Theorizing Collective Green Actions

The notion of “green” has gained increasing attention over the years. Many major companies have made significant attempt to better fit into the green concept. Are these corporate marketing endeavors purely based on their environmental consciousness or driven by their intention to gain social recognition which could in turn reshape their corporate image that better reflects the concerns of environments, climate change, and green IT issues? This question is interesting to explore because the complexity and difficulty of ‘green endeavor’ has been widely addressed among practitioners and researchers. Based on an institutional perspective, this paper thus proposes a theoretical framework that helps organizations analyze these green issues in the competitive marketplaces. Propositions of the framework theorize that organizations will inevitably face various isomorphic pressures that lead them to initiate or follow green actions collectively. Those isomorphic pressures usually stem from influential agencies or initiatives in their respective fields such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), the Green Grid, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and European Waste Catalogs (EWC). The implications of this theoretical framework suggest that organizations need to undertake green actions shiftily in order to continuously validate their competitive status in the global, networked economy. The cost of failing to do so, i.e. being ‘not’ green, might be beyond any organization’s measure in the long term. Further implications of collective green actions are made to the UAE local industries and research community

Social Perspectives of Globalizing VoIP Technology

Based on theoretical lenses of fads and fashions and isomorphic pressures, this research in progress proposes social perspectives that help understand the rapid penetration of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the global market. Online interviews between sixteen undergraduate students and their interviewees worldwide provided preliminary understanding which revealed that users often developed awareness of VoIP technology because of their social contacts and their purpose for using VoIP was mostly for maintaining social connections. The potential contribution of such social perspectives on VoIP technology in the global market could thus be expected

Tariff-Mediated Network Effects versus Strategic Discounting: Evidence from German Mobile Telecommunications

Mobile telecommunication operators routinely charge subscribers lower prices for calls on their own network than for calls to other networks (on-net discounts). Studies on tariff-mediated network effects suggest this is due to large operators using on-net discounts to damage smaller rivals. Alternatively, research on strategic discounting suggests small operators use on-net discounts to advertise with low on-net prices. We test the relative strength of these effects using data on tariff setting in German mobile telecommunications between 2001 and 2009. We find that large operators are more likely to offer tariffs with on-net discounts but there is no consistently significant difference in the magnitude of discounts. Our results suggest that tariff-mediated network effects are the main cause of on-net discounts

Examining Networking Effects and Digital Television Adoption in Latin America: A Focus on Argentina

The transition from analog to digital television provides myriad benefits including better consumer television viewing experiences, increased broadcast spectrum availability for governmental purposes, and a substantial market opportunity associated with the sales of related equipment and services. As a result, four global digital standards have emerged – with the transition well under way in Europe, the United States and many countries in Asia. However, Latin American countries are at various stages of the adoption process, ranging from initial stages of evaluation to implementation. This research provides a theoretical overview of networking effects, as related to the efforts expended by the organizations representing each digital standard in Latin America. An overview of the adoption decisions of various standards within Latin countries is then presented. Specific focus is provided on the unique case of Argentina, which chose a digital standard in 1998 but rescinded the decision and adopted a different standard in 2009. Comparative time series analysis is then used to depict the networking effects of the different standards, providing insight to academia, practitioners, and regulating officials regarding diffusion within Latin America

When Cost-Efficient Technologies Meet Politics: A Case Study of Radical Wireless Network Implementation

Cost efficiency has been a dominant perspective in the traditional IT literature. However, in complex technology and business environment, the widely recognized cost efficient assumption of information technology has been increasingly challenged. Drawing from a case study of wireless network implementation situated in a politically sensitive workplace, this paper provided practice insights for IT managers in today’s networked economy. More specifically, stories experienced in the case study illustrated that despite well-calculated cost efficiency of wireless network infrastructure, the radical implementation process in the case organization encountered enormous challenges and opposition due to the fact that administrators failed to consider various stakeholders’ positions and interests. Eventually, the implementation objectives and outcome were considerably undermined. Implications from this empirical case research reemphasized the significance of understanding political forces situated in any business environment where different stakeholders hold conflicting interests. Lessons learned from the case story further encouraged IT managers and policy makers to better strategize emerging information technology in general and wireless networks in particular as the whole global society and business environment are increasingly facing an emerging wireless world

Comparison of WiBro and TD-LTE deployment networks: implications for standards competition

It has been an enigma for the communities of practice and academia in the field of standards as to why, when the capabilities of a technology are not much different or even superior to those of their competitors, only some standards lead to commercial success. Previous literature indicates that a standard needs organisational support and legitimacy amongst audiences, including distributors, influenced by network connectivity and configuration. Using a social network analysis, this paper visualises and compares the networks of wireless broadband and time domain-long-term evolution deployment in the global market. The results show that the presence of a few key sponsors with financial resources and a large installed base is more important than the size of the network. Consequently, we draw some implications for sustainable deployment of future standards

Co-ordination and Lock-in: Competition with Switching Costs and Network Effects

Switching costs and network effects bind customers to vendors if products are incompatible, locking customers or even markets in to early choices. Lock-in hinders customers from changing suppliers in response to (predictable or unpredictable) changes in effciency, and gives vendors lucrative ex post market power-over the same buyer in the case of switching costs (or brand loyalty), or over others with network effects. Firms compete ex ante for this ex post power, using penetration pricing, introductory offers, and price wars. Such "competition for the market" or "life-cycle competition" can adequately replace ordinary compatible competition, and can even be fiercer than compatible competition by weakening differentiation. More often, however, incompatible competition not only involves direct effciency losses but also softens competition and magnifies incumbency advantages. With network effects, established firms have little incentive to offer better deals when buyers’ and complementors’ expectations hinge on non-effciency factors (especially history such as past market shares), and although competition between incompatible networks is initially unstable and sensitive to competitive offers and random events, it later "tips" to monopoly, after which entry is hard, often even too hard given incompatibility. And while switching costs can encourage small-scale entry, they discourage sellers from raiding one another’s existing customers, and s also discourage more aggressive entry. Because of these competitive effects, even ineffcient incompatible competition is often more profitable than compatible competition, especially for dominant rms with installed-base or expectational advantages. Thus firms probably seek incompatibility too often. We therefore favor thoughtfully pro-compatibility public policy.

Politically Sensitive IT Practice: A case story of wireless network implementation

Drawing from social perspectives, we narrate a case story of wireless network implementation situated in a socially connected but politically segregated environment. We seek to understand how the interplay between radical IT implementation and organizational structure shapes and reshapes organisational members‟ perception of implementation success and how unintended consequences of popular mobile technology emerge in a politically sensitive workplace. Detailed narrative analysis reveals that many subtle conflicting issues intertwined among various stakeholder groups. Those issues not just reshape how organisational members perceive IT implementation success but also how future IT management take place. The insights gained from this case story thus suggest that a more socially and politically sensitive IT practice in general and wireless network management in particular might be essential in the contemporary service oriented IT environment

Mobile Apps as Innovation Adoption in Universities: Age, Size, Prior Technology, and Proximity as Controls

Departing from previous research on innovation adoption, this paper aims to test the differences and effects of age, size, prior technology, and proximity on institutional innovation adoption. We start by providing literature on the area of innovation adoption, distinguishing between organizational innovation adoption and the individual adopter within an organization. We present the results of a non-experimental cross-sectional study design about adopting mobile applications with 208 universities worldwide. The hypotheses are that higher age, bigger size, more prior technological changes, and higher proximity support a faster innovation adoption by universities. Results partially support the hypotheses and lead to understanding the innovation adoption in a particular institutional context of innovations influenced by adopting the organization\u27s users. A partir de investigaciones anteriores sobre la adopción de innovación, este trabajo busca probar las diferencias y los efectos de edad, tamaño, tecnología previa y proximidad en la adopción de innovación institucional. Comenzamos proporcionando literatura sobre el área de adopción de la innovación, distinguiendo entre la adopción de la innovación organizacional y el adoptante individual dentro de una organización. Presentamos los resultados de un diseño de estudio transversal no experimental sobre la adopción de aplicaciones móviles, con muestra de 208 universidades en todo el mundo. Las hipótesis son que una mayor edad, un tamaño más grande, más cambios tecnológicos previos y una mayor proximidad apoyan una adopción de innovación más rápida por parte de las universidades. Los resultados apoyan parcialmente las hipótesis y conducen a comprender la adopción de la innovación en un contexto institucional particular de innovaciones influenciadas por la adopción de los usuarios de la organización. Com base em pesquisas anteriores sobre adoção de inovação, este artigo procura testar as diferenças e os efeitos da idade, tamanho, tecnologia anterior e proximidade na adoção da inovação institucional. Começamos fornecendo literatura sobre a área de adoção de inovação, distinguindo entre a adoção da inovação organizacional e o adotante individual dentro de uma organização. Apresentamos os resultados de de um desenho de estudo transversal não experimental sobre a adoção de aplicativos móveis, com uma amostra de 208 universidades ao redor do mundo. As hipóteses são de que a idade avançada, o tamanho maior, as mudanças tecnológicas anteriores e a maior proximidade favorecem a adoção mais rápida da inovação pelas universidades. Os resultados suportam parcialmente as hipóteses e levam ao entendimento da adoção da inovação em um determinado contexto institucional de inovações influenciadas pela adoção dos usuários da organização