E-Commerce and IT Projects

Abstract

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are facing an increasingly competitive business environment which demands the efficient use and appropriate evaluation of their tangible and intangible resources and competencies in order to continuously improve their organizational performance. The management of e-commerce/IT outsourcing is a crucial management issue for hospitals and healthcare organizations in recent years since only a small proportion of these organizations have reaped the expected benefits from their outsourcing projects. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to better understand the investment evaluation and benefits realization practices and processes of Australian and Taiwanese hospitals that have outsourced their e-commerce/IT systems. This article provides the opportunity to examine outsourcing practices of a highly developed economy (Australia) and a newly industrialized economy (Taiwan). Some e-commerce/IT outsourcing issues and challenges confronted by hospitals in Australia and Taiwan will be identified, discussed and presented. The findings of this study will assist hospitals and other healthcare organizations to formulate appropriate strategies to better handle the potential issues and challenges in undertaking e-commerce/IT outsourcing projects.