A telecommunications taxonomy

With the advent of new technologies and recent changes in regulations and economies, telecommunications services have grown chaotically. This article describes a taxonomy which uses common terms and concepts to classify the services and features available in telecommunications systems, for planners and policy makers. The structure provides a common basis for Europeans in particular to discuss the formation of new broadband telecommunications networks. It can also be used to identify areas of R&D and to plan future services. As an example, the authors apply the taxonomy to suggest the kinds of elements, properties and rules which might form the basis of a taxonomy knowledge base in telecommunications systems.     

New Information Technology and the Knowledge-Based Economy. The Italian Evidence

This work analyses the outcome of the interaction between: 1) the diffusion of new information technologies; 2) their effects on the tradability, divisibility and transportability of information; 3) the growing role of business service industries in the introduction of new technologies; 4) the interaction between receptivity and connectivity of learning agents in the generation of localized technological change based upon both tacit and generic knowledge, and 5) the parallel increase in total factor productivity. The empirical results provide some support, with respect to the Italian economy, to two hypotheses: 1) The co-evolution of usage of business and communication services. Our empirical analysis has shown the strong correlation between the levels and rates of growth in the use of communication and business services. 2) The productivity enhancing effects of the co-evolution in the use of business and communication.     

Internet of things and the economics of 5G-based local industrial networks

Fifth generation (5G) networks raise governance and management challenges that did not exist in 3G and 4G wireless technologies. Advanced wireless functionality enables new applications and services based on smart, physical, network infrastructures, many of them expected to be localized. As a general-purpose technology, 5G can be configured in numerous ways to support innovative applications across many sectors. Smart network applications and services must integrate physical and virtual components in innovative ways. In addition, general capabilities of 5G must be combined with complementary technologies, such as big data analytics and edge cloud services, to create services for specific use cases. Varying throughput and latency requirements of distinct use cases require differentiated technical solutions. Appropriate frequencies must be aligned efficiently with other features within the footprint of particular, local industrial networks. National policy makers, suppliers, and users are responding differently to these governance and management challenges. These approaches balance differently the trade-offs between experimentation, differentiation, and harmonization. Comparative analysis can inform gradual improvements of the governance of 5G-based, local industrial networks.     

Factors of broadband development and the design of a strategic policy framework

The paper analyses the household use of broadband technology and services in EU countries in an attempt to find the main reasons which explain the differences seen among countries. With the use of factor analysis, the underlying factors are identified as: (1) enablers and means; (2) the use of services; and (3) the ICT sector's development. Based on these findings, a two-dimensional framework that enables the classification of policy actions depending on the influencing factor and type of influence is developed. The framework can be used to analyse what is the appropriate set of policies at the national and regional governmental levels leading towards the better diffusion of new broadband (BB) technologies and services.     

Telemedicine: an historical perspective

The use of telecommunications technologies to help deliver medical services has increased over the past few decades and is now well accepted. Called telemedicine, it involves medical diagnosis and management with the participants (doctors, nurses and patients) in different places. The practice is not new and follows closely behind technological developments. This paper traces its use from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. Topics covered include the major telemedicine projects, their impact and the lessons learned from them. A summary of the characteristics of the various technologies is included.     

US TV networks' response to new technology

The US television networks, so long the dominant force in US broadcasting, have seen their market shares and profits begin to fall as the new telecommunication services increase their penetration rates and fractionalize the viewing audience. In response to this competitive challenge, the networks have increased their offerings of news, bid high prices to retain the rights to professional sports, and decreased their reliance on theatrical movies. More importantly, the networks have themselves expanded into the new technologies in a number of different areas.     

The phoneless in the broadband age: A pilot study in Massachusetts

Questions about universal service continue to evolve as information and communication technology advances, bringing new platforms, services, and business models. Concerns about exclusion remain, particularly in times of transition to new technologies and platforms. While the universal service literature is rich in econometric studies that indicate the drivers of household telephone penetration, without qualitative data directly from those households that experience phonelessness, we cannot understand the causes well enough to design effective policy. This research explores why people are phoneless in the current environment of increased platform and business model choices. Particular focus is placed on understanding the relationship between new technology, platforms and business models and phonelessness. Data is obtained from surveys completed by approximately 100 individuals in Massachusetts who are currently without any voice connection, either landline or mobile, or have been sometime in the past ten years. The survey includes questions about different platforms and communication services in order to learn how they have led to phonelessness. The results of the pilot study show that the vast majority of phoneless households do not choose to be phoneless. The study also shows that the most frequent causes of phonelessness in this population are unemployment and unpredictable bills. Many instances of unpredictable bills leading to phonelessness occur with wireless service or bundled services but are the result of business models for service provision rather than the platforms themselves. Prepaid wireless service is a market-based solution that helps households prevent phonelessness by reducing unpredictability. Universal service policy for voice and broadband can better reduce exclusion with greater attention to business models and practices versus technologies and platforms, and increased emphasis on prepaid service to reduce unpredictability.     

Managing Knowledge for Innovation: The Case of Business‐to‐Business Services*

The present study builds a typology of organizational knowledge in business services and empirically examines the effects of knowledge on innovation performance. It is suggested that firms differ with respect to their knowledge creation approaches and that these approaches have implications for firms' innovation activities. A conceptual framework of knowledge assets with degrees of tacitness and collectiveness as the principal axes is used to ground the empirical analysis. The organizational knowledge framework is empirically operationalized using survey data from 167 business service firms and supplementary case study evidence from 16 other firms. It is found that business service improvements and new service introductions are significantly associated with collectively held knowledge, such as codified service solutions or team‐based competences and procedures. In contrast, relying solely on tacit knowledge held by individuals may hamper innovation. The results also suggest that tacit collective knowledge is more closely associated with new service introductions, whereas explicit collective knowledge is associated with service improvements. Tacit collective knowledge is thus conducive. A managerial implication is that new service introductions necessitate team competences and routines, whereas incremental service improvements are more likely if procedures are in place to codify services into explicit solutions or technologies. Thus, the knowledge management approach should depend on the strategic orientation of the service firm toward continuous improvement of existing services or development of completely new services.     

智能产品的工业服务设计研究

ICT技术和智能产品的广泛应用使工业企业迎来了以提供服务创造更大价值的机会。在分析顾客使用产品“前--中--后”的服务体验行程的基础上,建立了新型的工业服务需求模型;提出了以智能产品为前台、与后台服务支持系统相配合的新服务提供方式;进一步提出了智能产品服务行为设计的主要思路;最后以一个典型案例验证主要观点。     

Library support for industrial marketing research

The literature of business and management often discusses the need for timely information as a prerequisite to decision-making and planning. The role of the corporate library in supporting management's information needs has rarely been discussed in professional management literature. This article examines the library's role in supporting industrial marketing research. Special reference is made to new technologies that enhance traditional library services.     

Commercial exploitation of new technologies arising from university research: start-ups and markets for technology

The creation of start-up firms is an important method of commercializing new technologies arising from R&D at universities and other research institutions. Most research into start-ups presumes that these firms develop products or services. However, start-ups may operate through markets for technology by selling or licensing rights to use their technology to other firms – typically established firms – who develop and sell new products or services based on the technology. In this study of 57 public start-up firms created to commercialize the results of university research, we find evidence that (1) operating through markets for technology is a common approach to commercialization, (2) start-ups that operate in markets for technology can be effectively distinguished in practice from start-ups operating through product markets, and (3) there are substantive differences in the business activities of firms depending on whether they operate through product markets or markets for technology.     

The impact of ICT convergence on development in the Asian region

Emerging economies in the Asia–Pacific region are experiencing dramatic and accelerating changes in patterns of ownership and investment in their telecommunications sectors, as well as in convergence. This paper will highlight the significant dependence of emerging economies of the region on convergence of ICT and how these technologies create new networks. Evidence will be cited from China, the Asian Dragons and the near NIEs like Malaysia and Indonesia, to show how they have created one of the largest markets in the world for telecoms equipment and services. The Southeast Asian countries with their open economies and export oriented investment technologies have proved that such policies have generated trade surpluses and long-term growth despite their current financial crises. They still plan to continue ascribing priority in their investment patterns to converging ICT.     

Implementing Technologies for Financial Service Innovations in Base of the Pyramid Markets

This study examines how information communications technologies (ICTs) can be implemented effectively to provide financial service innovations to the poor who live in developing countries, a market collectively known as the “Base of the Pyramid” or BOP. The BOP needs—but commonly lacks—basic financial services, a situation that perpetuates poverty. With a dearth of formal banks especially in rural areas of developing countries, the BOP has almost no access to savings accounts, credit lines, and other necessary services. However, ICTs have the potential to overcome cost, infrastructure, and other barriers to service delivery, and are being used to offer new financial services such as mobile phone banking to the BOP. The purpose of this study is to determine ways of successfully implementing these technology‐enabled service innovations. The study draws on the Socio‐Technical View for theoretical girding, and uses case method to examine multiple ICT implementation projects in five sub‐Saharan African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda). The projects, which were carried out by a leading microfinance banking organization named Opportunity International, provided mobile banks, point‐of‐service, and mobile phone banking services to the BOP. Several techniques were applied to gather data in the field over a two‐year period: depth interviews, direct observations, and internal document and data analysis. Multiple forms of evidence were triangulated against one another, and analyzed across cases until themes emerged and converged. In doing so, two specific forms of analysis, explanation building and cross‐case synthesis, were employed to make sense of the data. The findings, summarized as research propositions, collectively conclude that implementation is effective when the unique socio‐human, governmental‐regulatory, and market conditions of the BOP are accounted for, such that fit is achieved between the technologies and environments they are situated in. More specifically, effectiveness comes when implementation (1) addresses customer and agent limits with the technologies, and is accepted and supported by trained staff who monitor technology use and make responsive system adjustments; (2) exploits and promotes supportive governmental regulations and actions, as well as leverages sound electronic fund transfer (EFT) switches, whether government or bank established; and (3) accounts for low business capabilities and evolving market competition, along with the underdeveloped financial sector and financial literacy of the population. In sum, there are multiple factors that should be considered in the design and installation activities surrounding these technologies to ensure they provide cost‐effective, quality financial services to the poor.     

Differential Potency of Factors Affecting Innovation Performance in Manufacturing and Services Firms in Australia

Whether or not industrialized nations are experiencing a fundamental shift from a manufacturing- to a service-based economy may be a matter of debate. However, the service sector is clearly growing at an explosive rate, particularly in comparison with manufacturing. With this in mind, we need to better understand how the successful development of new services differs from that of new products. Such understanding requires identifying the critical success factors for new service development (NSD), as well as contrasting them with the factors underlying successful new product development (NPD). Kwaku Atuahene-Gima describes the results of a study comparing the innovation activities of Australian services firms and manufacturers. The study explores managers' perceptions of the factors necessary for successful NSD and NPD. In addition to comparing the differing perceptions of managers of services firms and manufacturers, the study highlights implications of these differences for managers striving for improved NSD. Services and manufacturing firms focus on similar factors for improving innovation performance. However, the relative importance of those factors depends on the type of firm. The critical factor for services—the importance accorded to innovation activity in the firm's human resource strategy—ranks third in importance for manufacturers. Manufacturers focus primarily on product innovation advantage and quality. In contrast, service innovation advantage and quality ranks third in importance for service firms. Surprisingly, technology synergy is found to have a negative effect on new service performance. If a new service is a close fit with a firm's current technologies, competitors will likely be able to quickly imitate the new service. As a result, NSD efforts based on technology synergy will not provide a competitive advantage. Compared to manufacturers, successful service firms must place greater emphasis on the selection, development, and management of employees who work directly with the customer. Through effective self management, these contact personnel shape the quality of the customer relationship. In addition, their close contact and potentially long-term relationships with customers make such employees an important source of new ideas in the firm's NSD process. Such relationships also cast contact personnel in a make-or-break role in the launching of new services.     

Social services and telecommunications: Innovation in human services delivery

This article presents an analysis of the current state of adoption of telecommunications technologies by organizations and individuals who work in human services. It examines the barriers to use of innovations and suggests the future course of acceptance for the different technologies. Radio and telephone appear to have the fewest barriers to adoption, and it is likely that as consumers become more accustomed to advanced technologies in their homes, they will be more likely to accept them in the workplace.     

Implications of regulation for entry and investment in the local loop

A number of countries around the world are trying to promote competition at the local loop as demand for higher bandwidth to the home increases. Different technologies (xDSL, cable modems, and wireless local loop) offer alternative solutions and the issue for regulators is to design a framework that promotes competition and investment. Regulators can promote competition in a number of ways, but two “pure” strategies are services and infrastructure competition. This paper models the regulator and incumbent–entrant interactions explicitly in order to understand how the structure of the voice services might evolve under different regulatory frameworks. Our analysis suggests that a “mix” of infrastructure and service competition like the one promoted in Netherlands, stimulates investment by incumbents and entrants alike and offers better consumer benefits. The message for policy makers is that the introduction of “sunset clauses” provides new entrants with strong incentives to invest while allowing them to enter in service competition and to acquire important knowledge about their new market.     

The contributions of interpreters to the development of radical innovations of meanings: the role of ‘Pioneering Projects’ in the sustainable buildings industry

Studies of innovation management have often focused on two domains: technologies and markets. An ever‐increasing standard of living is pushing companies to develop products and services that are not only profitable but also socially responsible. Sustainable housing offers an intriguing empirical setting that allows the investigation of new processes able to support innovations that must be both profitable and socially responsible. Energy‐efficient houses not only require technological changes (new sustainable energy technologies) but also require behavioural changes in consumers' attitudes, decisions and practices about living in sustainable houses. Companies are not only innovative in regard to their own product but apply the entire system of application with which their specific technologies interact. The development of Pioneering Projects requires many skills and competencies that often exceed the capacity and competencies of a single company. In other words, Pioneering Projects are testing grounds for experimentation, where unconventional, temporary partnerships of stakeholders from different industries unite in the development of real market applications. The paper addresses the value of key interpreters in facilitating the development of radical innovations of meanings in the sustainable buildings industry. Specifically, the paper analyses the ability to create value for the Pioneering Projects from the exploration and knowledge diversity of the interpreters and the impact that Pioneering Projects have on the companies' outcomes. Empirical data about Pioneering Projects were collected from two manufacturing companies in Denmark: DOVISTA and Saint‐Gobain Isover.     

US telecommunications privacy policy : Socio-political responses to technological advances

Deciding on who should know about Americans' private telephone conversations and other forms of telecommunicating has always been an issue fraught with, on the one hand, fear of intrusive government or corporate agents and, on the other, a desire for government and corporations to control crime and vend services respectively. This article looks at how legal and legislative compromises have been reached in order to address differing goals, and what forms future privacy issues may take. The discussion focuses first on the political origins of the USA's current laws governing privacy and the telephone, then on novel privacy issues arising out of new telecommunications technologies.     

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference and beyond : A case for serious foreign policy

The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference held in Nairobi in the Fall of 1982 was a significant international instrument for the conduct of telecommunication foreign policy. Growing demand for telecommunication services and products coupled with the economic and sociocultural impact of new technologies have resulted in greater global interest in the problems, issues and technical complexities of maintaining order in global telecommunication. A major theme of this article is that ITU deliberations and decisions are all part of the growing telecommunication foreign policy agenda and that the benefits of successful diplomancy are usually worth the costs of effective and coordinated domestic and international policy development.     

Evolution of the internet gender gaps in Spain and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic

There is a widely accepted belief in new technologies that the digital divide in using a service will disappear as the service reaches an advanced level of maturity. The work presented here shows that this idea is debatable. Data from Spain, a country where daily internet users are 75.9 percent of the population, prove that the gender gap still exists. The paper explores if this gap can be entirely explained by the socioeconomic differences between men and women. We build a micro panel model and incorporate a set of socioeconomic variables (age, education, income, employment status, digital skills, and resident population) that allow us to isolate the effects of gender on the decision to become a daily Internet user. The results conclude that the Internet gap is a phenomenon with a specific gender component. Other things being equal a woman negatively affects the probability of using the Internet. Applying a similar model to 15 Internet services, we obtain that gender is always significant to explain the likelihood of being a user of each service. However, in some services (7 out of 15), the effect is favorable to women, and for other services (8), the gender effect favors men. The work concludes by analyzing the impact of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on the use of Internet services, paying particular attention to its possible implications for the gender gap.