Is telecommunications regulation efficient? An international perspective

This article addresses the efficiency of regulation policy in the telecommunications sector. First, the concepts of static and dynamic efficiency are reviewed, with the main policies used into achieve these goals identified, while distinguishing effective competition from industrial policy. Indicators are proposed that enable assessment of components of sector efficiency. These indicators are used to empirically investigate the link between regulation policy and economic performance for OECD Member Countries. The investigation is based on national differences in regulation policy and efficiency indicators. The results support the notion that asymmetrical ex ante regulation alone is not necessarily efficient, and that an ex ante policy, integrating an industrial policy, could favor dynamic efficiency.     

How do international joint ventures create shareholder value?

This study attempts to identify conditions under which announcements of international joint venture (JV) formation lead to increases in shareholder value of participating U.S. firms. It does so by combining the singular theoretical foci of previous work on the topic and specifying previously unconsidered, but conceptually important, influences on firms' expected JV performance. The study's findings indicate support for the hypothesized effect of variables in partners' task‐related, competitive, and structural context(s), but not those in these firms' partner‐related and institutional context(s). Specifically, partner–venture business relatedness, the pursuit of R&D‐oriented activity, greater equity ownership, and large firm size, all are found to have a positive impact on firms' JV‐based value creation. Although this study finds support for the performance impact of firm‐level competition, the direction of this impact is contrary to that hypothesized. No support is found for hypothesized effect of partner–partner business relatedness, previous JV experience, partners' relative firm size, (national) cultural relatedness, and JV host country political risk. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TP case study: fixed–mobile interconnection in India

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) attempted, in late 1999, to introduce the calling party pays (CPP) regime for mobile cellular services, with a corresponding revenue-sharing arrangement between fixed and mobile operators. According to the revenue-sharing proposal, mobile operators in India were to be compensated for carrying traffic to and from the fixed networks. Under their original license conditions, fixed operators (usually one of the two state-owned incumbents) were not paying mobile operators for terminating calls on their networks. However, mobile operators had to compensate the state-owned incumbent for terminating traffic. This unfavourable environment for mobile operators has meant that mobile services have not been able to reach their full potential in India. There was great disappointment within the mobile industry when the TRAI's CPP order was overturned by the Supreme Court of India in early 2000, due to lack of jurisdiction. Since then, the enabling legislation has been amended. It is hoped that the new provisions of the TRAI Act will empower the regulator to establish a level playing field for mobile network operators. It is only through the creation of a suitable framework for interconnection that the TRAI will be able to ensure the success of telecommunications reform in India.     

Zero-rating arrangements of mobile Internet access service providers – An analysis of main factors shaping the need for regulatory interventions

Zero-rating is the practice of providers of radio-based Internet access for moving telecommunication devices of excluding traffic generated by specific online applications from usage counted towards capped allowances or strictly metered tariffs of their end customers. Worldwide and particularly in the European Union (EU), current regulatory frameworks for zero-rating arrangements (ZRA) imply that regulators have to examine on a case-by-case basis whether they prohibit a concrete ZRA or impose restrictions. Such conditions are set because regulators believe that a ZRA runs counter to the interests of end customers or application providers or impedes effective competition between application and Internet service providers. Thus, it is necessary to clarify which case features ought to be inspected in such zero-rating assessments and which feature levels speak against or in favor of regulatory measures linked to ZRA. The present article identifies nine design features of ZRA, three characteristics of customer groups targeted by such offers and three background characteristics of the markets for Internet access services and applications which are of special importance in decisions concerning the need to regulate (to abstain from regulating) zero-rating practices of mobile network operators. The analysis shows that in many instances interests of end customers, application providers as well as of politicians seeking to promote the competitive dynamics on mobile Internet access service and application markets are best served if regulatory authorities tolerate ZRA and control for potential harmful effects after their market launch. Moreover, the study reveals that empirical research on customer reactions to ZRA is urgently required.     

Carving up the commons—emergence of a new international regime for germplasm development and transfer

No nation has ever fabricated or maintained a prosperous food system based on genetic resources of purely indigenous origin. Remarkably, many countries now seem ready and almost eager to try such an approach. We identify four separate components of an emerging regime that are interacting in ways that should worry everyone concerned with the development and transfer of plant genetic materials into the South: new provisions on intellectual property; increased concentration of new enabling technologies into a few large multinational companies; heightened anxieties over transgenic crops; and new problems arising from international agreements. We argue that the solutions now being discussed in global forums are either infeasible, incomplete, or are likely to have seriously negative effects. We call instead for creative new thinking on building human capacity in developing countries, on the legal status of plant genetic resources, and on public−private partnerships, especially those in service of the poor.     

Competition or regulation for multimedia?

The reform undergone in telecommunications within the European Union promotes competition as the main tool for regulation. Yet, the rules related to competition may not be easily distinguished from additional regulation.     

To teach or to compete? A strategic dilemma of knowledge owners in international alliances

The strategic importance of learning and knowledge development in alliances has been widely recognized and discussed in literature, though focusing mainly from the view of the demand side and leaving the equally important ingredient of knowledge owners’ incentives-to-teach intact. This paper blends the perspectives of the transaction-costs economics (TCE) and the knowledge-based view (KBV) in a hypothesized governance model that illustrates how knowledge and location factors of international partners jointly impact alliance strategies. We first identify the relevant knowledge and location factors affecting incentives-to-teach in alliances, and then incorporated them into a framework explaining the choice of contractual or equity-based mode governing an alliance. Eight hypotheses are developed and then tested on a sample of 640 international alliances, with at least a partner from a focal emerging economy, Taiwan. Our research findings show that the contractual mode is usually aligned with higher incentives-to-teach of the knowledge owners, especially in knowledge-asymmetric and location-symmetric alliances. In a contrast, the equity-based mode, offering additional safeguarding mechanisms for the knowledge owner, is often selected in the alliances associated with a severe concern of competition, especially in knowledge-symmetric and location-asymmetric alliances.     

CSC9000T-A Gospel for All?

The bleakest forecast isn't materialized in 2005, what to burn out in 2006?Weeks earlier in the lead-up to the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong inDecember, the General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation held its 4th Federal Congress of FIA-UGT in Santander in Spain. It blamed WTO & ILO for ignoring the turmoil that trade liberalization has created in textiles and clothing sectors,and having been slow to acknowledge a growing threat t…     

The use of favors by emerging market managers: Facilitator or inhibitor of international expansion?

This article explores the use of favors by emerging market managers, the impact of using favors on their firms’ growth, legitimacy, and reputation in a variety of business environments, and how the use of favors affects firms’ paths to international expansion. We discuss the concept of favors, and to illustrate the process of favors, we look at culturally rooted examples of their use by managers from the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Utilizing neo-institutional theory, we create a typology of four types of environments in which managers and firms from emerging markets conduct business with various relational entities (e.g., governments, customers, suppliers, competitors, alliance partners). We posit that the use of favors by managers compensates for the relatively weak legitimacy of formal institutions in emerging market environments, with favors illustrating the resulting reliance upon informal cultural-cognitive institutions. We develop propositions regarding the impact of the use of favors on the organizational outcomes of growth, legitimacy, and reputation of emerging market firms doing business in each of the four environments. This leads to further propositions regarding how the use of favors can influence their firms’ internationalization growth paths. We conclude that the impact of favors on international growth paths results from the fit or non-fit of their use with the level of legitimacy of the formal institutional environment of the focal relational entity in various business transactions.     

How does local partners network embeddedness affect international joint venture survival in different subnational contexts?

Do local partners' network attributes affect the survival of high-tech international joint ventures (IJV)? How does the effect of network attributes vary in different subnational institutional environments? While the classic economic explanation for IJV formation and subsequent performance draws from the resource-based view (RBV), we add the relational dimension to explain that IJV survival may be affected by local partners’ relation-specific assets within the local network. We test the effect of the local partners’ network attributes as calculated by UCINET (centrality, network status, and structural hole position) on IJV survival. We additionally assert that this relationship is moderated by subnational institutional heterogeneity. Using our sample of 125 IJV dyadic pairs of US multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in high-tech industries and their local partners in China, we find partial support for our claims.     

Algorithmic Pricing What Implications for Competition Policy?

Review of Industrial Organization - Pricing decisions are increasingly in the “hands” of artificial algorithms. Scholars and competition authorities have voiced concerns that those...     

Does distance matter for internationally-oriented small firms?

This paper assesses the contemporary relevance of distance and its key components in international business for young, internationally-oriented small firms. In doing so, it reconceptualizes the distance concept and investigates its relevance in American, British, and German firms' early foreign market selection. Economic, geographic, and cultural distance (based on Hofstede's and Schwartz's frameworks) for the three countries, along with psychic distance for the German firms, are considered. The results show that some components of distance still matter for internationally-oriented small firms and that cultural distance is sample source and concept sensitive. In addition, psychic distance acts as a mediator construct to the more objective, external distance measures of economic, geographic, and cultural distance, confirming the proposed distance framework.     

What preconceptions and attitudes about engineering are prevalent amongst upper secondary school pupils? An international study

In the Netherlands, as well as in many other countries, there is an increasing interest in implementing education about engineering as a part of general education at the upper secondary school level. In order to know what pupils at that level think about engineering, a study has been done to investigate their attitude towards and their concept of engineering. This study was done not only in the Netherlands but also in 39 other countries. In the preparation of the study, pupils were asked to draw concept maps of what they thought engineering was about. In the quantitative main part of the study, pupils were asked to respond to 33 Likert-type attitude items and 32 concept-items of the same type. A factor analysis was done in order to reveal the dimensions in the pupils’ attitude and concept. In contrast to studies carried out amongst students in lower secondary school levels, a fairly clear concept about engineering was found. The gender differences relating to engineering, found in lower secondary education, were not found in upper secondary education. The prevalent attitude of students towards engineering indicated a fairly positive image of engineering.     

Testing for Competitiveness of Markets for Long Distance Telephone Services: Competition Finally?

Telecommunications regulatory policy is driven by rhetoric and myth concerning the competitiveness of long-distance service. Relying on behavioral tests for competitiveness, this review brings up to date analytical work establishing the pattern of competition or the lack of competition since the 1984 AT & T divestiture. Through mid 1997, the three large long-distance carriers in setting their price-cost margins have managed to carry through on a previously established strategy of tacit collusion in both message toll services and WATS-type business services. The remarkable results have been that price-cost margins increased while sales concentration declined. This general pattern is not contradicted by the most recent offering of 15-cent per minute one price on new discount plans since that too implies an increase in carriers' price cost margins as concentration continued to decline.     

Insecure Advantage? Markets for Technology and the Value of Resources for Entrepreneurial Ventures

We study how the impact of capabilities for performance is contingent upon the environment. Using a novel dataset of information security start‐ups, we study how markets for technology change the relative impact of technology and marketing capabilities on performance. Since internal technical effort enables firms to generate technology inputs instead of acquiring them from the market (substitute), a greater supply of technology diminishes the importance of technical ability as a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, since marketing capability complements technology inputs, a greater supply of technology enhances the impact of marketing capability on performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.