Executive Summary With its great success in Singapore, a GPS based system like the iCall seemed like the perfect fit for Taiwan Taxi. The company had plans of expanding its membership to 20,000 and believed the iCall would help it achieve this goal. Unfortunately, the iCall did not bring the success that Taiwan Taxi hoped it would which left management questioning why the system worked so well in one country and not the other. The answer to this lies in the cultural differences and a lack of understanding of the Taiwan labor force that is currently working in the taxi industry. In order to successfully implement the iCall in Taiwan, management needs to tie value to the system in order to gain support from its employees and the public. This can be done internally through the use of incentive programs, as well as externally though marketing and advertising efforts focused on safety and efficiency.
Problem Statement and Project Goals
Management’s failure to understand cultural differences and their impact on the implementation of a GPS system in Taiwan has led to Taiwan Taxi’s failure in obtaining its 20,000 member goal.
Analysis
Management Taiwan Taxi based their implementation of the iCall after the success of a similar GPS system in Singapore. The company reasoned that since Singapore and Taiwan were similar in size and density that Taiwan would have equal success in the implementation of new technology in their taxi cabs. Management however, failed to realize that the severe cultural differences would play a significant role in the success of the iCall. Many subscribers felt that the iCall system added no value to their services. One user explained, “You know what; the GPS is actually useless. You have to work hard to find customers. You don’t just wait for business to drop from the sky. It’s unrealistic!” Since cabbies are not associating any