Evolution of firms' product strategy over the life cycle of technology-based industries: A case study of the global mobile phone industry, 1980–2009

This paper adopts industry life cycle approaches to understand better the changing rationales for product strategy development in the worldwide mobile phone industry. Based on both primary and secondary sources, we find that mobile phone manufacturers have radically changed their product strategy over the industry life cycle in response to various factors, such as the intense global competition and the need to respond rapidly to changes in technology and mass-consumer preferences. We also find that, when the mobile phone industry entered a stage of shake-out in the 2000s, contrary to the prediction of the classical product–process life cycle model, mobile phone manufacturers focused their strategy not only on process but also on product innovations. The continuous launch of new and advanced product technologies served mainly to stimulate the demand for replacement purchases. We observe this unexpected key role of product innovation to be very strong also in the stage of industry maturity.     

Predicting the future of disruptive technologies: The method of alternative histories

With digital technologies shaping competition in many industries, predicting the future of potentially disruptive technologies becomes an essential task of business leaders concerned with the survival and success of their organizations. Looking into the future of disruptive technologies requires a philosophical stance and a practical method that accommodates the inherent uncertainty and nonlinearity of the path of disruptive innovations. Unfortunately, much of the current thinking in relation to adoption and diffusion of innovations is rather linear and deterministic. This article proposes a set of philosophical principles, together with a practical brainstorming method, for glimpsing into the future of disruptive technologies. The method of alternative histories is based on the traditional brainstorming techniques and the philosophical ideas of Imre Lakatos, Roy Bhaskar, Bruno Latour, and Nassim Taleb.     

The erosion of pioneer advantage in the European mobile telecommunications industry

This paper studies first-mover advantage in the mobile telecommunications services industry. There are very few empirical studies of pioneer advantage in service industries, possibly because of the difficulty of building competitive advantages in an industry where innovations cannot be protected and competitive actions can be easily imitated. The empirical research was carried out using data from a sample of European mobile telecommunications firms from 1993 to 2005. The findings indicate that an order of entry advantage does exist, but that this advantage diminishes with time in competition. Regarding the impact of the main sources of pioneering advantages, the results show that it is harder for follower firms to erode first-mover advantages when the pioneer has prior experience in the industry and when there are two pioneers instead of one. Lastly, number portability between different operators was found to damage the competitive position of the pioneer firms.     

Changing the game to compete: Innovations in the fashion retail industry from the disruptive business model

Unprecedented competition and emergent technologies have posed a challenge to many traditional retailers in recent years. Yet within this competitive environment, emerging innovative business models have thrived and successfully disrupted the industry. We analyze the nature of disruptive business-model innovations and the ways they disrupt the fashion retail industry. To that end, we examine three disruptors in the industry: born-digital brands, AI-enabled demand forecasting and product design, and collaborative consumption. After introducing the concept of disruptive business-model innovation, we discuss the three disruptors’ effects on the fashion industry. We find that all of these models keenly answer fundamental needs unmet by current business models, such as offering quality products at a competitive price, curated services, and sustainable consumption. At the same time, all three disruptors suggest effective operation models for handling demand uncertainty, inventory management, and timely responses to the market, all of which are inherent issues for current push supply chains and forecast-based, inventory-driven systems. Based on this analysis, we discuss important implications for both academics and industry practitioners.     

Bitcoins,Blockchain und Distributed Ledgers

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin were invented to facilitate instant payment services without the need for a central bank or financial intermediaries executing payments. Using cryptographic functions, any user of the bitcoin system can transfer units of the virtual currency globally on an anonymous basis. However, financial supervisory authorities are about to increase regulation of virtual currencies due to concerns that the anonymous character of the system facilitates money laundering and the financing of illegal transactions. Nevertheless, the underlying blockchain technology, or in broader terms the distributed ledger technology, may revolutionise several industries. This paper illustrates the functioning and recent market developments in the bitcoin industry as well as the disruptive potential of the underlying technologies.     

Back-propagation of user innovations: The open source compatibility edge

Open source software (OSS) is a dramatically disruptive force in the software industry. While businesses see OSS succeeding, many of them have trouble gleaning the lessons that can be learned from the OSS phenomenon, since OSS development appears to be far removed from traditional business practices and principles. A major observation resulting from our research on OSS products is that OSS product development is not only enabling innovations by its users, but also providing a structure for them to back-propagate into OSS products, a process that enhances compatibility in OSS products and presents a low-cost solution to the more general problem of servicing highly segmented markets. We argue that this innovation management process carries important insights for both commercial software vendors and companies outside the software industry.     

粮油食品行业中高新技术的应用

随着我国现代化进程的不断加快,不管是工业还是农业都呈现出了一种突出的现代化发展特点。其中粮食产业现代化的实现,其关键还要在于依靠新技术去推动在传统技术改造过程中高新技术研究成果作用的高效发挥,这在很大程度上也直接反映了当前粮食食品系统的经济状况及技术水平。因此,加大对粮油食品行业中高新技术的应用研究也势在必行。基于此,本文就诊当前粮油食品行业中应用比较广泛的几种高新技术进行了简要的介绍和说明。     

Technology Regulation Policy for Business Ethics: An Example of RFID in Supply Chain Management

With the increase in use of a technology, its misuse possibility also increases in general. Moreover, there are instances where new technologies are implemented without thoroughly testing for vulnerabilities. We consider RFID, a disruptive technology, and related vulnerabilities in existing supply chain applications from an ethics perspective. We develop an extended ethics model to incorporate the effects of emerging information and communication technologies, specifically that of RFID systems, including technology selection, social consequences, and practitioners’ rationality. We introduce a set of matrices for technology regulation development based on this model to serve as a communication tool for the policy maker for policy design regulation. We use the case of RFID to illustrate the model and matrices.     

How to Facilitate Digital Innovation in Europe

Intereconomics - Digital technologies have the potential to modernise the economy. But digital innovations are disruptive. Therefore, policies need to be comprehensive and go beyond the support of...     

Telecommunications: Are the Regulators Killing Innovation?

The ending of monopolies in most European Union countries on January 1 1998 has shifted the industry spotlight to the role of regulation. With particular reference to the contrasting non-monopoly experience of telecommunications in the US and the UK, this article argues that regulation – as implemented in the US – suppresses innovation and investment.     

The Diffusion of Innovations: Some Reflections

Abstract

This paper discusses a number of interrelated topics relating to the economics of innovation diffusion that merit further research and study. These topics encompass: how innovations are not just technological, may be horizontal or vertical, and may develop over time; the role in the diffusion process of complementarities across and substitutability between different technologies and innovations; how the many different sources of innovation other than R&D are given insufficient attention in the literature; the international dimensions of the diffusion process with emphasis on cross-country effects; the role played by different market structures in the industries supplying goods embodying new technologies; the imbalance in the relative emphases upon intra- and intra-firm diffusion in the existing diffusion literature; the need for more research on the relationship between firm performance and the diffusion of innovations, and government policy on diffusion.     

Adopting autonomous vehicles: The moderating effects of demographic variables

Autonomous vehicles (AV) are considered one of the most disruptive technology innovations due to issues of customers' acceptance based on safety, ethics, etc. Along with the rapid advancement of smart cities' demand for this technology, getting customer acceptance of this futuristic technology is a serious concern in the AV industry. This paper modified the technology acceptance model to find out factors influencing customers' intention to use AV such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, and facilitating condition, and the moderating effects of demographic variables (gender, age, family size, income, education level, and marital status) on the relationship between predictors and intention to use AV. Online questionnaires were distributed to 318 participants in South Korea and the data was analyzed through multiple regression and integration moderation test. The findings show that social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived usefulness are three important variables of AV usage intention. In addition, demographic variables (age, marital status, family size, and educational level) can moderate effect of PU and SI on intention to use AV. Strategic directions are suggested to managers to increase the possibility of customers’ acceptance of AV.     

The Liberalisation of Telecommunications in the EU: Managing the Transition

This second article in our two-part feature on the inaugural report of a programme to monitor the progress of European deregulation summarises the report's policy recommendations. The programme is designed to be a "report card" on the process of liberalisation, starting here with telecommunications where new technology is leading to dramatic changes in the basic economics of the industry.     

Disrupting Venture Capital

Global venture capital is struggling after a decade of poor industry returns. In this environment, relatively recent innovations such as disruptive modeling, OpenIPO, and revenue‐based funding indicate how venture capital may continue to evolve in promising new directions for investors and entrepreneurs alike. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An ethnography of Electronic Shelf Labels: The resisted digitalization of prices in contemporary supermarkets

Contemporary retail markets have experienced and are experiencing an important digitalization shift in the form of computers and associated technologies. Among a large array of digital innovations, Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) deserve particular attention. ESLs, despite their long history and many benefits, have not become ubiquitous. The purpose of this paper is to account for this “resisted evolution” of digitalized prices. It draws theoretically upon science and technology studies, infrastructure studies, market studies, and previous literature on price representations in retailing. It draws empirically on a combination of ethnographic and historical methods. The paper shows that ESLs do not replace paper prices, but, rather, work together with them: on one hand, they compete to represent prices with their respective features, and on the other, they co-operate in order to reinforce the visibility and attractiveness of products and promotions.     

European Community Merger Policy in the Service Industries: The Second Phase

This article examines recent developments in the application of the EU Merger Regulation to services. Policy evolution regarding the jurisdictional divide between Brussels and the national authorities is highlighted as is the contrasting treatment of different types of joint ventures. Particular attention is given to the first two prohibitions of service industry transactions (in broadcasting and related telecommunications) which were among only three cases banned under the Regulation in its initial five years. These show some of the problems of ensuring competition in services where access to infrastructure plays an important role. The conditional clearance after full proceedings of the first case where a separate market for technology was defined is also considered with reference to licensing.     

Laffont and Tirole's Competition in Telecommunications : A View From the US

This article briefly reviews Competition in Telecommunications by Laffont andTirole (2000); it presents the major conclusions of the book and corrects certain errors. In addition, this article treats related topics, some specific to the US telecommunications industry. In US telecommunications access to incumbents facilities are priced based on cost model estimates. Several of the important sources of misunderstandings of telecommunications costs and cost estimates are described including: multiple meanings of 'access,'meanings of cross-subsidy; nature of loop costs; the many dimensions of marginal costs in telecommunications, misuses of long-run cost concepts; and misuses of 'most efficient' provider assumptions. The methods of cost calculations and legal and regulatory requirements in the US are described, as are the implications for incentive regulation, changing technology, efficient pricing, and measures of efficient competitive entry.     

Fortune at the bottom of the innovation pyramid: The strategic logic of incremental innovations

It is not uncommon to come across appeals in business literature exhorting managers to devote greater effort to the pursuit of radical innovations, or to see comments admonishing managers for devoting too much energy to the search for incremental innovations. Over the years, successful radical innovations have undisputedly had a significant impact on the fortunes of a number of companies. At the same time, firms cannot afford to overlook the role of incremental innovations in enhancing and sustaining the revenue and profit streams of successful radical innovations. From the standpoint of survival, growth, and profitability, both home runs, meaning radical innovations, and singles, meaning incremental innovations, matter. The fact that home runs are generally infrequent underscores the importance of frequent singles. This article explores the various competitive strategy contexts in which incremental innovations can be leveraged effectively against that backdrop.     

The role of emotions in shaping purchase intentions for innovations using emerging technologies: A scenario‐based investigation in the context of nanotechnology

Although emotions may not play a major role as antecedents of consumers′ innovation acceptance, this study proposes that attitude formation works differently in the context of emerging technologies because of their high levels of uncertainty. To investigate the role of emotions in shaping intentions to adopt innovations using emerging technologies, the conceptual model developed in this study integrates cognitive (risks and benefits) and emotional (optimism and worry) elements. A scenario‐based study employing 731 participants tests the model across three nanotechnology‐based product innovations that differ in terms of product category risk. The results of a mediated moderation model show that emotions do play a key mediating role in explaining purchase intentions. Although the study supports the conceptual model regardless of the level of product‐related risk, it finds risk‐related differences in the strength and level of the mediational links. By unveiling the role of emotions in emerging technology contexts, this study has important implications not only for innovation management but also for regulating institutions and public policymakers.     

Virtual Currencies,Distributed Ledgers and the Future of Financial Services

The phenomenon of virtual currencies has to be distinguished from the underlying distributed ledger technologies. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies need to be subject to strict financial regulation and supervision to ensure investor protection. At the same time, distributed ledger technologies will shape the future of the financial services in many respects. The disruptive potential is illustrated for selected financial products and processes.