Current and future European regulation of electronic communications: A critical assessment

The current European regulation for electronic communications has been applicable since 2003 and is currently under a review that should lead to new rules applicable by 2010. This paper aims to assess the implementation of the current regulation and the proposals for reform tabled by the European Commission. It is argued that those proposals go in the right direction but should go further. First, the regulatory framework should clearly state that the objectives of regulators are to maximise the long-term welfare of European citizens. Secondly, the main body of economic regulation—the so-called Significant Market Power regime—should be based on a strong test aiming to identify structural market problems that cannot be efficiently dealt with by competition law. Thirdly, possible remedies applicable by the regulators should include structural and technological components, provided that a strict cost benefit analysis is undertaken. Fourthly, the institutional design should be improved by better aligning the incentives of the National Regulatory Authorities with the dynamic nature of the markets, by improving the checks and balances (in particular those provided by national courts and European Commission), and by improving coordination amongst the institutions (the national regulators and the national Courts).     

Wholesale market definition in telecommunications: The issue of wholesale broadband access

The scope of a wholesale market may, in addition to demand- and supply-side substitution at the wholesale level, also be determined by substitution patterns at the retail level. Considering wholesale broadband access markets, it is argued that each of these forces can be strong enough to render a 5–10% price increase by a hypothetical monopolist at the wholesale level unprofitable and thus may lead to a wider wholesale market definition including, for example, cable networks in addition to DSL. Based on the theory of derived demand elasticities the paper discusses under which circumstances this could be the case. The position of the European Commission and the practice of national regulatory authorities are then reviewed in light of these arguments.     

The external effect of marketing accountability in business relationships: Exploring the role of customer perceived value

This paper explores where and how marketing accountability of a supplier meets customer perceived value in a business relationship setting. If the supplier's firm implements marketing accountability processes, marketing activities are improved, as well as the communication of the value proposition to customers. The supplier's value proposition is in turn reflected through the creation of superior customer perceived value, which triggers attitudinal and behavioral value outcomes. Hence, the marketing accountability of the supplier, through its external manifestation with customers, ultimately influences the supplier's financial results. The aim of the paper is to discuss the external effect of marketing accountability in a business relationship context, which is often suppressed by the prevailing focus on the internal manifestations of marketing accountability, or the inside-out approach. As marketing accountability is an evolving field, bibliometric co-citation analysis is carried out to gain a better understanding of the marketing accountability's domain and scope. On the grounds of the relationship marketing theory and resource-based view, qualitative research was carried out and insights from interviews with marketing managers from different industries were analyzed. The paper concludes by suggesting the operationalization of the marketing accountability construct and pointing out the need for a multilevel and dyadic design of further empirical studies for testing the proposed external effect of marketing accountability.     

Global competition and EEC policy in telecommunications: An Italian perspective

Within the framework of increasing US and Japanese competition, an interpretation is given of the future development lines of European telecommunications. Europe is lagging behind in this sector; this is explained in terms of the subdivision of services at the national level and the fragmentation of industrial areas within the respective countries. The minimum basis for recovery should be the establishment of a common European base in the telecommunications sector. A European scenario is proposed with particular attention devoted to the Italian problems in restructuring and development.     

Organizing coopetition for innovation: The case of wireless telecommunication sector in Europe

Prior research highlighted the prevalence of coopetition as a strategy for innovation in high-tech industries for several reasons but the link between forms of coopetition and innovation is still understudied. In order to fill this gap in the literature, this study attempts to answer the following question: which form of coopetition favors which type of innovation? The results of an embedded case study approach of five Celtic-Plus projects (European Eureka Program) in the wireless telecommunication sector show that two forms of coopetition exist: multiple and dyadic. While multiple coopetition is successfully pursued for radical innovation, dyadic coopetition is more suitable for incremental innovation. Different innovation objectives lead to different levels of value creation/appropriation tensions between coopetitors. In order for competitors to pursue radical or incremental innovation successfully, different levels of social capital related to different choices of partners are needed. The role of social capital levels as a moderating factor between value creation/appropriation tensions and innovation type is discussed in detail. The study proposes a conceptual model that links coopetition strategy motives to the types of coopetition and their results in terms of radical or incremental innovation. Finally, a framework that helps firms to balance between multiple/dyadic–vertical/horizontal collaboration according to the levels of value creation/appropriation tensions and social capital is proposed.     

Organizing for value appropriation: Configurations and performance outcomes of price management

Value creation and value appropriation are fundamental strategic processes. Both can be analyzed at the level of the individual manager, an organization or at the systemic level. On the organizational level, empirical research so far has put strong emphasis on aspects of value creation, while value appropriation has received less attention. We analyze value appropriation through the organizational implementation of pricing processes in the context of formalization, specialization, centralization, dispersion of influence, and top-management involvement in firms' pricing organization. Through a large-scale exploratory study of 419 European companies in the B2B area, we identify five empirical organizational configurations of pricing organization for value appropriation. Testing the effects of pricing configurations relating to pricing performance as well as overall firm performance reveals that more systematic approaches to pricing organization significantly improve value appropriation outcomes.     

Leadership with 5G in Europe: Two contrasting images of the future,with policy and regulatory implications

European policy makers have shown a keen interest in the success of 5G because ubiquitous and high capacity electronic communication infrastructure is recognized as a cornerstone of economic development and productivity growth. The second generation, GSM, is considered the leading example, reaching its peak of deployment in 2015 with 3.83 billion subscribers served by over 700 operators in 219 countries and territories.With 5G rapidly shaping up in the R&D and standardization environments, and a call for leadership with 5G in Europe by policy makers, it is timely to investigate what lessons can be learned from the success of 2G that can be applied to 5G. More broadly, this calls for research into the commonalities and differences between successive generations of mobile technology, their introduction and the market adoption that followed. This also calls for an investigation into the possibility of multiple futures of 5G and how that impacts the opportunity for leadership. As one future may be more desirable than the other, depending on the perspective of the actor involved, a policy debate will be required to determine the most desirable future. As well as a discussion of the policy and regulatory actions required to enable a particular future.Hence, the two-part research question being addressed in this paper is: What explains the success of 2G-GSM and how can it be applied to create success with 5G in the European Union?To respond to the research question this paper first identifies the leadership lessons to be drawn from the success of 2G-GSM in relation to its successors 3G and 4G. Secondly, the contribution describes two stylized images of possible futures of 5G, called “Evolution” and “Revolution”, as input to the policy debate on the options for leadership with 5G. These images reflect two extremes in terms of possible futures of 5G. “Evolution” follows the pattern of previous generations and current trends. “Revolution” represents a clear break with these trends and a path towards leadership with 5G, as it exploits the opportunities of standardized APIs for service creation, being enabled by network virtualization as an architectural foundation of 5G. These open and uniformly applied APIs allow the market entry of a multitude of virtual mobile network operators (VMNOs) serving particular industry verticals or economic sectors with tailored feature sets and qualities of services. They allow a market momentum to be built that constitutes leadership with 5G in Europe.     

Olive oil in the EC: Gift from the gods or Trojan Horse

The European Commission fears huge olive oil surpluses as a result of Spain's accession to the Community. It believes it can prevent this, at great cost, by increasing consumer aid for olive oil and adopting a protectionist policy towards other vegetable oils and fats. Thus, the burden would be shifted to consumers of other products and the outside world. Trade relations would suffer. The author considers that the Commission's analysis is unfounded and the Commission's remedies should be questioned. The author also points to possible budgetary savings in the Community's expenditure on olive oil.     

New value creation in business networks: The role of collective action in constructing system-level goals

This study focuses on collective goal formation in business networks aimed toward new value creation and innovation. Previous research has depicted such networks as value-creating systems or meta-organizations pursuing a system-level goal. We develop these views by addressing a research question: How can multiple organizations collectively form a system-level goal, and how does this affect new value creation at the level of the whole network? We conducted a multi-case study of two Finnish health care networks in which multiple diverse organizations participated in the formation of a system-level goal for the network and developed innovative joint treatment practices for the better care of patients. We derived six propositions and developed a conceptual model explaining how the collective formation of a system-level goal is linked to network-level value creation by increasing network actors' resource commitment. Furthermore, we introduced important moderating factors, network architects and domain similarity, which affect collective goal formation. We claim that the conceptual model strengthens pre-existing theories on managing business networks through a system-level goal, collective action, framing, agenda construction, and institutional mobilization. We contribute especially to previous research on networks aiming for new value creation.     

Re-forming the state: telecom liberalization in India

A fundamental problem in the new strategies of telecom development is attracting private investment for network expansion. Following the insights of institutional economists, and from evidence gained through the case study of the telecom liberalization process in India, this paper contends that the success of private investment depends on the creation of a regulatory mechanism that provides ‘credible commitment’—that is, provides both a set of rules and regulations that ensure prospective private investors a reasonable return on investment, as well as a governance mechanism that insures them against the possibility of arbitrary governmental discretion. The problems of the liberalization process in the telecom sector in India reflect the failure to institute such a regulatory regime. Following a process of macro-economic liberalization in 1991, India adopted the New Telecom Policy (NTP) in 1994, opening up the basic telecom sector to foreign investment. The implementation of NTP, however, was marked by a series of conflicts and controversies, resulting in extensive litigation and conflict between the Department of Telecommunications and the private operators, and erosion of investor confidence. These problems of implementation represent a problem of institutional change associated with a fundamental shift in the institutional regime, from one based on a high level of discretionary power on the part of state actors, to institutions based on transparency, accountability, expertise and insulation from the political process.     

A pan-European telecommunications regulator?

Creating a single telecommunications market in the European Union is well under way, particularly with the approach of full competition after 1 January 1998. However, the regulatory framework needs to reflect the demands of the single market and the needs of industry. The European Commission has been reviewing whether a single pan-European telecommunications regulator would offer a valuable focus in streamlining the existing regulatory structure. In so doing, they commissioned Denton Hall and NERA to evaluate the needs of industry and the legal and practical approaches to the creation of a single regulator.     

The European Commission's approach to mergers involving software-based platforms: Towards a better understanding of platform power

The European Commission’s digital single market policies are increasingly concerned with the impact of so-called ‘platforms’ on competition in the internal market. Whereas the European Commission acknowledges the contributions of platform companies to innovation, it also sees actual and potential damages occurring from their powerful position. As such, the European Commission aims to strengthen the enforcement of its competition law rules in this area. The main research question is how the European Commission has been evaluating the competitive effects of platforms under merger control and whether its approach is adequate to address the manifold concerns related to platforms and competition. Based on a case study analysis, we conclude that the European Commission (1) recognises the platform circumstance, their essential intermediary role in the digital industry and the importance of maintaining fair competition; (2) its analysis has been slowly evolving becoming more granular; (3) platforms’ behaviour and not their size per se is most often the central concern; (4) the proposed Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act packages tackle platform concerns identified in the European Commission’s ex-ante analysis, signalling that its analysis seems to have inspired their creation.     

规制定价机制的激励强度权衡与模型设计--以我国电信产业的规制定价总体模型设计为例

自然垄断产业中，由于规制机构与被规制企业之间存在着信息不对称。价格规制政策的实施效果受到制约，而制度背景和经济发展程度是设计一个适合国情的规制定价机制必须考虑的前提因素。本文分析了我国目前的制度特征如何影响我国自然垄断产业规制定价机制激励强度的权衡。在此基础上，尝试提出适合我国目前制度特征的电信产业规制定价总体模型——基于收益率规制并加入动态激励因素的规制定价模型．最后对未来的规制定价机制做出展望．     

Value creation in the quadruple helix: a micro level conceptual model of principal investigators as value creators

Conceptual models of the quadruple helix have largely taken a macro perspective. While these macro perspectives have motivated debates and studies, they fall short in understanding value creation activities at the micro level of the quadruple helix. The purpose of this paper is to address this deficit by focussing on the fundamental research question how value is collectively created, captured, and enhanced at the micro level of the quadruple helix. Drawing on theoretical considerations centred on simmelian ties, boundary work and value postures (motives, creation, destruction and drivers), we develop a micro level conceptual model of principal investigators (PIs) as value creators in the quadruple helix. Scientists in the PI role engage in boundary spanning activities with other quadruple helix actors. This engagement builds strong simmelian ties with these actors and enables PIs to develop collective value motives by bridging diverse knowledge and creating common value motives. Our conceptual model extends understanding of the quadruple helix at the micro level and highlights the importance of PIs having strong simmelian ties in order to realise collective and individual value motives. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future avenues of research on this important topic.     

Building a Measurement Model for Market Visioning Competence and Its Proposed Antecedents: Organizational Encouragement of Divergent Thinking,Divergent Thinking Attitudes,and Ideational Behavior

The overall question that this research seeks to answer is the following: Are there individual and/or organizational resources related to “divergent thinking” that enhance or inhibit the firm's market visioning competence in the case of radical innovation? In order to answer this question, in this paper, the key focus is on the realm of potential divergent thinking‐related resources that the firm may possess and access to aid in the creation and development of an effective market visioning competence. In particular, individual‐level factors related to divergent thinking capabilities and, at the organizational level, encouragement of such capabilities, are investigated. Specifically, we propose that two organizational‐level factors related to organizational encouragement of divergent thinking (“encouraging ideas” and “encouraging diversity”), two individual‐level divergent thinking attitudes factors (“openness” and “ability to move from divergent thinking to convergent thinking efficiently and effectively”), one individual‐level ideational behavior factor (“ability to generate new ideas”), and a further individual cognitive factor (“need for cognition”) have direct impacts on market visioning competence. Scales are then developed and tested for measuring these potential antecedents, and they are included in a measurement model with market visioning competence to enable further research.     

Cognitive radio systems specific for IMT systems: Operator’s view and perspectives

Cognitive radio (CR) is still an emerging and disruptive communication technology which is expected to improve the overall efficiency of the spectrum use. It is envisaged that cognitive radio systems (CRS) could impact many aspects of communications and in particular could facilitate accommodation of the increasing amount of services and applications in wireless networks. Intensive research on CR aims at maximising the utilisation of the limited radio spectrum resource. There have been many advances in CR regarding the technology development aspects; however supplementary research on regulation, policy and market structure reforms in relation with application specific deployment is still required before any CR-based spectrum access could be implemented for specific broadband mobile applications. Indeed, mobile community is still at an early stage of understanding and development of CR capabilities and it is premature to envisage wide deployment of CRS without careful consideration of regulatory and business issues. Therefore, this paper gives a classification of CR-based network and application scenarios, and investigates the feasibility of them from a regulatory perspective at a global level (ITU-R). Main part of this paper presents the wireless network operator’s approach to CRS specific for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) systems and proposes the radio environment map (REM) concept as a cognitive tool that increases environmental awareness in wireless network operator’s networks. Studies, which the authors performed internally and within the framework of a collaborative European project as well as within ITU-R yield the conclusion that, at shorter term, only intra-operator based CRS maximises the possibility for CR capabilities to be implemented.     

Consumer surplus vs. welfare standard in a political economy model of merger control

This paper considers the political economy environment that an antitrust agency is operating in and asks under what circumstances a consumer surplus standard yields higher welfare than a welfare standard. In particular, we address how institutional settings—such as transparency and accountability—interact with the choice of an appropriate standard. We consider a framework in which the antitrust agency can be influenced by third parties (at a cost in terms of real resources) and in which the agency is imperfectly monitored. A welfare comparison between the two standards reveals that neither standard dominates. The consumer surplus standard is attractive relative to a welfare standard, when lobbying is efficient, when accountability is low, where mergers are large and when a marginal increase in merger size is highly profitable.     

Environmental Tax Reform in the European Union: Impact on CO2 Emissions and the Economy

Economic instruments in environmental policy try to correct prices in order to internalise externalities. The environmental tax reform is a specific policy approach, which raises taxation of ‘bads’ such as resource use or emissions and reduces other taxes on ‘goods’ such as labour that are felt as a burden so that the total tax revenue remains constant. On a small scale some European countries introduced this instrument, and the results have been evaluated broadly positive by the literature. The paper at hand gives answers to the question, what might happen to CO₂ emissions and the economy, if this instrument would be used in all European countries in a scale that allows reaching the European CO₂ emission targets. The instrument of the analysis is the global economy-energy-environment model GINFORS. The simulation results show that the targets can be met with only small losses in GDP and gains in employment.     

Anforderungen an den konventionellen Kraftwerkspark – wieviel und welche Kraftwerkskapazit?t wird ben?tigt?

The electricity supply system will, particularly in Germany, significantly be determined by the use of renewable energy sources. A?decreasing energetic utilization along with an increasing flexibility demand lead to chancing requirements for the conventional plant fleet. The question arises to what extent conventional generation capacity is needed in the future and if??compared to today??additional technical requirements have to be fulfilled due to the increased flexibility demand. Furthermore it has to be discussed how a required capacity level can be achieved and if??and under which conditions??today??s market design is sufficient or if additional capacity mechanism are necessary. These questions are discussed in this article. The questions as to the required capacity level and the means to achieve it depend on the perspective, which is chosen with respect to security of supply. Choosing a European perspective, i.e. a common responsibility for an appropriate level of security of supply in Europe, additional capacity mechanism are not necessary. Choosing a national perspective, i.e. requiring that national demand can??theoretically??be covered by capacity available in the particular country, does not only significantly increase the necessary amount of generation capacity but also??due to the fact that the electricity market already today is organized on a European rather than a national basis??requires additional capacity mechanisms to cover capacity demand. With respect to the flexibility demand a concerted as well as coordinated acting of the different independent market players is necessary to cover a more volatile residual load. However, there is no additional demand for technical flexibility.     

The EU regulatory framework in telecommunications: A critical analysis

The paper analyzes the core telecommunications regulatory framework at European Union (EU) level which has been put in place since the beginning of the 1990s. We find lack of support by Member States of the European Commission’‘s liberalization program in several areas, including Member States’ resistance to rapid liberalization, cost orientation, an effective EU-wide licensing system, pro-competitive numbering policy (carrier selection), as well as EU-wide harmonized interconnection rules and universal service obligations. We also identify a number of shortcomings of European Commission measures, especially in the areas of price regulation, interconnection rules and licensing policy. To overcome these inefficiencies, we recommend the establishment of an independent European Regulatory Authorities (ERA) that is comprised of representatives from National Regulatory Authorities.