Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
RE-Thinking the Network Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace
RE-Thinking the Network Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace
Opening the "Black Box" of Network Externalities in Network Adoption
Information Systems Research
Information Technology and Productivity: Evidence from Country-Level Data
Management Science
The Economics of Mobile Telecommunications
The Economics of Mobile Telecommunications
Telecommunications Policy
Adoption of Information Technology Under Network Effects
Information Systems Research
Telecommunications Policy
(Hidden) social influences in switching mobile service platforms
Proceedings of the 14th Annual International Conference on Electronic Commerce
Examining the growth of digital wireless phone technology: A take-off theory analysis
Decision Support Systems
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This paper empirically analyzes the joint effect of switching costs and network effects in determining the level of competition in the European mobile communications industry. Theoretical reasoning argues that switching costs and network effects may confer some market power that firms can strategically exploit to reduce competition and thus increase profits. Theoretical predictions are completely confirmed by the empirical evidence and important asymmetries between the market structures in the different European countries can be observed. These asymmetries are clearly related to the levels of switching costs and network effects---the greater their importance, the lower the rivalry in the market. This suggests that the recent efforts of policymakers to reduce the negative consequences of switching costs and network effects have not been successful enough and these efforts must be strengthened, at least in several countries.