Complex Network Perspective on Collaboration in the ICT Standardization

Abstract

Standardization is a crucial enabler of global business of Information and Communications Technologies. Convergence of the underlying networking paradigms of licensed Mobile Communication and license exempted Internet has made progress but full integration is still far from being complete. For standardization professionals the unpredictable convergence makes decision-making and participation in standardization complicated. This study examines collaboration in five closely related standardization organizations working in this field during the years from 2003 to 2008. The results show similarities and differences in collaboration structures and behaviours reflecting the specific scope and context of each standardization organization. Furthermore, this study extends the use of social network analysis as a tool to the field of empirical standardization research. The results pave the way to better collaboration in standardization communities of converging Mobile Internet and beyond by providing better visibility and new insights to standardization leaders, policy makers and users.

Coopetition, Standardization and General Purpose Technologies: A Framework and an Application

“…Although the GPT literature discusses ICT as one unit, there is naturally no single "ICT" but a set of technologies that belong under the umbrella of ICT. However, technologies under the ICT umbrella are quite strongly connected to each other-as technologies but also via companies (Basole et al, 2015) and as standards utilized in ICT products (Ali-Vehmas, 2016). Particularly in the ICT sector, standardization enables interoperability and creation of network effects, and as a consequence, all current platform businesses are built upon standardized ICTs (incl.…”

“…We presume that it is possible to shed light on the industry dynamics and spillovers within and between GPT developing and application sectors by analyzing the behaviors of companies that participate in standards development and submit technical documents (cf. Ali-Vehmas, 2016;Johansson et al, 2019;Leiponen, 2008).…”

“…The specific models of collaboration and competition are distinctively different in the mobile operator-controlled network layer compared to the other layers (cf. Ali-Vehmas, 2016;Fransman, 2002).…”