Contributions published at International Management (Thomas Keil)

Information and communication technologies are in the process of transforming the way business is conducted in a large number of industries. The impact of this change is not well understood. This paper develops a research agenda that helps to investigate the implications of information and communication technology on selected management fields. In particular, the implications are investigated for strategic management, demand and supply chain management, logistics, organization and leadership, and management education. The research agenda is developed by first identifying impacts of information and communication technologies in the domains discussed. From these impacts, research needs are derived.

This article examines the dynamics of inter- and intra-firm networks in technical standard setting initiatives, and how complex social networks align in these initiatives. Specifically, we argue that in standardization, complex economic and social interactions are blended. In standardization activities, firm behavior and the behavior of individuals within firms is best explained through an integration of social, political, and economic perspectives. In this article we use two main bodies of theory. First, we draw on the economic literature on standard setting and alliance formation. Second we use social network theory to complement economic arguments. In this paper we integrate streams of literature on the creation and diffusion of technical standards from industrial organization economics, strategic management, and innovation economics with recent literature concerning the social construction of technology in order to analyze the process of standard setting. We develop our arguments with the help of three in-depth case studies of standardization initiatives in the telecommunications industry. Two case studies are in the realm of telecommunications infrastructure. The third case study analyzes the standardization of a wireless data link. The cases can be characterized as examples of the successful creation of both de facto and de jure standards.

In the present paper, relationships between embeddedness, power, control and innovation are examined in the context ofthe telecommunications sector. It is contended that in a tightly embedded, technology-intensive sector, technological and economic control are closeb intertwined. Consequently, the ability to appropriate economic rents is large& based on technological control. In an examination of the Finnish telecommunications sector, it is concluded that the power of the network operator was traditionally not based as much on value creation as on the control of critical resources. With the move to a network of networks in which access ceases to be a bottleneck, this situation has changed. It can be expected that existing focal networks with a strong power imbalance will be replaced. It is difficult to predict what form this process will take, however, as the pace of technological change is very rapid in the telecommunications sector.