The critical success factors for a travel application service provider evaluation and selection by travel intermediaries

Current application service provider (ASP) is an emerging type of information technology outsourcing service that offer a comprehensive of information technology services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to obtain information capabilities and maintain competitive advantage. Although numerous academics and practitioners have recognized the importance of information service suppliers, few studies has been conducted on decision analysis related to an ASP selection. Thus, this study combines two multiple criteria decision making tools to develop a multifaceted evaluation framework and identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for an ASP adoption by travel intermediaries in Taiwan. The empirical results implied different types of travel operations have different evaluation considerations for an ASP adoption. Travel intermediaries can devote to their core competencies, and acquire information support services through an ASP. On the other hand, ASPs can use differentiation strategies and allocate limited resources through focusing on these CSFs to enhance inter-organizational collaboration in travel supply chain.