DOI: 10.4018/JOEUC.2016040102 Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing Volume 28 • Issue 2 • April-June 2016 Design and Development of Intelligent Decision Support Prototype System for Social Media Competitive Analysis in Fashion Industry Eric W.T. Ngai, Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong S.S. Lam, Lee Shau Kee School of Business & Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong J.K.L. Poon, Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Bin Shen, Glorious Sun School of Business & Management, Donghua University, Shanghai, China Karen K.L. Moon, Department of Clothing and Textiles/Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea ABSTRACT This paper describes the design and development of an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) for competitive analysis of social media in the fashion industry. A web-based prototype system is designed and developed to assist in monitoring the growing Internet media, protect fashion brands and products, and provide support for social media competitive analysis in the fashion industry through social media. In this study, a social media value grid that allows managers to use social media technology in the fashion business and add value for managers is proposed. Four propositions are presented as the research agenda in examining the ability of social media technology to improve the operations management of a fashion company. KEywORDS Business Value, Intelligent Decision Support System, Fashion Industry, Sentiment Analysis, Social Media INTRODUCTION The use of social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, Weibo, Twitter, and Instagram has rapidly proliferated among people. Large organizations as well as innovative small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from the adoption of social media tools in business (Wamba & Carter, 2014). Social media serve not only as a communication or information sharing platform, but can also generate business value, such as building customer loyalty, raising customers’ awareness of brand image, predicting customers’ preference, facilitating information flow, creating customers’ intimacy, and raising revenue (He, Zha, & Li, 2013; Schniederjans, Cao, & Schniederjans, 2013). Social media are related to business value in two aspects. First, companies can use social media to affect customers’ behavior. Rishika, Kumar, Janakiraman, and Bezawada (2013) found that the more frequently the customers participate in a firm’s SNS, the more frequently the customers would visit the company’s site. Second, customers can use social media to share their purchases with their peers that 13