Standards and Public Policy

Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 9
Tables......Page 10
Contributors......Page 12
Introduction......Page 15
1 The economics of standards competition......Page 17
2 Standards organizations and firm strategy......Page 21
3 The structure and performance of standards organizations......Page 25
4 Standards and government policy......Page 27
References......Page 29
1.1 De facto standard setting......Page 32
1.2 The standards supporting electronic commerce......Page 33
1.3 Our contributions......Page 35
2 Standards theory 1: demand side/small actors......Page 37
2.2 Social scale economies......Page 38
2.3 Indeterminacy......Page 39
3 Standards theory 2: supply side/strategic actors......Page 40
4 Resolutions to the indeterminacy of standards theory......Page 43
4.1 Three forces......Page 44
4.2 Market is part of an industry comprising complementary markets......Page 46
5 Effort to set standards by Netscape......Page 47
6 Entry by Microsoft......Page 49
6.1 Implementation......Page 51
6.2 Individual user switching costs......Page 52
6.3 Timing......Page 54
6.4 Product improvement......Page 55
6.5 Distribution......Page 56
7 Evidence from market outcomes......Page 58
8 Standards theory in markets......Page 64
8.1 Inertia can be overcome by new users......Page 65
8.2 Complementary markets as source of asymmetry......Page 66
9 Conclusions......Page 67
References......Page 68
1 Introduction......Page 74
2 Background......Page 75
3 Single-wafer processing and cluster tools......Page 80
3.1 Single-wafer versus batch processing......Page 82
3.2 Cycle time and processing configurations......Page 84
4 Capabilities, organization, and standards......Page 86
4.1 Applied Materials’ capabilities......Page 87
4.2 The emergence of standards......Page 89
4.3 Competing development paths......Page 91
References......Page 97
1 Open standards: ideals vs. reality......Page 101
1.1 The case for open standards......Page 102
1.2 Do we know open when we see it?......Page 103
2.1 Role of standards in the IT sector......Page 107
2.2 Where do standards come from?......Page 108
2.3 Stakeholders in standardization......Page 110
2.4 Cooperative versus competing interests......Page 111
3 Dimensions of standards openness......Page 112
Who participates?......Page 113
Specification process......Page 114
Goals of participation......Page 115
Using the specification......Page 117
Incomplete specification and disclosure......Page 118
Patents, royalties, and open Standards......Page 119
Who pays?......Page 120
4.1 Common bundles of openness......Page 122
Increasing openness......Page 123
Decreasing openness......Page 124
5.1 Realities: the many shades of gray......Page 125
5.2 Implications for policymakers......Page 126
5.3 Further research......Page 129
References......Page 131
1 Introduction......Page 137
2 Industry and setting......Page 141
3 The development of the V.90 standard......Page 144
4 Questions and conundrums......Page 146
4.1 Did Internet Service Providers have incentives to coordinate?......Page 147
4.2 What incentives to coordinate did the modem makers have?......Page 151
4.3 Why are focal points with 56K so costly?......Page 153
4.4 How do Intellectual Property conflicts shape the cost of negotiation?......Page 155
Voting structure......Page 157
Rules......Page 159
4.6 Why do SSOs not encourage use of side payments?......Page 160
4.7 Does standardization lead to technical improvement?......Page 162
4.8 How do participants in a standard setting process use all available information?......Page 164
4.9 Are SSOs substitutes for each other?......Page 167
5 Conclusion......Page 168
References......Page 172
Abstract......Page 174
1 Introduction......Page 175
2 Theoretical background and prior research......Page 176
2.1 Committee-based standardization efforts......Page 178
2.2 Institutional perspective......Page 179
2.4 The processes of standards development......Page 180
Structuring the collaboration......Page 181
Maintaining the standard......Page 182
3 Methods......Page 183
4.1 Brief overview of mortgage industry......Page 185
4.2 History of MISMO standardization effort......Page 187
5 Findings about the mortgage industry’s vertical IS standardization process......Page 189
Harnessing participants’ motivations......Page 192
Why companies participate......Page 194
Why individuals participate......Page 196
MISMO’s explicit scope......Page 197
MISMO governance......Page 198
Informal give and take......Page 199
Intraorganizational conflict......Page 200
5.2 MISMO and standards adoption......Page 201
Characteristics that might favor adoption......Page 202
Characteristics that might inhibit adoption......Page 203
5.3 MISMO standards maintenance......Page 205
Defense against legal challenges......Page 206
Defense against fragmentation......Page 207
6.1 Generalizing the home mortgage case to other industries......Page 208
6.2 Contributions to theory and practice......Page 211
Contributions in the area of structuring the process......Page 212
Contributions in the area of promoting standards adoption......Page 214
Contributions in the area of maintaining the standard......Page 215
6.3 Policy implications......Page 216
References......Page 218
1 Introduction......Page 222
2 Modems......Page 227
3 Patent data......Page 228
4 Standardization meetings......Page 231
5 Patenting and meeting participation......Page 234
6 Empirical analysis......Page 236
7 Conclusion......Page 241
References......Page 242
Appendix......Page 244
1 Introduction......Page 245
Scale efficiencies and lower production costs......Page 249
More innovation and variety for components......Page 250
Reduction in system design variety......Page 251
2.3 Summary: systems versus mix-and-match competition......Page 252
3 Anticompetitive manipulation of interface standards......Page 253
3.1 Charging a toll......Page 254
3.3 One-way interface standards......Page 255
3.4 Timing is critical......Page 259
4 Examples of possible anticompetitive interface specifications......Page 260
4.1 Inserting patents in standards: JEDEC and Rambus......Page 262
4.2 One-way interface standards: Accelerated Graphics Port......Page 264
4.3 One-way interface standards and publication delay: USB 2.0......Page 267
References......Page 270
1 Introduction......Page 274
2.1 An overview......Page 277
2.2 The formal standard setting process......Page 281
2.3 Internet commercialization and the IETF......Page 284
3 The slowdown in Internet standard setting......Page 286
3.1 The slowdown in IETF standard setting......Page 287
3.2 Technical complexity......Page 290
3.3 Growth and committee size......Page 292
3.4 Distributional conflicts......Page 294
4 Identifying the causes of committee performance......Page 297
5 Conclusions......Page 301
References......Page 304
Appendix......Page 306
1 Introduction......Page 310
1.1 A brief, but necessary, history of standardization......Page 312
1.2 Trade associations and standards-developing organizations......Page 313
1.3 Consortia and alliances......Page 316
1.4 Open Source movement......Page 320
2 The problem......Page 321
2.1 Explosion of SSOs......Page 323
2.2 Proliferation of specifications......Page 324
2.3 Lack of a definition......Page 325
3 A possible solution......Page 326
4 Conclusion......Page 329
References......Page 330
Formal standards-developing organizations and ANSI......Page 332
Consortia and alliances......Page 337
Open Source......Page 341
Conclusion......Page 342
1 Introduction......Page 343
2 Basic model......Page 346
3 The case of an impatient policymaker......Page 347
4 The case of a patient policymaker......Page 348
5 Optimal timing for public intervention......Page 349
6.1 Second generation mobile telephony......Page 350
6.2 Wide-body aircraft: DC-10 vs. B-747......Page 351
6.4 Pest control technology......Page 352
Appendix......Page 353
References......Page 357
1 Introduction......Page 359
1.1 Television market......Page 360
1.2 Digital transition......Page 362
1.3 Our approach......Page 363
Welfare......Page 365
Universal access......Page 366
2.1 Static model......Page 367
2.3 Operator’s policy......Page 368
2.4 Welfare......Page 371
3.1 Dynamic model......Page 372
3.2 Viewers’ switching......Page 373
3.3 Subsidization policy......Page 375
4 Public policy......Page 377
References......Page 379
Proof of Proposition 1......Page 380
Proof of Proposition 2......Page 382
Proof of Proposition 3......Page 383
1 Introduction......Page 386
2 Horizontal and vertical forms of the pro-standards view......Page 387
2.1 Horizontal compatibility......Page 388
2.2 Vertical compatibility......Page 392
Aftermarkets......Page 396
Telecommunications......Page 397
3 Where does this leave us?......Page 399
References......Page 400
Index......Page 403