Anexo 4, Codificación de la información del diario de campo

♦ Computer Hardware and Software ♦ Consumer Electronics MONOPOLY/ DUOPOLY/ OLIGOPOLY COMPETITIVE MARKETS: ♦ Internet

♦ Value Added Services ♦ Databases & Network

Vanaja Karagiannidis Page 65 Telecommunications has served for decades as an old analogue public network and is being replaced by digital networks and new cellular services (Horrocks & Scarr 1993: preface). Telephony is now seen as an independent service involving the convergence of telecommunications, data processing, cable industries and of different services (Andersson & Mlleryd 1997:453; Baldwin, Mcvoy & Steinfield 1996) such as cellar networks.

Telecommunications are expanding into new innovative markets such as value-added services and super highways markets where companies are able to enter into joint venture arrangements and now

Telecommunications companies are installing optical fibre systems with huge capacities and relatively low bandwidth costs which can cater for a range of telecommunications, entertainment and educational programs. (Cox 1998:33)

In telecommunications, a network is a:

…spider web system of interrelated elements that are interconnected in a dedicated or switched linkage to provide local or remote communication (example of voice, video, data). Specialised network companies can possess set of switches, circuits, trunks and software that make up a telecommunications facility that provide a particular service such as PSTN (public switch telephone network, a collection of interconnected systems operated by various telephone companies and administrations) and PSDN (public switch data network, the collection of interconnected systems that provides anyone served by the public network operator with a range of data services). (Norris, 2000: 156, 189)

Gomes-Cassares (1994) views strategic alliances as networks, clusters, constellations and virtual corporations, and sees them the same as groups of companies joined

Vanaja Karagiannidis Page 66 together in a larger, overarching relationship. More and McGrath, seemed to be certain about the telecommunications ‘industry plans for the three carriers – Telstra (preferred supplier arrangements), Optus (strategic partners) and Vodafone (strategic partner) – do generally provide for the development of strategic alliances with key suppliers’ (1996:2).

The twin forces of technological innovation and a growing demand for liberalisation and privatisation has also led to big changes in the telecommunications sector structure in most industrial nations. Today, the unifying strategic goal of telecommunications, information technologies and entertainment sectors of the industry are becoming more integrated through convergence concepts. Strategic convergence networks have shaped the information superhighway that affects our work and play in this new millennium. Major telecommunications companies such as Optus and Telstra tend to use convergence concepts and offer bundling services such as home telephony, mobile telephone, internet connections and entertainment (Telstra 2001; Optus 2001).

In the telecommunications industry, as projected by Carlson (1996:80) as an information superhighway, the industry’s equipment makers are now working hand-in-hand with customers/suppliers and even with competitors from rival industries. This is because firms seek for Inter-corporate synergies for the development of business collaboration as a means of survival and by partnering with overlapping companies, tend to achieve greater penetration of a single geographic area achieving better cash flow. At present, the Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics tends to take a more

conservative viewpoint about forecasting Australian telecommunications as an information superhighway.

Information superhighway (telecommunications technologies servers) systems tend to develop:

Vanaja Karagiannidis Page 67 …clusters because clustering cuts the cost per subscriber since existing cable systems are better utilised through sharing programming content with alliance partners from communications, information and entertainment sectors of the information superhighway industry for efficiency,

cooperation and competitiveness. (Carlson 1996:9)

The computer and telecommunications industries are merging and shaping a new industry that is based on competition, appropriability regimes and alliances (Carlson 1996:9). Currently the importance of telecommunications has become a political, economic and social concern of many nations especially Australia.

New generations of communications systems and services are also being conceived by the ever-growing demands of the market place (van Marrewijk 2004). ‘In the post … divesture world, telecommunications services are provided by a variety of vendors in diverse combinations of substitute and complementary goods’ (Economides 1994:227). In the telecommunications industry, global alliances are forming with varying degrees of success. In the future, partners will change, new alliances will form and constellations of alliances will compete (Raphael 1998:32-36). Moreover, there is intense competition in the global market, especially in the telecommunications industry (Brown & Pattinson 1995; Melpoment 1997; Strategic Directions 2003, 2004; van Marrewijk 2004). The telecommunications industry will only grow in importance to businesses and individuals. In the future, businesses in the industry will ‘transform into a web of new relationships through alliances and knowledge networks’ (Raphael 1998: 32-36).

The market place has become intensively competitive, complex about partnering and strategic alliances especially in the telecommunications industry. Proposed alliances like that between Optus and Foxtel combine different industries (telecommunications and cable television) into one market - the telecommunications/entertainment market. Also due to deregulation, firms are being forced to examine different means/strategies

Vanaja Karagiannidis Page 68 for retaining their competitive advantage, for example: LG Semicon is planning a move with Hitachi to start commercial production in Malaysia in 1998. (Newman &

Chaharbaghi 1996:852). Also knowing that many companies still struggle in building relationships or creating alliances internally between the silos of their own company instead organisations tend to create alliances with their major competitors (Bromberger & Hoover 2003)

3.3 Conclusion

In conclusion, telecommunications in Australia has been transforming itself through ever increasing sophistication in technologies from cables to radio voices, wireless networks, entertainment and video imaging, with many more technological inventions to come. As a result, many firms even from different industries tend to form alliance networks to provide 3G systems (voice, video calls, broadband speed mobile access, video conferencing, access to personal and mass media, and application downloading) because no single firm has all the technologies to provide 3G systems. There is considerable evidence (Gomes-Cassares 1994; More & McGrath 1996; McArdle 1997; Deering & Murphy 2003) that these alliance networks are a common structure among telecommunication companies. Therefore, creating an alliance/partnership can be an attractive option for organisations to enhance their capability, resources or effectiveness in-search of creativity and technological know-how to see the world in a new way (Abell 1993). A main purpose of this research is to determine what factors enhance or inhibit their success. These are explored in the next chapter.

Finally, since global strategic alliances are one of the most significant and recent developments in the telecommunications industry they have also impacted the Australian telecommunications industry. The critical changes in the Australian

telecommunications industry were covered in this research to move strategic mindsets towards considering what the cooperative factors in strategic alliances are.

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