Ping Gao

Using actor-network theory to analyse strategy formulation

Abstract.u2002 Drawing upon actor‐network theory, this article analyses the socio‐technological construction of Chinas strategy for the telecommunications market transformation. We define the telecommunications market as the non‐human actor. The public and society, the state, and the operators constitute three groups of human actors representing the social interests in the telecommunications industry. We have observed that these actors’ interests are influenced by the situation of technology advance, the telecommunications development level, the macro reform progress and the national policies concerning the political and economic systems, and the international trend in telecommunications reforms. Owing to the dynamics of these contextual elements and the struggle of actors to inscribe their interests into the national strategy, China has transformed the telecommunications market by four stages, each stage with specific foci. Our case study demonstrates that the applications of actor‐network theory can be extended to investigate the formulation of a national strategy. The research design in which the social and technological contexts are dynamically connected with strategy formulation can be drawn upon by other actor‐network studies.

Counter-networks in standardization: a perspective of developing countries

Abstract.u2002 Present information systems studies focus on technology from developed countries. Little is known about the development and implementation of indigenous technology in the developing world. This paper investigates Chinas experience of developing and deploying wireless local‐area network (WLAN) standards. First, drawing upon actor‐network theory, I interpret WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) standardization as a process of the actor‐network formation. Specifically, different actors were enrolled into two counter‐networks, namely the defensive network and the challenging network. These actors and the two counter‐networks struggled to dominate the interest inscriptions in the strategy of WLAN standardization. Chinas WAPI initiative failed because it could not establish a strong defensive network. Furthermore, I analyse the social, institutional and technological elements that determined the process of WAPI standardization. This case study demonstrates that counter‐network is a useful concept to analyse the mechanism of actor‐network formation. My analytical model in which the macro contexts are connected with the micro network dynamics can be drawn upon by other actor‐network studies on technology design and implementation. Practical implications for developing countries to develop the indigenous technologies have been given.

Consumer adoption of internet banking in Nigeria

Internet banking as a key component of e-finance has gained research attention. However, the research on developing countries is lacking. This paper investigates the factors that influence the consumer adoption of internet banking in Nigeria. The results show that the currently relevant factors determining the adoption of internet banking in Nigeria include the level of awareness or attention, the accessibility to computers and the internet, convenience, privacy, costs, and the availability of knowledge and support concerning internet banking. This paper argues that the banks should embark on initiatives that would drastically increase the level of consumer awareness of internet banking details, especially its benefits.

Factors impacting end-users' usage of ERP in China

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the influence of organizational support, subjective norm and output quality on end-users usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in China. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is formed based on technology acceptance model literature. Data were collected through a survey on 127 ERP users in small- to middle-sized Chinese firms. Multiple regression analysis was employed. Findings – Subjective norm and output quality determine the perceived usefulness of ERP. Communication has a significant impact on both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of the use of ERP, which further influence ERP usage. Research limitations/implications – Future research should consider the adoption of different kinds of ERP systems in other countries. Practical implications – The findings may help organizations effectively use ERP and other kinds of technology systems. In particular, efficient training should be a focus of organizational support in systems implementation....

Formulating effective national strategies for market transformation

National initiatives for the development of information infrastructure have become critical to moving nations into the information age. In this paper, we are concerned with the features of information infrastructure development strategy, the social determinants for a country to choose a strategy and the principles of its design. We investigate Chinas telecommunications market transformation over the last two decades. Chinas experience is interesting as it is a case par excellence of a large transitory economy. We observe that Chinas national strategy was based on multiple social elements, not on technological prerogatives alone. This suggests that a national strategy for infrastructure construction should be derived from carefully considering both the technological options available as well as the social and political environment and the situation in the market structure.

A Framework for Analyzing Mobile Telecommunications Market Development

Current research focuses on the dynamics of mobile telecommunications market either from the perspectives of technology innovation or service adoption. However, because there is a mutual dependency between them, each perspective alone can only partly explain the pace and direction of change we currenly witness in this market. This article combines them into one framework to pursue a holistic understanding of mobile telecommunications market innvoation. To test its explanatory power, we apply this framework to dissecting the case of China based on second-hand data. It concludes that our model enables a systematic description on the mutual influence of infrastructure innovation and innovation adoption that moves beyond unilateral accounts. Our framework also captures the interplay between mobile telecommunications market and the social network formed by interrelated providers, users and institutions.

China Telecommunications Transformation in Globalization Context

As globalization is becoming a prevailing topic, information technology and infrastructure in developing countries being non-ignorable forces of globalization has arisen the interests of scholars in information systems. Drawing on structuration theory this paper analyses China’s strategy of telecommunications transformation.

Studies on traffic effects of high-speed ring road in city center

Purpose – To establish a stimulating traffic model of ring road systems and study the traffic effects of ring road in the center of a large city, including the influence in vehicles travel time and distance.Design/methodology/approach – Different from the ring road systems in the west, Beijing and other big cities in China build ring roads in city center. However, it seems that those systems do not work because the traffic problem still exists when the number of cars in the city increased quickly in past five years. According to the real geographic topology network structure around Er Huan road in Beijing city center, a simplified simulated traffic model was built. Then, two indices of traffic effects, average travel time and path length were studied by comparing the two models with or without ring road.Findings – According to the simulation, although a high‐speed ring road shortens the travel time, it isolates the nature road network system and increases travel distance in the city center. Furthermore, ...

R&D knowledge management in a telecommunications consortium: An actor-network perspective

This paper is concerned with the R&D knowledge management in a consortium. It presents an ethnographic study on Mobiconomy group, a consortium designing mobile services. We first demonstrate that the actor–network theory can be linked with theory of organisational knowledge creation, and thus apply it to examining the knowledge creation in Mobiconomy as a black-boxing process. This paper discloses the improvisatory characteristics of knowledge creation process in a consortium. The author argues that a consortium should have a pre-project phase when a common vocabulary is developed and an integrator is introduced. The experience of our case consortium – that the white book has emerged as a tool of R&D knowledge management – can be drawn upon by other consortia. Implications for understanding the future trend of the mobile commerce market have been given.

Mobile Portal Implementation Strategy: A Theoretical Exploration

Mobile portal plays an important role in mobile commerce market. Current literature focuses on static analysis on the value chain of mobile portals. This article provides a dynamic perspective on mobile portal strategy. Drawing upon network economics, we describe mobile portal implementation as a four-phase process. In different phase, a portal provider has various challenges to overcome and adopt diverse strategies, and correspondingly the regulator has different foci. The conceptual framework proposed in this article offers a basis for further analyses on the market dynamics of mobile commerce, and can be generalized to studying other networked technologies.