Alexandre Mallard

Developing Uses, Qualifying Goods: on the Construction of Market Exchange for Internet Access Services

What role does the use of goods play in the shaping of commercial exchange? This question is investigated through a case study of the commercialization of Internet access services in France at the end of the 1990s. Specifically, the study traces how the uses of the Internet were made part of the process of qualifying Internet access as a commercial good in the NetStations launched and operated by France Telecom. Drawing on an analysis of the interactions between staff and customers in these NetStations, the article shows the diverse configurations through which use development and qualification of goods are intertwined in the course of commercial exchange. These observations are used as a basis for discussing the strategic incidence of the management of uses for commercial organizations operating in a competitive environment.