Competitive behavior in the European mobile telecommunications industry: Pioneers vs. followers

This paper studies the relationship between competitive strategy and improvement in the competitive position of pioneers and followers in the mobile telecommunications industry. The analysis uses a panel of data comprising all the actions of European firms operating in the digital mobile telecommunications industry with GSM 900 and/or DCS 1800 networks. The results show that competitors gain market share when they follow competitive strategies that are different from those of other firms. The paper also finds that price reduction actions represent the best approach for followers, while differentiation actions are the most effective strategy for pioneers.     

Network effects and the adoption of new technology: evidence from the U.S. telecommunications industry

This paper examines variations in the adoption of new technology by firms operating in a network-based industry: telecommunications. These variations are explained as a function of three network effects: the first is the conversion effect, driven by operations-related increasing returns to scale; the second is the consumption effect, driven by demand-side increasing returns to scale; the third is an imitative effect. We expect the conversion effect to be felt more strongly during earlier phases of a technology's evolution, while a strong consumption effect is felt throughout. The imitative effect is also expected to be felt throughout. These hypotheses are examined with respect to electronic switching adoption in the local operating sector of the U.S. telecommunications industry. An analysis of the variations in adoption levels of the 40 largest firms over a period lasting from 1973 to 1987 supports our expectations, except for the imitative effect. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the utilization of resources: perspectives from the U.S. telecommunications industry

The issue of resource utilization is important in the resource-based stream of work, since the ability of firms to utilize resources is a key indicator of their competitive abilities. This paper specifies why some firms might be better at utilizing resources than others. Thereafter, it demonstrates how to empirically ascertain differences in resource utilization patterns between firms using the U.S. telecommunications industry as a context. The data envelopment analysis procedure (DEA), which is a firm-level resource utilization measure, is used. This procedure can be useful for the resource-based approach research agenda since performance is measured in resource terms. DEA is applied to measure variations in different dimensions of resource utilization for the firms making up the local operating sector of the telecommunications industry. The use of DEA to guide empirical research and address theoretical issues within the resource-based paradigm is illustrated, using the resource utilization index for the telecommunications firms as the measure of strategic performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.