Speed and consensus in standardization : a theoretical and empirical analysis of third generation communication systems

Abstract

International standardization has been playing an important role in telecommunications industries. The primary benefits of the large committee standardization are interoperability and scales of economy. However, mainly due to the emergence of the Internet, time-consuming procedures to forge a consensus have become a critical drawback of the international standardization organizations. Currently, many forum standards and even proprietary standards have became dominant in multimedia communications industries. In this thesis, characteristics of standards are analyzed in four categories: international standards, regional standards, forum standards and proprietary standards. The infrastructure layer inter connectivities issues are suitable for discussion in large committee, while the technologies related to the Internet, application layer and software are appropriate for smaller consortia. It is illustrated that there is a production possibility frontier (PPF) in the dimensions of the level of consensus versus speed of the standardization. There have been many attempts to expand the horizon of the PPF by existing standardization organizations. A case of the standardization on third generation mobile communications system in the ITU describes the dynamics to achieve international consensus within a limited time period. The proposed analysis framework is also helpful as a guideline for understanding future standardization strategies on mobile multimedia communications.