demand in the form of Unified – Memory – as – a –

Service.

- Powerful device interface through the use of mobile surface computing.

- Enhanced mobile user experience through use of self contained widgets.

- Seamless integration between different mobile technologies, applications and

devices to maintain constant connectivity between users and provide them with

enhanced performance and user experience.

- Management of risks associated with the contents in mobile devices and

applications through mobile content management framework and services.

- Simplification of user interaction with the mobile internet through use of unified

user profiles and biometric technologies.

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- Enhancement of mobile security to ensure data and information security against

hacking and viruses and provide high quality interconnectivity even for large

quantities of sensitive information.

- With stress on environmental sustainability, the mobile technology is going green

too. ‘Green Computing’ is becoming a trends soon to be reckoned with, thereby

contributing to providing a cleaner environment for the future.

2.2 Wireless Technology

Wireless communication has been used since a really long time in the form of radio waves to

transfer information over a distance without really using any solid or interconnected medium

such as wires, and other electrical conductors. Today the simple techniques used earlier has

taken the shape of wireless technology and have seen waves of changes one after another

(Dornan, 2001). The wireless technology is in fact one of the aspects of mobile technology

and vice versa. The use of devices such as cellular phones, pagers, fixed, portable and mobile

two way radio services (e.g. Family Radio Service or FRS, Citizens band or CB radios, and

General Mobile Radio Service or GMRS), Marine Very High Frequency (or VHF) radios,

personal digital assistants (PDAs), Global Positioning Systems (GPS units), satellite

televisions, cordless telephones, remote controlled devices, radio transmitters and receivers,

wireless or cordless computer peripherals, keyboards, mouse, printers and headsets, land

mobile radio (LMR), specialized mobile radio (SMR), Amateur radio service (or Ham radio) ,

wireless gaming systems and wireless networks, etc. all form and enable the wireless

technology which in turn results in mobile technology (Burnham, 2002). It is wireless

technology that actually makes it possible to transfer data and information over long

distances which would have otherwise been impossible.

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2.2.1 Elements, Applications and Trends in Wireless Technology

The benefits of wireless technology have been felt in every walk of life from simple

communication situations to complex military operations. The main benefit of wireless

technology ranges from mere mobile and telephonic conversations, to providing backup

communication links in case of failure of normal network services, to situations where

cabling is financially impractical or difficult. The various applications of wireless technology

are listed below (Phillips, 2002):

- Cellular telephony which includes cordless phones, mobile phones, modems,

personal digital assistants, smart phones, pagers, etc.

- Security systems for office buildings and homes, which replace the conventional

hardwired security systems.

- Wireless fidelity or Wi-Fi, (which uses the Local Area Network or LAN

technology) for devices such as laptops, PDAs, etc.

- Remote controls for television and other electronic systems.

- Wireless energy transfer without the use of wires.

The various trends, standards and elements of wireless technology are listed below (Webb,

2001):

- Wireless sensor networks using technologies such as Zigbee, personal area

networks, Ultra wideband, Bluetooth, EnOcean, Transferjet, etc.

- Wireless computer networks using technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi,

HiperLAN), Wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), Wireless local area

network (WLAN), and Broadband fixed access (BWA) such as HiperMAN,

LMDS, WANKA and WiMAX.

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- Radio communication system such as Broadcasting, Amateur radio,

Communication radio, Ham radio, etc.

- Digital enhanced cordless telecommunication or DECT technology which

provides the cordless telephony capabilities.

- Cellular systems using the 0G, 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G technologies.

- Short range point to point communication using the technologies such as Remote

control, IrDA, Radio frequency identification (RFID), Near field communication,

Dedicated short range communication (DSRC), EnOcean, Wireless USB, IrDA,

Wireless microphones, etc.

- Professional mobile radio or Land mobile radio using the technology of P25,

OpenSky, dPMR, EDACS, TETRA, and DMR, etc.

2.3 Company Profile: Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

Club 21 is a leading international luxury lifestyle company. Club 21 Hong Kong Limited, the

Hong Kong branch of Club 21 and is one of the leaders of branded fashion company in Hong

Kong. With over 500 employees managing a wide range of operational activities such as

wholesale distribution, brand guardianship, sourcing and vertical retail accurate corporate

governance has become a way of sustenance and success. According to Club 21’s Hong

Kong website, “A strong sense of partnership” is the underlying foundation for all their

business relationships. Thus, working closely with their partners to astutely develop and grow

markets along with protecting the core principles of the partner brands. “In this way Club 21

continues its core mission: to deliver stylish and progressive solutions to modern luxury

requirements while retaining integrity in everything we do” (Club 21 company website).

2.4 Company Profile: Crocodile Garments Limited

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Crocodile Garments Limited came into existence in 1952 with its headquarters based out of

Kowloon, Hong Kong. It operates in the retail garments industry, manufacturing and selling

garments and associated accessories along with other business ventures such as investment

and property holdings. Crocodile Garments Limited also has its business spread across

Mainland China. Over the years, Crocodile Garments limited has expended from just selling

its manufactured clothes to owning one of the largest chain of garment stores in Hong Kong

and exporting its clothing and accessories to several countries all over Asia including Japan,

and Singapore. It has also started to operate a second line of garments business in California,

USA under the brand name of Cal-Thomas. Its garments ranges from men’s wear branded

Crocodile, to women’s wear branded Crocoladies, to children’s wear branded Crocokids to

sportswear branded Crocosports, along with leather shoes and leather goods. Crocodile

Garments Limited also undertakes distribution of Lacoste branded line of apparel. Currently,

the company has more than 1000 stores (self operated and franchisees) in various parts of

Hong Kong, Macau and China. Crocodile (China) Limited, Dackart Trading Company

Limited, Zhongshan Crocodile Garments Limited, Crocodile Garments Limited, Crocodile

KT Investment Limited, and Guanzhou Crocodile Garments Commercial Limited are the

company’s wholly owned subsidiaries. Lam Kin Ming is the present Chairman and Chief

Executive Officer of Crocodile Garments limited. The group employs 905 employees. With a

statement like “When you want to buy the shirt, you will think of Crocodile”, the company

has launched into aggressive marketing and promotional activities to boost its sales all across

the continent of Asia (Crocodile Garments Limited corporate website).

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3.0 Research Methodology

This section elaborates on the methodology used for the research. It talks about the objectives

that guide the research, the questions that help to address these objectives, the discussion on

the sample and the sample size being considered, the methods used for data analysis and the

rationale for selection of the sample size and method of analysis (Pedhazur and Schmelkin,

1991). The aim of selecting a specific research methodology for this project is to understand

the objectives of the research, how to advance the research and what can be considered as a

successful research. Since the main focus of this project was to understand the trends of

mobile and wireless technology and study the impact of these trends on businesses in general

and project management in specific, the cases of Club21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile

Garments Limited have been considered to collect data for primary research. A literature

review was conducted as a secondary research and a primary research was done using a

questionnaire to collect data. Methods of factor analysis and correlation investigation

techniques were used for data analysis. The target population consisted of the employees of

Club21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited.

The primary data has been collected by administering a structured questionnaire to the

customers. The questionnaire was undisguised in the sense that questions would directly refer

to the objective of the study. The secondary data has been collected from books by various

authors, articles and information appearing in different publications, company sources and

internet.

3.1 Research Objectives

The objectives of the research can be outlined as below:

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- Identify technological trends of mobile technology and wireless technology that

signify current technological advancements and thereby define a path for the

future.

- Identify trends in mobile and wireless technology that help in project

management.

- Relate the study of the current trends in mobile and wireless technology to its

growth from the past and study the use of such technology to gain competitive

advantage for businesses.

3.2 Research Questions

The research questions that were designed were arrived at based on the understanding gained

while performing the secondary research and the literature review and aimed at helping us

understand the aspect of project management for businesses with the help of wireless and

mobile technology. The questionnaire used for the study had a judicial mix of structured and

un-structured questions to get into the depth of the problem area.

3.3 Sampling

Sampling can be described as a method of getting a representation in the form of a sub group

from the target population. A sampling error (Issac and Michael, 1995) occurs when the

sample digress from the true nature of the target populations by a definite amount because of

the possible variations of drawing a small number of cases from several possible cases. The

matter of calculating the optimal sample size comes up due to the researcher’s aim of

obtaining the sample statistic (generally the simple mean of the sample data) within a pre-

calculated distance from, or as near to the true statistic (mean) of the target population as

possible. The appropriateness of a sample size is dependent on the size of the target

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population. Martin and Bateson (1986) suggested that up to a certain value, the greater is the

quantity of data collected the better, as the statistical power is enhanced with increase in

sample size. However, the possibility of indefinite collection of data the population needs to

be measured as against the resources of time, money, effort etc, since at certain juncture it

becomes more fruitful to progress onto a new research instead of persisting with the present

one (Stuart, 1962).

The issue of determination of sample size occurs in any of the two varieties with a need of

understanding of “What is the number of observations I need to make to get a true and

powerful statistic analysis?” (Lohr, 1999). The two varieties of sample size determination

issues are:

- How many people from the target population will form the respondent sample? For

example, what should be the sample size if the target population has 2500

respondents?

- What should be the proportion or sizes of the sub-populations within the sample? For

example, what should be the sizes of the sub-populations based on gender, age,

ethnicity, income etc., within the sample of the target population?

The choice of a sampling method was dependent on the following considerations:

- Research objectives including the requirements of statistical precision, accuracy and

resources available at hand such as time, money etc.

- Identification of the possible methods of sampling that can assist in attaining the

research objectives effectively.

- Study the capacity of each sampling method for providing the desired results without

compromising on accuracy or putting a strain on the resources available at hand.

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- Select the sampling method that will help to achieve the results and objectives.

Based on the above mentioned considerations, the Disproportionate Stratification Random

Sampling method was selected for this research. The Stratified Random Sampling method is

the method of sampling which has the following characteristics:

- The population is consisting of ‘N’ elements.

- The population is separated into ‘H’ groups or ‘strata’.

- Each and every element of the population can be allotted to one and only one stratum.

- The numerical value of observations within each stratum ‘NH’ is known with N = N1 +

N2 + N3 + ……. + NH-1 + NH.

- The researcher gets a probability sample from each stratum.

The Stratified Random Sampling method has several advantages as compared to the simple

random sampling method. However, the most important disadvantage of a stratified random

sample as compared to a simple random sample is that this method sometimes needs greater

administrative effort as against a simple random sample. The advantages of the stratified

random sampling method are:

- A stratified random sampling method helps to provide a more accurate statistical

analysis as compared to a simple random sampling method for a given size of

population.

- Since it offers greater accuracy in the statistical analysis, a stratified sample mostly

requires a smaller sample size, thus saving resources for conducting the survey.

- The stratum component in a stratified sample guards against the “unrepresentative”

sample. For example, an all-female sample for a population of mixed-gender.

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- The sampling of each stratum ensures the sufficiency of sample points which can

enable analysis of any subgroup within the target population.

It was found that the population was so varied in their roles and nature with regard to their

view of corporate governance, that they could be further divided into strata for conducting a

survey based on questionnaire administration. Thus, the sampling method of disproportionate

stratification random sampling was adopted to conduct the survey. The use of this method of

sampling served the following 2 purposes:

- This method helps to have more than proportionate sizes of sample in more than one

sub groups or strata resulting in separate or individual analyses of the data obtained

from the sub groups.

- This method is known to increase the accuracy or precision of the key or main survey

estimates.

In the disproportionate stratification random sampling method, the sampling fraction can

sometimes vary in between the stratums of the target population. In the disproportionate

stratified random sampling method, the accuracy of the data design many vary from very

good to very poor based on the method of allocation of sample points in the strata. If the

variation in sample is different in the various strata, the method of disproportionate

stratification random sampling method can give higher precision statistical analysis as

compared to the proportionate stratification random sampling method (only if there is correct

allocation of sample points to strata). The disproportionate stratification random sampling

method helps to capitalize on the precision factor in case of measure of a single vital survey.

This, method however, has the disadvantage of not providing enough precision to additional

measures of survey.

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The method of disproportionate stratification helps to decrease the standards errors as

compared to a proportionate stratified sample, only if the standard deviation of the population

for the variables under consideration is greater than the average within the over-sampled

strata. It has been typically found that the standard errors are minimized when the sampling

fractions of the stratum are in proportion to the standard deviation of the population within

the same stratum (Deming, 1984). For conducting the survey such as this, which wants to

estimate the scope of certain categories of respondents, better results can be obtained when

the sampling fraction is reduced due to the uncommon types of interests of these respondents.

The method of getting unbiased estimates from the disproportionate stratification random

sampling method is by weighting the survey estimates (Kish, 1995). This was achieved by

using the SPSS package (version 11.0) by assigning a weight variable which provides a

weight per case. The cases are subsequently ‘weighted by’ the assigned weight variable

during the analysis.

The way to calculate the weight variable is pretty easy: The weight variable is basically the

‘inverse’ of the sampling fraction of the stratum to which the case belongs. So, if a stratum

has a sampling fraction of 1 in 10, all cases from that stratum will essentially have a weight

of10; and for a stratum having a sampling fraction of 1 in 20 will thus have a weight of 20 for

every case in that stratum. In reality, however, the weights applied to a specific survey might

be of greater complexity as compared to the above mentioned method if, for example, all the

cases in a stratum are not selected with equal probability and also if there have been inclusion

of non-response weights. It is to be kept in mind that in order to achieve an unbiased

estimate, a lower weight needs to be assigned to an over sampled stratum while calculating

26

the mean or percentage and the overall total of the stratum. Likewise, larger weights are to be

assigned to strata with low sampling fractions (Brown, Cozby, Kee, and Worden, 1999).

The impact that the method of disproportionate stratification has on standard errors are

variable depending on the sampling fraction estimates. As compared to a smaller sample

obtained as a component of a proportionate sampling method, the accuracy of the higher

sampling fractions is greater within a stratum. Also, the accuracy will be lowered for a

stratum having lower sampling fractions. The consequence of the disproportionate

stratification method on the general estimates for the population depends on an array of

factors. These factors include the relative sampling fractions and the unevenness of the

survey responses in various strata (Cochran, 1977).

Two project teams from each company along with management employees were selected to

obtain samples. The selection criteria were the availability of the project head leading a team

consisting of several team members handling a single project and 10 management employees

on whom the questionnaire could be administered. These project management teams were

part of the major business units for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments

Limited and thus provided a through representation of the management and employees

involved in the project management aspect of the business (Flyvbjerg, 2006).

Roscoe (1975) suggested a sample size of 30-500 as a rule of thumb suitable for most of the

studies. Also, the utilization of statistical analyses methods for sample having less than 10

elements was not recommended by Roscoe (1975). He however, suggested that in simple and

fewer complexes experimental researches having fixed or rigid controls (for example, the

27

matched pair design), efficient research can be done with samples having as small as 10 to 20

elements.

But, given the limited number of employees or ability to interview them, a sample size of was

selected based on Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) work. Table 2 represents the sample data

using Disproportionate Stratified Random Sampling method. This method was used to

address the issue of varying number of employees in the project teams of the different

companies of Club21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited. The names of all

the respondents have not been disclosed due to request of confidentiality of the information.

Table 1: Sample using Disproportionate Stratification Random Sampling Method

Company Respondent Type

Possible Number of Respondents

Percentage of Respondents selected (%)

Sample

Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

Project Team 63 16.0 10Project Team 63 16.0 10Management 42 24.0 10

Crocodile Garments Limited

Project Team 67 15.0 10Project Team 67 15.0 10Management 71 14.0 10

Total 373 100 60

The timeframe of the research has been defined from 2000 to 2008. The demographic

classification of respondents has been done using age, income, gender and relationship to the

organization. The scope of the study is limited to the employees, of Club 21 Hong Kong

Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited.

28

3.4 Research Methods

A method of self administered questionnaire was employed for primary data collection. The

respondents were required to rate their beliefs and perceptions on a five point Likert Scale,

with five being the highest rating (Tull and Hawkins, 1993). The data collection method was

a combination of both exploratory as well as descriptive method. The exploratory research

helped in developing an understanding of the current scenario, the basic concepts of mobile

and wireless technology. The single cross sectional design was used for the descriptive

method. Since the data collected in primary research through administration of questionnaire

was done for only one sample of respondents drawn from the target population of employees

of Crocodile Garments Limited and Club 21 Hong Kong Limited who had been with the

companies for at least one year and the fact that this survey was conducted only once ruling

out the chances of repetition. Consideration of employees who have been in the company for

at least one year helps to administer questionnaire to the employees who have fairly good

working knowledge of the business processes and the technological aspects that help the

business. This helps to reduce errors in the data. The program of SPSS (version 11.0)was

employed for analyzing the collected data. Demographic data was used to show the

characteristics of the respondents and categorize the employees to match the targeted

respondent profile. The rating of the various mobile and wireless technology usage

dimensions and level of employee involvement and understanding of technology for project

management were also found. Factor analysis was applied for evaluating the criticality of the

mobile and wireless technology factors as viewed and understood by the employees and the

management of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited in analyzing

the statements incorporated in the questionnaire. The research methods thus used have the

following parameters and hence have been used:

- Exploratory research will be done on the information collected

29

- Use of descriptive research in conclusion research design to attain the objective of

research through “single cross-section design”

- Image studies, which determine employee perceptions of the technologies for their

business.

- The measurement and scaling procedure that can be adopted for the research are

dependent on the questionnaire designed and validity or degree of precision

desired.

The use of factor analysis was made to analyze the data collected because it is a statistical

technique that has origins based in mathematical psychology and also because it is used in the

social sciences and in marketing, product management, operations research, and other applied

sciences that can deal with large volumes of data if need be. The advantages of the factor

analysis method are:

- Both objective and subjective attributes can be used.

- It is fairly easy to do, inexpensive, and accurate.

- It is based on direct inputs from employees of the two organizations being considered

for data collection.

- There is flexibility in naming and using dimensions.

However, the disadvantages of this method are:

- Usefulness depends on the researcher’s ability to develop a complete and accurate set

of product attributes - If important attributes are missed the procedure is valueless.

- Naming of the factors can be difficult - multiple attributes can be highly correlated

with no apparent reason.

30

- Factor analysis will always produce a pattern between variables, no matter how

random.

In our study factor analysis is applied as out of five parameters i.e. availability of latest

mobile and wireless technology, training for the available technology, use of mobile and

wireless technology, project management using mobile and wireless technology and lastly

impact of mobile and wireless technology on business (Mathieson, 2005).. Through factor

analysis we have attempted to find out the factors that are most important for the

management to make strategic business decisions and also for the project teams to manage

projects.

3.5 Rationale for Method Selection

The data collected were analyzed with the help of descriptive analysis options of the SPSS

software, version 11.0. This was followed by the analyses of the probable predictors of the

dependent variables using the method of factor analysis. Pearson’s correlation’s statistical

technique was also used in order to investigate and ascertain the possibility of existence of a

relationship between wireless and mobile technological trends and project management at

Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited. This correlation technique

was implemented since the dependent variable was transformed into the interval data form in

5 scales so as to correlate it with the associated independent variables ranked on a 5 point

Likert scale. The scoring of the Likert scales was done assuming that the data had a

legitimate interval form, in agreement with Abelson and Turkey (1970).

31

4.0 Analysis, Findings and Discussion

The factor analysis and findings section incorporates the entire data analysis and the findings

from the analyzed data (Chambers and Skinner, 2003). To begin with, the respondents’ data

about the four main questions were analyzed to get a general overview of the respondents and

the length of their relationship with their organizations (that is Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

or Crocodile Garments Limited) and their role in the project team, in project management and

as a staff (as an employee or member of the management) and the extent of use of mobile and

wireless technology as a part of their daily job responsibility.

The respondents were identified according to their role in the business of the company. 20 out

of 63 possible project management team members were selected to administer the

questionnaire along with 10 out of 42 possible members of the management in the Hong

Kong head office of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited.

Figure 1: Respondent’s Role for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

For Crocodile Garments Limited, 20 out of 67 possible project management team members

were selected to administer the questionnaire along with 10 out of 71 possible members of

the management. This selection was scientifically based and helped to find a relatively

accurate representation of the staff at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments

32

Limited who were involved with the mobile and wireless technology aspects of the business

or used it as a part of their daily job.

Figure 2: Respondent’s Role for Crocodile Garments Limited

The next set of organized data shows the percentage of respondents from both the

management and employees category who formed a part of the project management team.

Out of 168 respondents (possible respondents) at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited, 24

respondents were a part of the project management team. This included both the employees

and the management staff.

Figure 3: Involvement with Project Management Team for Club 21 Hong Kong

Limited

33

Out of 205 respondents (possible respondents) at Crocodile Garments Limited, 25

respondents were a part of the project management team. This included both the employees

and the management staff at Crocodile Garments Limited.

Figure 4: Involvement with Project Management Team for Crocodile Garments

Limited

The “years of association” with the company or the business were another aspect that helped

to identify respondent with considerable experience within the same company. This ensured

that the respondent was not only aware of his / her job responsibilities but was also aware of

the ongoing projects that the teams were handling and the general business and information

technology linkages for the company.

34

Figure 5: Years of Association with Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

For Club 21 Hong Kong Limited, it was found that majority of the respondents (64% of the

respondents) were with the company from 2 years to 5 years range. It was also found that

some of them had been promoted to their current positions which ensured that they had a lot

of idea about the company’s business, its market and the role of information technology in

general and mobile and wireless technology in specific within various aspects of the business

like project management, innovation, customer service, etc. Another significant point to be

noted here is that another 22% of the respondents had been with the company for more than

five years which made it possible to gain a real insight into the evolution of the use of mobile

and wireless technology with in the business scenario of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited as well

as understanding the changes that these technologies have brought about in the way business

is done by the company.

35

Figure 6: Years of Association with Crocodile Garments Limited

Also, in Crocodile Garments Limited, it was found that majority of the respondents (54% of

the respondents) were with the company from 2 years to 5 years range and that some of them

had been promoted to their current positions which ensured that they had a lot of idea about

the company’s business, its market and customers and the role of information technology in

general and mobile and wireless technology in specific within various aspects of the business

like project management, innovation, customer service, etc. Another significant point to be

noted here is that another 33% of the respondents had been with the company for less than

two years which made it a little difficult to gain a real insight into the evolution of the use of

mobile and wireless technology with in the business scenario of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

as well as understanding the changes that these technologies have brought about in the way

business is done by the company. However, the 13 % of the respondents who were with the

company for over 5 years were able to help in with such information.

The “involvement of mobile and wireless technology as a part of job” was used to gain an

understanding of the extent which the respondents really used these technologies in their day

to day jobs. This was done to ensure that the respondents really handled or used these

36

technologies and was well aware of what these technologies meant and how these

technologies affected their working and the working of the business (Michael and Salter,

2006). The results for “involvement with mobile and wireless technology as a part of job”

were similar for both the companies showing the growing dependence of these technologies

in managing different aspects of the business and helping them to grow and succeed in the

face of competition, change and globalization.

Figure 7: Involvement with Mobile and Wireless Technology as a part of Job for

Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

It was found that majority of the respondents at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited (18 out of a 30

respondents) indeed used mobile and wireless technologies to perform their day to day

activities and were well aware of the technologies, the upgrades that have been done to these

technologies over the years and the possible roadmaps that these technologies can take with

in the organization to help them with future business startegies. This also showed the critical

role that technolgy plays in today businesses and in helping businesses succeed and be

37

competitive in this age of intense competition. It was found that 7 respondents out of 30

respondents were responsible for managing aspects of mobile and wirless technology at Club

21 Hong kong Limited, to make these technologies available and usable by the other

employees of the organization.

Figure 8: Involvement with Mobile and Wireless Technology as a part of Job for

Crocodile Garments Limited.

It was found that majority of the respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited (16 out of a 30

respondents) were using mobile and wireless technologies to perform their day to day

activities and were well aware of the technologies, the frequent upgrades that have been done

to these technologies over the years and the possible roadmaps that these technologies can

take with in the organization to help them with future business startegies. This also showed

the critical role that technolgy plays in today businesses and in helping businesses succeed

and be competitive in this age of intense competition. It was found that 9 respondents out of

30 respondents were responsible for managing aspects of mobile and wirless technology at

38

Crocodile Garments Limited, to make these technologies available and usable by the other

employees of the organization.

Based on the ratings provided by the respondents at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and

Crocodile Garments Limited, the uses of the mobile and wireless technology were ranked and

the following table shows the ranking. The mean and standard deviations for the uses of these

technologies were also found to really understand how critical are the different uses of these

technologies for both the companies.

Table 2: Ranking of Business Uses of Mobile and Wireless Technology on basis of Mean and Standard Deviation for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

Business Uses of Mobile and Wireless

TechnologyMean

Standard

deviation

Ranking

Project Management Capabilities 1.74 0.803 1

Business Communication Process 3.02 1.039 4

Management of Sales Force 2.9 1.265 3

Customer Servicing 2.86 1.277 2

Business Innovations and Marketing Capabilities 4.48 1.164 5

The rankings as obtained from the ratings provided by Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

respondents’ show that they consider for questions numbered from 1 to 10 in section A. The

table shows that for the respondents, the number 1 business use of mobile and wireless

technology is the project management capabilities that it provides due to the factors of

mobility and remote connectivity which helps to plan a project and do real time updates of

the project even when a team member is on the move and keep the project manger and the

management up to date about the project updates, difficulties, changes in circumstances, etc.

The customer servicing capability as enabled by mobile and wireless technology received the

second ranking and shows the ability of the business to respond to customer needs,

complaints and queries in a 24 x 7 fashion and have the customer demands by their pulse.

39

The management of the sales force has received the 3rd ranking and this proves the

capabilities of mobile and wireless technology to take the management of sales force to a

different level altogether providing businesses with the capability to remain competitive and

cut costs. The 4th ranking of the business communication process as a use of the mobile and

wireless technology shows that there are scopes for further use to which both these

technologies can be put to use in order to derive greater benefits and value of money out of

the investments made on mobile and wireless technologies by Club 21 Hong Kong Limited.

The business innovations and marketing capabilities as a business use of the mobile and

wireless technology proves that there is a lot of scope for these technologies to be used as

driver of business innovations and enhancement of marketing capabilities. The rankings also

provide insight into the way these technologies are being used by the organization and points

in the direction in which changes in the ways of use as well as additional uses will enhance

business capabilities and provide greater return on investment of these technologies.

Table 3: Ranking of Business Uses of Mobile and Wireless Technology on basis of Mean and Standard Deviation for Crocodile Garments Limited

Business Uses of Mobile and Wireless

TechnologyMean

Standard

deviation

Ranking

Project Management Capabilities 1.74 0.803 1

Business Communication Process 3.02 1.039 4

Customer Servicing 2.9 1.265 3

Management of Sales Force 2.86 1.277 2

Business Innovations and Marketing Capabilities 4.48 1.164 5

The rankings as obtained from the ratings provided by Crocodile Garments Limited

respondents’ show that they consider for questions numbered from 1 to 10 in section A. The

table shows that for the respondents, the number 1 business use of mobile and wireless

technology is the project management capabilities similar to the ranking obtained from

40

survey of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited respondents. This ranking therefore suggests that the

use of mobile and wireless technology is project management. The project management

capabilities provided by mobile and wireless technology can be attributed to the factors of

mobility and remote connectivity which helps to plan a project and do real time updates of

the project even when a team member is on the move and keep the project manger and the

management up to date about the project updates, difficulties, changes in circumstances, etc.

The management of the sales force has been ranked 2nd by the respondents at Crocodile

Garments Limited and this proves the ability of mobile and wireless technology to enhance

the sales force management capabilities thereby enabling Crocodile Garments Limited to

remain competitive and cut costs involved in hiring, managing and retaining sales force. The

customer servicing capability as enabled by mobile and wireless technology had been ranked

second by the respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited and shows the ability of the

company to respond to customer needs, complaints and queries in a 24 x 7 fashion and have

the customer demands by their pulse and use the outsourcing opportunities to reduce costs of

servicing customers and expand to overseas markets. The business communication process

has been ranked 4th by the respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited, a ranking similar to

Club 21 Hong Kong Limited respondents. This ranking highlights capability of the mobile

and wireless technology as an enhancer of business communication and suggests that there

are scopes for further use to which both these technologies can be put to in order to derive

greater benefits and value of money out of the investments made on technologies. The similar

ranking of business innovations and marketing capabilities as a business use of the mobile

and wireless technology by respondents from both the companies yet again proves that there

is a huge scope for these technologies to be used as driver of business innovations and

stimulator of marketing capabilities. Thus, these rankings by the respondents of Crocodile

Garments Limited provide insight into the way these technologies are being used by the

41

organization and the changes that can be brought about by these technologies to enhance

business capabilities and provide greater return on investment of these technologies.

In order to gauge the different benefits from the different uses of mobile technology as well

as wireless technology equipments or applications used in both the organizations, the

questionnaire administered shows the following results as tabulated below.

Table 4: Perceived Benefits derived from different Mobile Technology and Wireless

Technology setups at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

Technology

Setups

Benefits

Mobile Technology Wireless TechnologyCombined

Use of

Mobile and

Wireless

TechnologyEquipments Applications Equipments Applications

Project

Management

Capabilities

5.58

(1.64)

5.38

(1.83)

5.46

(1.47)

4.82

(2.26)

3.1

(2.14)

Business

Communicati

on Process

3.92

(2.12)

3.98

(1.99)

4.02

(1.86)

4.64

(1.82)

2.28

(1.77)

Customer

Servicing

2.8

(1.64)

2.86

(1.69)

2.76

(1.93)

3.26

(1.86)

1.94

(1.01)

Management

of Sales

Force

3.24

(2.08)

2.8

(1.65)

3.04

(1.67)

4.6

(2.2)

2.92

(2.12)

Business

Innovations

and

Marketing

Capabilities

4.28

(1.91)

3.7

(2.19)

4.34

(1.99)

3.82

(2.31)

3.42

(2.21)

42

‘Value

Expression’*

4.92

(1.62)

4.78

(1.52)

4.72

(1.76)

5.06

(1.39)

2.96

(1.89)

This table is on the basis of the rating given to each benefit on the scale of 1-5 (semantic

differential) where“1” (strongly agree / absolutely true) and “5” (strongly disagree /

absolutely false). On the basis of mean and standard deviation (for the values written in

parenthesis “( )”) below it, it can inferred that the perceived benefits as rated by the

respondents for each of the above technological criteria. The benefit termed ‘Value

Expression’* is a derivation from the rating that the respondents at Club 21 Hong Kong

Limited provided for the different benefits of mobile and wireless technology being used as a

part of everyday job. It was derived as an attempt to show the ‘value’ that these respondents

perceived to be obtaining from using the mobile and wireless technology as a part of

everyday job and their ‘expressions’ or ratings of the benefits that makes up the “value

expression” benefit of the two technologies being studied here. Another aspect that is worth

noticing here is the breakdown of the ratings for the Mobile and Wireless technology

equipments and applications. This was done by observational technique while administering

the questionnaire along with the ratings provided by the respondents to different questions.

It was found that for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited, though the benefit of ‘Business

Innovations and Marketing Capabilities’ had not been rated as the highest individually, on

consideration as a combined benefit of mobile and wireless technology, this benefit came out

to be the one with the highest mean however with the highest standard deviation showing that

the rating for this benefit might have been higher for the respondent from the management

who see value in the investment they have made in the technology as against the other

employees who do not perceive the benefits of these technologies on marketing and business

innovations vey highly.

43

Table 5: Perceived Benefits derived from different Mobile Technology and Wireless

Technology setups at Crocodile Garments Limited

Technology

Setups

Benefits

Mobile Technology Wireless TechnologyCombined

Use of

Mobile and

Wireless

TechnologyEquipments Applications Equipments Applications

Project

Management

Capabilities

4.58

(1.44)

5.48

(1.73)

5.48

(1.49)

5.82

(2.26)

3.72

(1.89)

Business

Communicati

on Process

4.02

(2.32)

3.78

(2.19)

4.12

(1.76)

4.04

(1.92)

2.58

(2.57)

Customer

Servicing

4.18

(1.94)

2.86

(1.69)

2.06

(1.97)

3.36

(1.96)

2.14

(1.11)

Management

of Sales

Force

2.84

(1.74)

3.81

(2.34)

3.24

(1.57)

3.17

(2.39)

2.72

(2.10)

Business

Innovations

and

Marketing

Capabilities

3.24

(2.08)

4.16

(2.12)

4.38

(1.52)

2.97

(1.02)3.21

(2.41)

‘Value

Expression’*

4.92

(1.62)

4.34

(1.99)

4.92

(1.96)

5.13

(1.79)

2.06

(2.24)

The table above has been developed on the basis of the rating given to each benefit on the

scale of 1-5 (semantic differential) where“1” (strongly agree / absolutely true) and “5”

(strongly disagree / absolutely false). On the basis of mean and standard deviation (for the

values written in parenthesis “( )”) below it, it can inferred that the perceived benefits as rated

44

by the respondents for each of the above technological criteria. The benefit termed ‘Value

Expression’* is a derivation from the rating that the respondents at Crocodile Garments

Limited provided for the different benefits of mobile and wireless technology being used as a

part of everyday job. The derivation is an attempt to understand the ‘value’ that respondents

of Crocodile Garments Limited perceive to be attaining from using the mobile and wireless

technology (Both equipments and applications of these technologies) as a part of their

everyday job and their ‘expressions’ or ratings of these perceived benefits which makes up

the “value expression” benefit of the two technologies being studied in this research. Another

part that is merits attention in the table above is the breakdown of the ratings for the Mobile

and Wireless technology equipments and applications. This was done by observational

technique while administering the questionnaire along with the ratings provided by the

respondents to different questions.

It was found from the table above that for the respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited, the

benefit of ‘Project Management Capabilities’ as perceived by the management and other

employees is indeed the number one benefit that they see mobile and wireless technology

bringing to their company. The ratings received by this benefit outscore all the other benefits

and has the highest mean with relatively agreeable standard deviation. This goes to show that

there is a clear coherence in the perception of the benefits of mobile and wireless technology

by the management and employees at Crocodile Garments Limited. This fact might also

suggest that there is considerable use of the two technologies for project management and

there is clear cut communication about this benefit across the organization.

4.1 Factor Analysis and Discussion

45

Factor Analysis identifies common dimensions of factors from the observed variables that

have a high correlation with the observed and seemingly unrelated variables but no

correlation among the factors (Gorsuch, 1983). Principal component analysis is the

commonly used method for grouping the variable under few unrelated factors (Velicer, and

Jackson, 1990). The data obtained for the study through the administration of the

questionnaire to respondents from Club 21 Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments

Limited was analyzed by using the method of factor analysis in order to identify the ‘key

factors’ as perceived by the respondents (management and other employees of the

companies) to be the benefits that decide the use of mobile and wireless technology used in

these organizations. These factors actually show us the trends of mobile and wireless

technology that are on the rise and pave way for the future of these technologies as an

integral part of doing business in the times to come.

In this study, Principal Component analysis has been used since the objective is to summarize

most of the original information (variance) in a minimum number of factors for prediction

purposes (Kline, 1993). Here the factors are extracted in such a way that factor axes are

maintained at 90 degree, meaning that each factor is independent of all other factors. A factor

is a linear combination of original variables. Factors also represent the underlying dimensions

that summarize and account for the original set of observed variables. An important concept

in factor analysis is the rotation of factors. In this study we have used Varimax Rotation to

simplify the factor structure. Only the factors having latent roots (Eigen values) greater than 1

(unity) are considered (Thompson, 2004). An Eigen value is the column sum of squares for a

factor. It represents the amount of variance in data. We chose those factor loadings which are

greater than 0.409 (for data from respondents’ at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited) and 0.523 (for

data from respondents’ at Crocodile Garments Limited) (ignoring the signs) and loaded them

46

on the extracted factors. As mentioned variables with factor loading of higher than 0.409 (for

data from respondents’ at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited) and 0.523 (for data from

respondents’ at Crocodile Garments Limited) are grouped under a factor. A factor loading is

the correlation between the original variable with the specified factor and is the key to

understanding the nature of that particular factor. The final step in factor analysis is naming

the factors. This labeling is intuitively developed based upon the appropriateness for

representing the underlying dimensions of a particular factor. It must also be understood that

the factors obtained by using factor analyses is inherent to the nature of study, the

questionnaire administered and the data obtained from respondents and cannot be measured

quantitatively.

The 10 variables (from the 10 different questions in part A as obtained from questionnaire

from Club 21 Hong Kong Limited) were used for the factor analysis were coded using five

point semantic differential scale. The table 6 provides the Varimax rotated factor loadings

against the 10 variables measuring the perceptions of the respondents at Club 21 Hong Kong

Limited regarding mobile and wireless technology. This was obtained in 6 iterations through

SPSS (version 11).

Table 6: Rotated Factor Matrix (Loading Criteria > 0.409) for Club 21 Hong Kong LimitedVar. No.

Technology Impacts F1 F2 F3 F4

V1 Use of latest technology 0.754V2 Adequate technology handling training 0.860

V3Use of technology in strategic business decision making

0.716

V4Impact of technology in organizational communication

0.939

V5Impact of technology on marketing strategies and capabilities

0.808

V6 Use of technology for customer service 0.619V7 Use of technology for innovations 0.849V8 Use of technology for sales force management 0.760V9 Use of technology for project management 0.778

47

V10Dependence on technology for day to day functioning

0.704

Cumulative variance 61.216 74.270 44.029 26.165

The Factor analysis (of data obtained from respondents at Cub 21 Hong Kong Limited) using

Varimax rotation gives four derived factors, each having Eigen value greater than unity. In

the rotated factor matrix, those variables which had factor loading of above 0.409 (ignoring

the signs) are grouped under their respective factors. Thus, the 10 variables (technology

impact / use) were then loaded on the four factors. Naming of the factors has been done on

the basis of the size of the factor loading for a variable, greater are the chances of the factor

loading being named after this specified variable.

Factor I explains 29.762% of the total variance and the total variance accounted for by factor

2 was 36.10% which is quite high (considering the limitation of number of questionnaires

administered) and this establishes the validity of the study. Of the 10 variables, 9 have been

further grouped into 3 factors since we did not consider the last factor as it was contributing

only 13% of the total variance which is the least as compared to others. The factors and the

variables for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited have been tabulated in table 7.

Table 7: Factors that Indicate the Impact / Use of Mobile and Wireless Technology on the Various Aspects of Business for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited.

Impact on Day to Day Functioning (4.145)

Benefits and Use of technology (4.053)

Awareness and Training for

Technology (5.14)Use of latest technology (4.36) Use of technology for

innovations (4.4)Adequate technology handling training (6.0)

Dependence on technology for day to day functioning (4.68)

Impact of technology on marketing strategies and capabilities (4.08)

-----

Impact of technology in organizational communication (2.86)

Use of technology for customer service (3.68)

-----

Use of technology for sales force management (4.68)

Use of technology for project management (5.38)

-----

48

Please note: The figures in parenthesis represent the average score for the variables under

each Factor that indicate the relation of the identified factors with the business.

Table 7 depicts the variables under each of the three derived factors. The first factor (F1)

identified as the ‘impact of mobile and wireless technology on the day to day functioning’ of

employees at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited. The variables that determine this factor are use of

latest mobile and wireless technology, dependence on mobile and wireless technology for day

to day functioning, impact of mobile and wireless technology on organizational

communication process and use of technology for the management of sales force. The last

variable though could have been grouped under factor 2 has been grouped under factor 1

since this variable was indeed determinant of the day to day functioning of the majority of the

employees (sales force) at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited.

The second factor is designated as benefits and use of mobile and wireless technology, on the

basis of the loaded variables. The data set of the Factor II (F2) loading is indicated by

variables like use of mobile and wireless technology for innovation, impact of mobile and

wireless technology on marketing strategies and capabilities, use of mobile and wireless

technology for customer service and use of technology for project management. It was found

that use of technology for project management variable had the highest score among all the

variables for this factor.

The factor III (F3) is denoted by the awareness and training for the mobile and wireless

technology for the employees at Club 21 Hong Kong Limited. This factor is explained by the

variable adequate technology handling training and has a high score of 6.0.

49

The next is the use of factor analyses to find the factors for the data collected from the

respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited. The table 8 below provides the Varimax rotated

factor loadings against the 10 variables measuring the perceptions of the respondents at

Crocodile Garments Limited regarding mobile and wireless technology. This was obtained in

6 iterations through SPSS (version 11).

Table 8: Rotated Factor Matrix (Loading Criteria > 0.523) for Crocodile Garments

Limited

Var.

No.Technology Impacts F1 F2 F3 F4

V1Use of latest technology

0.620

V2Adequate technology handling training

0.826

V3 Use of technology in strategic business decision making

0.580

V4 Impact of technology in organizational communication

0.866

V5 Impact of technology on marketing strategies and capabilities

0.767

V6Use of technology for customer service

0.711

V7Use of technology for innovations

0.674

V8Use of technology for sales force management

0.835

V9Use of technology for project management

0.840

V10 Dependence on technology for day to day functioning

0.716

Cumulative variance 74.057 59.938 43.635 25.336

In case of data from respondents at Crocodile Garments Limited, Factor 1 explained 36.487%

of the total variance and the factor 2 explained 29.53% of the total variance which is again

quite high (considering the limitation of number of questionnaire administered) and this

50

establishes the validity of the study. For the data from respondents of Crocodile Garments

Limited, 8 variables were found to be significant in influencing 3 identifiable factors. These

are tabulated in table 9 below. Of the 10 variables, 9 have once again been further grouped

into 3 factors since we did not consider the last factor as it was contributing only 12.48% of

the total variance which is the least as compared to other factors.

Table 9: Factors that Indicate the Impact / Use of Mobile and Wireless Technology on the Various Aspects of Business for Crocodile Garments Limited.

Impact on Day to Day Functioning (4.075)

Benefits and Use of technology (4.16)

Awareness and Training for

Technology (4.76)Use of latest technology (3.56) Use of technology for

innovations (4.22)Adequate technology handling training (5.16)

Dependence on technology for day to day functioning (4.76)

Impact of technology on marketing strategies and capabilities (4.64)

-----

Impact of technology in organizational communication (2.88)

Use of technology for customer service (3.62)

-----

Use of technology for sales force management (4.36)

Use of technology for project management (5.10)

-----

Please note: The figures in parenthesis represent the average score for the variables under

each Factor that indicate the relation of the identified factors with the business.

The first factor (F1) identified as the ‘impact of mobile and wireless technology on the day to

day functioning’ of employees at Crocodile Garments Limited. The variables that determine

this factor are use of latest mobile and wireless technology, dependence on mobile and

wireless technology for day to day functioning, impact of mobile and wireless technology on

organizational communication process and use of technology for the management of sales

force. As usual similar to the previous case for Club 21 Hong Kong Limited, the last variable

though could have been grouped under factor 2 has been grouped under factor 1 since this

variable was indeed determinant of the day to day functioning of the majority of the

employees (sales force) at Crocodile Garments Limited.

51

The factor 2 obtained from the factor analysis is designated as benefits and use of mobile and

wireless technology, on the basis of the loaded variables. The data set for the second factor

(F2) loading is indicated by variables like use of mobile and wireless technology for

innovation, impact of mobile and wireless technology on marketing strategies and

capabilities, use of mobile and wireless technology for customer service and use of

technology for project management.

The third factor (F3) is denoted by the awareness and training for the mobile and wireless

technology for the employees at Crocodile Garments Limited. This factor is explained by the

variable adequate technology handling training which has the highest score among all the

variables of 5.16.

The factor analysis helped us to obtain the following factors as relevant for a business in

relation to the mobile and wireless technology: availability of latest mobile and wireless

technology, training for the available technology, use of mobile and wireless technology,

project management using mobile and wireless technology and lastly impact of mobile and

wireless technology on business. Below is the diagrammatic representation of the factors and

their interdependence. However, again a note has to be made that the fourth factor wasn’t

found to be as significant as other three factors and might not be really considered for actual

results. The fourth factor hasn’t been named and the dashed box representing this factor has

been used in the diagram below.

52

Figure 9: Diagrammatic representation of the Factors obtained from Factor

Analysis

4.2 SWOT Analysis for Mobile and Wireless Technology

Thus, on the basis of the literature review and analysis of the data obtained from the survey

and general questioning of the staff (management and employees) at Club 21 Hong Kong

Limited and Crocodile Garments limited, the following SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats) analysis could be done for the mobile and wireless technology as a

driver of business in the present day context.

Strengths

Helps businesses be the market

Weaknesses

High cost of using wireless and

53

Factor 2: Benefits and Use of technology

Factor 3: Impact on Day to Day Functioning.

Mobile and Wireless

Technology Parameters

Factor 3: Awareness and

Training for Technology

leader.

Wide range of products catering to

different business needs.

Strong advancements and growth

opportunities provided to the

businesses using mobile and wireless

technology

Remote connectivity ability, reducing

the limitations of geographical space

and time zones.

mobile technology makes it

unpopular with businesses.

High initial investment cost followed

by subsequent added costs in

upgrading and keeping up to date

with technological advancements.

Availability of internet connectivity.

High staff training cost for businesses

using these technologies and

associated maintenance costs.

Opportunities

Becoming increasing popular and

affordable.

Can be implemented on a smaller

level and hence implementable by

smaller businesses as well.

Current competitive market place

makes use of wireless and mobile

technology a necessity.

The ever evolving tendency of mobile

and wireless technology a must have

for every business.

Provides organizations with the

ability to reduce expenses by having

employees’ telework, better

Threats

Mobile and wireless technology

might soon be replaced by any other

technological trend.

Fear of businesses in investing in

these technologies and their inertia to

changes associated with use of these

technologies.

Technologies getting ahead of

mankind in terms of the investments

required and the continuous

evolutionary process associated with

these technologies.

Data security and privacy threats

might lead to dismissal of use of these

54

connectivity with market and

customers, quicker response to market

dynamics and diversify and cater to a

global market.

technologies.

5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

This section concludes the report for the research and makes certain suggestions or

recommendations that might be useful for future researches.

5.1 Conclusions

The study titled ‘Mobile and Wireless Technology: Trends on the Rise’ was an attempt to

understand the role of mobile and wireless technology in general everyday human lives and

in a business scenario in specific. Though not conclusive, it was found that mobile and

wireless technology plays a very critical role in several aspects of a business including project

management, communication and sales force management and has paved way for effective,

efficient and transparent organizational communication process. Further researches into this

area yield can help to define conclusively, the role of these two technologies and it is then

that we can say with certainty about the mobile and wireless technology trends that are on the

rise, affecting the very fiber of the human society across the globe.

5.2 Recommendations

The recommendations below are only suggestions, especially for the two companies Club 21

Hong Kong Limited and Crocodile Garments Limited as gathered from analyzing the data

obtained from the respondents at both the firms. However, the suggestions may also be

55

applicable to other businesses especially within the same industry. Following are the

recommendations:

- Employees should be informed about all the investments and inclusions being made

by the management on technology since they are the ones to be critically affected by

the use of these technologies. This will keep the employees informed as well as

supportive towards these technology investments.

- The employees need to be continuously trained for the technologies that are being

incorporated, so as to actually get the employees to use these technologies and thus,

generate return on investment.

- Companies are still not comfortable with the influence of technology in decisions

making and further focus has to be given to this ability of mobile and wireless

technology.

- The mobile and wireless technology should be used extensively for project

management, customer servicing, sales force management, etc. as that will help a

company to achieve competitive advantage over its competitors.

- Use of mobile and wireless technology should be done with as caution and companies

should understand that these technologies have challenges of data security and

privacy, etc.

- Lastly, business should ensure that these technologies become business drivers but do

not be a replacement for the human resource, since there is nothing worse than

technology being viewed as a competitor by the employees in a company.

5.3 Limitations of Research

The limitations of this research are manifolds which makes this research inconclusive. The

limitations for the research include:

56

- Limitation of funding.

- Time duration of the project is not sufficient to conduct an in-depth study.

- Limitations of data available from various sources.

- Limitations include the assumptions that were made while analyzing the

questionnaire.

- The data collected might not be a true representation of the population under study.

- Limitation of the researcher.

57

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Appendix

Questionnaire: Club 21 Hong Kong Limited

The following questionnaire will be used only for academic purposes to study and understand

the impact of Mobile and Wireless Technology on business of Club 21 Hong Kong Limited.

The respondent details and answers will be kept confidential. I humbly request respondents to

be as objective and transparent in their answers as possible.

A. Please rate the following factors of communication, marketing, customer service and

innovation using a five point scale with responses ranging from 1-Strongly Disagree to 5-

Strongly Agree.

1. The mobile and wireless standards, devices and application used in Club 21 are the latest

technology available: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree;

4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

2. The management and employees are trained and equipped to use the mobile and wireless

technology at Club 21: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree;

4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

3. The involvement and use of mobile and wireless technology at Club 21 for strategic

business decisions is high: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor

disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

4. The mobile and wireless technology makes the communication process in the company

transparent, efficient and effective: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree

nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

64

5. There is a high degree of use of mobile and wireless technology by the management and

employees at Club 21 for enhancement of marketing capabilities: _______ (1=strongly agree;

2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

6. There is a high degree of use of mobile and wireless technology by the management and

employees at Club 21 for enhancement of customer service process: _______ (1=strongly

agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

7. The level of using mobile and wireless technology for innovations (product, process, etc)

at Club 21 is high: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree;

4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

8. The use of mobile and wireless technology has enhanced the sales force management

capabilities at Club 21: ___________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor

disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

9. The project management capabilities have been enhanced through the use of mobile and

wireless technology at Club 21: _________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor

disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

10. Club 21 management and employees are dependent on mobile and wireless technology

for its day to day functioning: _______ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor

disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

B. Kindly provide your opinion on the following topics:

1. Mobile technologies used at Club 21: _____________________________________

65

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Wireless technologies used at Club 21: ____________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. Impact of mobile and wireless technology on the business of Club 21: _____________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

C. Respondent Profiling: The following segment is only to assist the researcher profile the

respondents.

1. Role in Club 21’s business: __________________ (employee, management)

2. Part of Project Management Team: Yes _____ No ______

3. Years of association with Club 21: __________

4. Involvement with mobile and wireless technology as a part of the job (please rate your

involvement with the afore-mentioned technologies on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “no

involvement”, 3 being “use these technologies daily to perform my job” and 5 being

“manage aspects of these technologies”): ___________

Thank you for your cooperation and time.

66

Appendix II

Questionnaire: Crocodile Garments Limited

The following questionnaire will be used only for academic purposes to study and understand

the impact of Mobile and Wireless Technology on business of Crocodile Garments Limited.

The respondent details and answers will be kept confidential. I humbly request respondents to

be as objective and transparent in their answers as possible.

A. Please rate the following factors of communication, marketing, customer service and

innovation using a five point scale with responses ranging from 1-Strongly Disagree to 5-

Strongly Agree.

1. The mobile and wireless standards, devices and application used in Crocodile Garments

Limited are the latest technology available: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither

agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

2. The management and employees are trained and equipped to use the mobile and wireless

technology at Crocodile Garments Limited: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither

agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

3. The involvement and use of mobile and wireless technology at Crocodile Garments

Limited for strategic business decisions is high: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree;

3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

4. The mobile and wireless technology makes the communication process in the company

transparent, efficient and effective: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree

nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

67

5. There is a high degree of use of mobile and wireless technology by the management and

employees at Crocodile Garments Limited for enhancement of marketing capabilities:

_______ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly

disagree)

6. There is a high degree of use of mobile and wireless technology by the management and

employees at Crocodile Garments Limited for enhancement of customer service process:

_______ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly

disagree)

7. The level of using mobile and wireless technology for innovations (product, process, etc)

at Crocodile Garments Limited is high: ________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree; 3=neither

agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

8. The use of mobile and wireless technology has enhanced the sales force management

capabilities at Crocodile Garments Limited: ___________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree;

3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

9. The project management capabilities have been enhanced through the use of mobile and

wireless technology at Crocodile Garments Limited: _________ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree;

3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

10. Crocodile Garments Limited management and employees are dependent on mobile and

wireless technology for its day to day functioning: _______ (1=strongly agree; 2=agree;

3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=disagree; 5=strongly disagree)

B. Kindly provide your opinion on the following topics:

68

1. Mobile technologies used at Crocodile Garments Limited: _________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Wireless technologies used at Crocodile Garments Limited: _______________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. Impact of mobile and wireless technology on the business of Crocodile Garments Limited:

___________________________________________________________________________

C. Respondent Profiling: The following segment is only to assist the researcher profile the

respondents.

1. Role in Crocodile Garments Limited’s business: __________________ (employee,

management)

2. Part of Project Management Team: Yes _____ No ______

3. Years of association with Crocodile Garments Limited: __________

4. Involvement with mobile and wireless technology as a part of the job (please rate your

involvement with the afore-mentioned technologies on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “no

involvement”, 3 being “use these technologies daily to perform my job” and 5 being

“manage aspects of these technologies”): ___________

Thank you for your cooperation and time.

69