Expectations, Network Effects and Timing of Technology Adoption: Some Empirical Evidence from a Sample of SMEs in Italy

We provide evidence on the influence of expectations and network effects on the timing of technological adoption. By considering a sample of SMEs operating in Italy we focus on the determinants of their decision to adopt Fast Ethernet, a communication standard for Local Area Networks (LANs). We find that both expectations and network effects significantly affect the timing of adoption. In particular, price expectations generally tend to delay adoption and (indirect) network effects in the form of backward compatibility as well as informational spillovers tend to foster adoption. Firm size also matters.diffusion, network effects, expectations, LAN equipment, SMEs

Me and you and everyone we know: an empirical analysis of local network effects in mobile communications.

This paper aims at investigating the importance that consumers assign to local network effects (i.e. the extent to which they take into account their contacts’ operators in determining their choices) and at identifying which individual characteristics affect consumers’ preferences in relation to local network effects. Based on a sample of 193 Italian students, we find that consumers are highly heterogeneous with respect to the evaluation of the importance of their friend/family’s operator when choosing their own provider, and that such heterogeneity is associated to specific characteristics related to individual innovativeness and patterns of mobile phone usage. In particular, consumers who are more interested in local network effects are typically sophisticated users, who use intensively voice services and who are early adopters. Interestingly, consumers who pay attention to local network effects end up spending relatively little in proportion to their intensity of use.

The emergence of new technologies in the ICT field: main actors, geographical distribution and knowledge sources

This paper examines the emergence of technologies, applications and platforms in the area of information and communication technologies (ITC), using patent data. It detects new technologies/applications/products using patents' abstracts and describes them looking at their degree of "hybridisation", in terms of technological domains and knowledge base, at the role of firms in driving the innovation activity, and at the geographical distribution of the innovation. The results show that in emerging technologies in ITC are more concentrated across technological classes and across firms than non emerging ones, and that this pattern is invariant across major countries. Furthermore, a preliminary analysis on patent citations show that in emerging technologies knowledge sources are more specific in terms of technological classes and more dispersed in terms of cited institutions. Also there is evidence of a role for universities and public research centres as sources of knowledge

Prospects for Internet Telephony: Toy for Multimedia Hobbyists or Next-Generation Technology?

The sustained rate of technological change in the telecommunications industry has opened up significant windows of opportunities for telecommunications networks operators to develop value-added services and multimedia applications. The growth of the Internet raises the issue of a possible migration from traditional circuit-switched networks designed for basic voice communication towards shared packet transport handling a mix of applications. In this context, telephony over the Internet Protocol (IP) network - the transmission of voice over the public Internet or over a private Intranet - has attracted considerable attention as an appealing alternative to traditional telephony. However, instead of being a tariff arbitrage mechanism for telephony, Internet telephony is likely to develop as a component within an integrated system of video, data and voice applications. The potential offered by IP networks for computer-telephony integration and the continuing technological development in this area suggest that this will not be a transient phenomenon. However, most uncertainties reside on the demand side and the diffusion of Internet telephony is still at an early stage. This paper analyses the current demand and market potential for Internet telephony. It examines users' attitudes and behaviour towards this service, and develops possible market scenarios for the future. The study investigates technical, economic and social factors supporting and hindering the adoption of Internet telephony. The results of the analysis show that a high penetration of voice services over the IP still has to be reached and that potential users have very heterogeneous perceptions towards new communication applications.Internet telephony, technological change, market scenarios

The \u2018KIBS engine\u2019 of Regional Innovation Systems: empirical evidence from European regions

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are key players in innovation systems, particularly in advanced regions where manufacturing competitiveness largely depends on knowledge contents provided by highly specialized suppliers. This paper investigates the relationship between KIBS and the structure and performance of regional innovation systems in Europe. It maps the co-evolution between KIBS and manufacturing in European regions, identifying emergent typologies of regional innovation systems. Results show that KIBS are a defining element of innovation-oriented regions, whereas their scarcity and slow growth distinctively characterize poor performing innovation systems. However, the analysis also identifies a set of core manufacturing regions in Europe, which are evolving along a different trajectory into knowledge-oriented service-manufacturing complexes

The development of competitiveness clusters in Croatia: a survey-based analysis

ABSTRACTIn order to stimulate growth and competitiveness, many EU member states have implemented cluster-based development strategies. Several works underline the benefits of policy-driven clusters..