(De)convergence in TV: a comparative analysis of the development of Smart TV

Against the backdrop of media convergence, Smart TVs are developing rapidly in large parts of the world. Smart TV refers to the integration of broadband Internet and social media features into TV sets. From a media business perspective, the proliferation of Smart TV services may put pressure on the market structure of the TV landscape, and urge for new business models in order to capture the dynamics of media convergence. By means of a comparative analysis in four European markets (Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), the development of Smart TV is sketched in terms of viewing patterns, business models and standardization. The conclusion is that national TV markets are evolving quite differently, so that service providers must adapt their marketing strategies to reflect local market conditions. Hence, the success of Smart TV ultimately depends on the local package of value-added services and the amount of strategic partnerships with content owners, TV broadcasters and pay-TV operators

ICTs and ethical consumption: the political and market futures of fair trade

This paper addresses the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ethical consumption as part of a cause for the insurance of a sustainable future. It homes in on fair trade as an ethical market, politically progressive cause and, crucially, form of participation where citizens can engage in the formation of an alternative future and the broader issue of food security. An three-dimensional analysis of agencies and uses of digital structures and content is informed by a case study approach, as well as interviews with fair trade activists, and ethically consuming citizens in the British metropolis. Through this, the argument which primarily rises distinguishes between the dimensions of durability (in terms of time and duration) and sustainability (in terms of time, duration and environmental concerns) of engagement in fair trade as a form of participation. Ethical consumption, then, is part of a durable market which has developed despite general market fluctuation, but is still very much bound in traditional physical economic spaces; in other words, ethical consumption has been integrated in the business as usual paradigm. Additionally, ICTs have not challenged the way in which information about ethical consumption is communicated or the spaces in which it is conducted. ICTs have been employed by fair trade activists, but they have not contributed to the development of fair trade as a political or economic project. Over a period of over five decades since the inception of the cause, their use has not significantly altered the way in which citizens engage with fair trade in the alternative or mainstream marketplace

'TV Format Protection through Marketing Strategies?'

Commercially successful programme ideas are often imitated or adapted. Television formats, in particular, are routinely copied. Starting from radio formats in the 1950s to game shows and reality programme formats of today, producers have accused others of “stealing”. Although formats constitute one of the most important exports for British TV producers, there is still no certainty about the legal protection of TV formats from copycat versions. Since TV formats fail to fall neatly within the definitions of protected material under international copyright and trade mark regimes, producers have been trying to devise innovative means to protect their formats from plagiarism. The globalization of cultural and entertainment markets may itself have contributed to the rise of TV formats, interconnecting programming industries in a world of multiplying channels. This paper theorizes that global broadcasting and programme marketing strategies can also be used by TV format producers to protect their formats. Specifically, eight different strategies may be used: (a) trade show infrastructure and dynamics; (b) visual brand identity and channel fit; (c) brand extension and merchandising; (d) corporate branding; (e) national branding; (f) genre branding; (g) constant brand innovation; (h) fan communities. The paper develops a methodology for capturing the use and effectiveness of these eight strategies in preventing the copying of formats

Innovation and Collective Entrepreneurship

This paper examines different forms of innovation including social innovation, and why innovation and social innovation have become important themes in public policy in a context of the increasing and diverse demands on welfare regimes, and in an era of constrained budgets. It will review different perspectives on innovation and social innovation and the dynamic interaction through collective entrepreneurship in the social and solidarity economy; bringing out process and outcome dimensions of innovation. And it will develop an understanding of the drivers and barriers to innovation, including the role of the institutional and policy framework. It will set this analysis within the context of public policy, demonstrating their role in enabling such innovations in the social and solidarity economy

Inside the Transition Bubble: International Expert Assistance in Tunisia

Following the January 2011 revolt against President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali,Tunisia had its first exposure to the vast complex of international expert assistance for transitions. It was a new experience as well for international actors, many of whom had turned a blind eye or been denied full access to the country and were thus unfamiliar with its aspirations. More than two years into Tunisia's transition, results have been mixed: growing ambivalence and confusion about roles and responsibilities prevail. Yet internationals can take simple measures to implement their activities more effectively, and nationals can become more directive in the relationship. This would put the transition on a better track, and help inspire more effective international engagement to replace the haphazard dynamics that persist in transitioning countries within and beyond the Arab world.Internationals were immediately interested when Tunisia suddenly opened. They also had ample reason to respond in a way that reflected their own lessons learned -- from Central America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Southern Africa in the 1990s, to West Africa, South East Asia, Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s. But providing well-structured, organised expertise has proven difficult -- and in ways all too familiar.IFIT studied Tunisia's experience with media, security sector and judicial reforms and youth employment. These are readily recognisable policy sectors that both nationals and internationals identified as priorities early in the country's transition. Developing a clear picture of dynamics within these sectors was nevertheless difficult, since international assistance efforts in each one overlapped with the broader fields of democracy, development, and rule of law. Yet the reported net effect was consistent: most Tunisians find the international influx confusing and, at times, overwhelming.This report contains information about general assistance given as well as specifically in the areas of media reform, security sector reform, judicial reform, and youth employment

Estimating the impact of currency unions on trade using a dynamic gravity framework

This paper revisits the early time series estimates of currency unions on trade from an historical perspective using a dynamic gravity equation and by conducting in-depth case studies of currency union breakups. The early large estimates were driven by omitted variables, as many currency union exits were coterminous with warfare, communist takeovers, coup d'etats, genocide, bloody wars of independence, various other geopolitical travesties, or were predated by trade collapses. Static gravity estimates are found to be sensitive to controlling for these omitted variables, while a dynamic gravity specification implies that currency unions do not increase trade.Currency Unions, Trade, Dynamic Gravity, Decolonization

Response Functions to Critical Shocks in Social Sciences: An Empirical and Numerical Study

We show that, provided one focuses on properly selected episodes, one can apply to the social sciences the same observational strategy that has proved successful in natural sciences such as astrophysics or geodynamics. For instance, in order to probe the cohesion of a policy, one can, in different countries, study the reactions to some huge and sudden exogenous shocks, which we call Dirac shocks. This approach naturally leads to the notion of structural (as opposed or complementary to temporal) forecast. Although structural predictions are by far the most common way to test theories in the natural sciences, they have been much less used in the social sciences. The Dirac shock approach opens the way to testing structural predictions in the social sciences. The examples reported here suggest that critical events are able to reveal pre-existing ``cracks'' because they probe the social cohesion which is an indicator and predictor of future evolution of the system, and in some cases foreshadows a bifurcation. We complement our empirical work with numerical simulations of the response function (``damage spreading'') to Dirac shocks in the Sznajd model of consensus build-up. We quantify the slow relaxation of the difference between perturbed and unperturbed systems, the conditions under which the consensus is modified by the shock and the large variability from one realization to another

Business Models and their Implications for Skills

The dominant political-economic narrative of our time is that, under conditions of global competition with low-wage economies able to undercut even efficient western firms, the only viable and sustainable route to competitiveness is to trade on high value-added goods and services and that these in turn require enhanced skills and knowledge. This kind of analysis finds echo and sustenance in the management literature concerning 'knowledge'. Drawing upon a series of case studies this monograph reveals a more varied and complex pattern of possibilities

Ideological and Temporal Components of Network Polarization in Online Political Participatory Media

Political polarization is traditionally analyzed through the ideological stances of groups and parties, but it also has a behavioral component that manifests in the interactions between individuals. We present an empirical analysis of the digital traces of politicians in politnetz.ch, a Swiss online platform focused on political activity, in which politicians interact by creating support links, comments, and likes. We analyze network polarization as the level of intra- party cohesion with respect to inter-party connectivity, finding that supports show a very strongly polarized structure with respect to party alignment. The analysis of this multiplex network shows that each layer of interaction contains relevant information, where comment groups follow topics related to Swiss politics. Our analysis reveals that polarization in the layer of likes evolves in time, increasing close to the federal elections of 2011. Furthermore, we analyze the internal social network of each party through metrics related to hierarchical structures, information efficiency, and social resilience. Our results suggest that the online social structure of a party is related to its ideology, and reveal that the degree of connectivity across two parties increases when they are close in the ideological space of a multi-party system.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, Internet, Policy & Politics Conference, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 25-26 September 201