Selecting key capabilities of TV‐shopping companies applying analytic network process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help Taiwan TV‐shopping companies to effectively select the key capabilities by introducing a multiple criteria decision‐making method, the analytic network process (ANP), that has been employed in many areas of managerial decision making. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing the literatures about the balanced scorecard and interviewing the executives obtains the perspectives and criteria to construct the hierarchy for selecting the key capabilities of TV‐shopping companies. Selecting perspectives and criteria of the balanced scorecard are interrelated. Owing to the interdependent relations in decision making, ANP is applied, which captures the outcome of dependency between the perspectives and criteria for handling such problems. Findings – After reviewing the literatures about the balanced scorecard and interviewing the executives, ten critical criteria are retained: proposal, employee satisfaction, data integrity, risk, treatment, customer satisfaction, brand, revenue growth, cost, budget. Practical implications – According to the ten important criteria, Taiwan TV‐shopping companies could select the optimal key capabilities more effectively. Moreover, a practical application of ANP presented in section 4 is generic and also suitable to be exploited for Taiwan TV‐shopping companies. Originality/value – As TV‐shopping channels have been increasing and the industry prospering, a more specified and scientific selection method is essential for the more complex decision making of determining key capability, a critical source of core competitiveness. The paper contributes to selecting the optimal key capabilities more effectively.