Prahalad has started a debate in the last decade regarding the opportunities of doing business towards the low-income consumers of emerging markets, which he called Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) markets. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies adapt their marketing mix strategies in order to target this type of market. The research is developed as case studies within the Brazilian telecom market in order to offer a new BOP setting as previous research has been focusing on Asia and Africa. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews are conducted with managers of the prepaid segment of three telecom companies. The study shows that price strategies are most important to adapt towards affordability in order to target BOP markets because of consumers’ limited budget. While adaptation in product and place are also seen, they are not as substantial as in price. The strategy that was not adapted was promotion as traditional channels are most common within the Brazilian BOP market. Moreover, companies with a strategy that traditionally have been upper-segment-centric do have to make larger and more innovative adaptations in order to market this segment.

Companies are increasingly outsourcing business critical activities to suppliers of outsourcing services. As the complexity and business  criticality of the outsourced activities increases, the risk of poor performance increases. This thesis studies large scale outsourcing in the telecom industry where a recent trend is to transfer the development, operation and maintenance of the telecom infrastructure to telecom equipment suppliers. The significance of this type of outsourcing is that the outsourced activity is the revenue generating part of the telecom operators business. Part 1 discusses the purpose and research questions followed by the theoretical underpinning in the research. The research strategy is to study the outsourcing relationship in three distinct stages of its development and the theoretical underpinning applies transaction costs analysis in the Scoping & Search stage and Das &Teng’s (2001) framework of trust and control for managing risks in the Negotiation and Transition stages. This design is in response to calls for a more detailed understanding of how organizations manage risks, it therefore takes the perspective of both the outsourcer and the supplier in the research. Part 2 is a multiple case study of telecom operators in Holland, Sweden and Australia where the supplier in all three cases is Ericsson Global Services organization. The study is further supplemented by mini-cases of large scale IS/IT infrastructure outsourcing. Part 3 has three main parts. Firstly, a cross case analysis of the cases in Part 2; secondly, a discussion of the findings linked to the research questions resulting in a set of propositions. The third and final part covers additional insights and learnings from studying business critical outsourcing and suggestions for further research. The main contributions in the research can be summarised as: Physical asset specificity follows transaction costs logic, however human asset specificity is largely ignored by both outsourcer and supplier Business critical outsourcing by its nature faces a limited market for capable suppliers. This results in single-source negotiations followed by a cooperative stance and open book negotiations. Das & Teng’s (2001) framework for management of risks has been found to have specific directions, some bi-directional and others uni-directional. Furthermore, different dimensions in the framework operate at different managerial levels. Goodwill trust-building operate at the corporate executive level, competence trust-building, output and behavioural control at the level of the negotiation team, and the research indicates that the social control dimension is not applied in business critical outsourcing negotiations. A further finding is that goodwill trust-building precedes all other dimensions of trust and control, and is a pre-requisite for establishing a cooperative stance in the negotiations.

Avec l'arrivée de l'époque de l'économie informatique, la société présente une demande et un besoin plus exigeants sur le secteur de télécommunication. Depuis les années 1980s, les réformes du marché mondial de la télécommunication s'orientent vers l'introduction de la régulation, la favorisation de la concurrence et la privatisation. Cependant, le marché de télécommunication chinois suit toujours le mode de gestion traditionnelle, c'est-à-dire monopolisent les entreprises d'état influencées elles-mêmes par le gouvernement. Le retard des réformes freine le développement de cette industrie et l'état malsain, dans lequel coexistent le prix trop élevé, le service peu satisfaisant et le chiffre d'affaires non suffisant, exige plus d'ouverture. Par rapport à beaucoup d'autres secteurs, celui de la télécommunication influence de façon plus profonde et stratégique le développement complet, cohérent et durable de l'économie chinoise. Par conséquent, les réformes de ce secteur attirent beaucoup d'attention. En plus, comme l'industrie de télécommunication a connu très tôt les réformes orientées vers le marché et qu'elle a donc un système relativement complet, ses prochains réformes seront pour les autres secteurs un exemple et une référence. Le présent travail s'intéresse ainsi aux réformes de l'industrie de télécommunication chinoise, ainsi que les performances qu'ils entraînent. C'est un sujet qui est non seulement significatif et crutial pour le développement cohérent de la société économique chinoise, mais aussi nécessaire et imminent pour une réponse. Le présent travail comprend six chapitres dont le contenu et la structure sont suivants : premièrement, la thèse suit l'ordre "caractéristiques - concurrence - régulation - réformes", et basé sur les théories de monopolisation naturelle, de concurrence effective et d'organisation industrielle, elle met en ordre et analyse la création, le développement et la mutation de l'industrie de télécommunication moderne de Chine, ce qui constituera le fondement théorique pour la recherche sur les performances des réformes de l'industrie de télécommunication chinoise. Deuxièmement, en tenant compte de l'impact des facteurs institutionnels sur l'organisation industrielle, la présente thèse met en avant un cadre d'évaluation RSCP (règlement-structure-comportement-performances), qui a pour objectif d'établir une concurrence effective dans les réformes du secteur de télécommunication de la Chine. Troisièmement, le présent travail divise, de manière chronologique, le parcours des réformes du secteur de télécommunication en 4 étapes (depuis le début de la réforme et l'ouverture de la Chine) : gestion monopolistique, soutien politique, introduction des concurrences et concurrences complètes préliminaires. En analysant la situation actuelle de la réforme du secteur de télécommunication de la Chine, la thèse tente d'évaluer ensuite ses performances. La thèse calcule à la fin l'indice des performances des réformes du secteur de télécommunication de la Chine et effectue ensuite une analyse statistique et des tests d'hypothèses basés sur le modèle de régression linéaire multiple. Le résultat montre que les réformes orientées vers le marché du secteur de télécommunication de la chine favorise, dans une certaine mesure, le développement de l'industrie chinoise de télécommunication, réduit efficacement les dépenses en services, augmente le nombre d'utilisateurs, et optimise la structure des services de télécommunications. En même temps, l'étude constate également que la qualité et la capacité du service doivent encore être améliorées. / With the advent of information economy people all over the world have a higher and more extensive demand on the communications industry. Since the 1980s there has emerged a dominant trend in countries around the world to deregulate the telecom industry and introduce market-oriented reforms. Up until the 1980s the Chinese telecom industry was still monopolized by the government and the country’s market-oriented reforms in the industry lagged behind many other rapidly developing nations. The problem of high expense, low service quality, and insufficient service capacity made it urgent to open up the Chinese telecom market. Compared to other competitive industries it can be said that the telecom industry comprehensively and strategically influences the overall harmonious and sustainable development of a national economy. Reform in the telecom industry covers a wide range of areas and is closely associated with the national welfare and people’s livelihood. As such it attracts great attention from the public at large. Compared to other industries in China whichare also regulated by the government, China’s telecom industry (the first to carry our market-oriented reforms in the country) is relatively mature as such it can be said that its future reform provides a reference point for market-oriented reforms in other industries as well in the country. Taking this fact into consideration the present thesis chooses market-oriented reforms and the performance of that reform in China’s telecom industry as our research objective. We consider this to be an essential element for the harmonious economic and social development of modern China. It is therefore an urgent issue to be addressed. The whole thesis consists of six chapters and its main content and structure are as follows: Taking into account the characteristics of competition – regulation – reform as a starting point, the thesis utilizes natural monopoly theory, effective competition theory, and industrial organization theory as the conceptual and theoretical basis for our work.It reviews previous work completed in the area then conducts an in-depth analysis of the foundation, development, and characteristics of modern telecom industry, laying atheoretical foundation for studying the performance of market-oriented reform in China’s telecom industry. Secondly, taking into consideration the impact of institutional factors on industrialorganization, the present thesis puts forward a regulation–structure–conduct –performance (RSCP) theoretical framework based on China’s national conditions and takes effective competition as the goal of China’s telecom industry reform. Thirdly, the thesis groups, in a chronological manner, China’s telecom reform into four different phases (since the beginning of the reform and opening up of the economy) which have been identified as: monopoly operation, policy support, introducing competition, and preliminary perfect competition. It then conducts an analysis of the reform background, reform procedure, and reform measures. By analyzing the current situation in China’s telecom industry reform, the thesis attempts to evaluate the performance of the reform in China’s telecom industry. The thesis then calculates the performance index of China’s telecom industry reform and conducts a statistical analysis and hypothesis testing based on correlation analysis and multiple linear regression models respectively. The result shows that market-oriented reform in China’s telecom industry, to some degree, promotes the development of China’s telecom industry, effectively reduces the expenses in telecom services, boosts the number of telecom service users, and optimizes telecom service structure. These positive developments notwithstanding, the study also finds that service quality and capacity are yet to be significantly improved in China’s telecomindustry.

<p>As the competition is increasing both nationally and globally, the companies are looking for new ways to decrease costs and gain innovation. The latest hot topic is Open innovation (OI), which can be seen as the ultimate limit in terms of accessible expertise, since it makes no difference in valuing an idea in terms of its origin. The trend is that companies are increasingly acknowledging the relevance of external resources, engaging in OI rather than relying exclusively on internal research and development (Chesborough, 2006). There are many types of supplier relations and innovation networks that the companies can take part in, but OI can be seen more as an approach and mindset that should determine <em>how </em>the companies act, whether it’s a question of being more open for ideas from another department, or even towards a competitor company. The companies are often using different types of collaborations and strategy and, potentially, trying to move up “the scale” towards OI.  With this thesis work I propose that there are many different aspects that the companies have to be aware of when moving up the scale from in-house development towards global OI. In reality, not many companies are taking the full advantage of OI, nonetheless knows the perquisites for doing so. OI may be the trend for development of companies, but today the nature of this is complex as companies are using different layers of the supplier and collaboration types in different parts of the organization. The success stories which Chesborough uses to exemplify the concept of OI do not address the grey area, or place on a scale, where many companies are situated in. This study will therefore explore the complexity in managing these collaborations that is not so present in the literature. How do you manage a collaboration that includes supplier relation, partnership and a want for OI at the same time? This means that there has to be a selection on which projects to collaborate with, as well as strategies for collaborating in a more innovative way and the steps that needs to be taken to get there.  In this thesis I am going to use this broad definition of innovation:</p><p>Innovation is the total set of activities leading to the introduction of something new, resulting in strengthening the defendable competitive advantage of a company. (van der Meer, 1996)</p><p>My partner company in this study is a global Telecom company (DU Technology) who would like to learn more about this and improve their collaboration with an Indian Service provider (ITC). These companies will be used as a case study to provide an example on how complex the movement towards OI can be, and what it demands from the companies to succeed. As the companies are working in a global context, I will also highlight the importance of an understanding for the cultural differences that affects collaboration and how to manage these when they are not a part of your own company. <em></em></p>

As the competition is increasing both nationally and globally, the companies are looking for new ways to decrease costs and gain innovation. The latest hot topic is Open innovation (OI), which can be seen as the ultimate limit in terms of accessible expertise, since it makes no difference in valuing an idea in terms of its origin. The trend is that companies are increasingly acknowledging the relevance of external resources, engaging in OI rather than relying exclusively on internal research and development (Chesborough, 2006). There are many types of supplier relations and innovation networks that the companies can take part in, but OI can be seen more as an approach and mindset that should determine how the companies act, whether it’s a question of being more open for ideas from another department, or even towards a competitor company. The companies are often using different types of collaborations and strategy and, potentially, trying to move up “the scale” towards OI.  With this thesis work I propose that there are many different aspects that the companies have to be aware of when moving up the scale from in-house development towards global OI. In reality, not many companies are taking the full advantage of OI, nonetheless knows the perquisites for doing so. OI may be the trend for development of companies, but today the nature of this is complex as companies are using different layers of the supplier and collaboration types in different parts of the organization. The success stories which Chesborough uses to exemplify the concept of OI do not address the grey area, or place on a scale, where many companies are situated in. This study will therefore explore the complexity in managing these collaborations that is not so present in the literature. How do you manage a collaboration that includes supplier relation, partnership and a want for OI at the same time? This means that there has to be a selection on which projects to collaborate with, as well as strategies for collaborating in a more innovative way and the steps that needs to be taken to get there.  In this thesis I am going to use this broad definition of innovation: Innovation is the total set of activities leading to the introduction of something new, resulting in strengthening the defendable competitive advantage of a company. (van der Meer, 1996) My partner company in this study is a global Telecom company (DU Technology) who would like to learn more about this and improve their collaboration with an Indian Service provider (ITC). These companies will be used as a case study to provide an example on how complex the movement towards OI can be, and what it demands from the companies to succeed. As the companies are working in a global context, I will also highlight the importance of an understanding for the cultural differences that affects collaboration and how to manage these when they are not a part of your own company.

International emerging markets, being a matter of interest for Multinational Corporations (MNCs), is regularly researched by scholars for better future understanding. In this regard Resource Base View (RBV) and Resource Management theories are regularly matched and further developed. However, this research paper takes the boundaries from emerging markets to consolidating yet dynamic high-tech markets where research efforts could not be traced to adequate level. This paper has taken theories of RBV, RBV on International Business(IB) and Resource Management. It compared its validation with empirical evidences derived from case study of two mobile telecom MNCs cases which started operating in Pakistan when industry was emerging but soon entered in consolidation stage as high-tech industries are dynamic in nature. An extended evaluation was made by analyzing impact of environmental dynamic factors on these specific MNCs in light of 'Resource Management Process &amp; Distinctions' which lead us to the following findings: Possessing good resource base is essential for MNCs during international ventures but the resource as core capabilities may not develop into competitive advantage if these resources are not structured, bundled and leveraged adequately as per industry dynamism, especially when industry is moving into consolidation phase. It is also learnt that MNCs may advantage from its head quarter's past set of experience. Yet at the same time subsidiary's locally controlled customization also benefits over all resource management process. Empirical findings of these cases gives us a good reason to consider 'shareholder's long-term vision/intensions' as well, being an important element in sustenance or success of such high tech MNCs. The research work opens further arenas for future studies such as comparison of conclusion and their generalization with other industries in same country or same industry in other countries with similar environmental dynamics.

Social media is a rapidly rising phenomenon, providing new opportunities for consumers and businesses to communicate and share information. The development of social media has allowed for customer relationship management (CRM) to extend its area of use, coining the now common concept social CRM. Social CRM allows for new levels of interactivity between companies and consumers, however the effectiveness of social CRM is uncertain in many areas, mainly due to it being hard to tie customer interaction in social CRM to tangibles for the company. One of these areas is customer acquisition, where there are difficulties for companies to see how actions in their social CRM efforts affect customer acquisition. Being able to reach out to customers in an effective way is not enough for companies to acquire a customer. The value the company is proposing also has to be attractive for the customer, to be considered. There are several attributes that a company has to consider for its value proposition, in order for it to be successful. Depending on the industry the attributes can have different weight, emphasizing that companies should know what customers in their industry value. For this reason, having better knowledge of what customers value than the competition, thus having a stronger value proposition, grants a competitive edge. The purpose of this research project is to provide better understanding of how to conduct social CRM, while at the same time investigating how value propositions of telecom companies can be improved, to eventually increase customer acquisition. In order to fulfill the purpose, extensive literature has been evaluated, in addition to data gathered in focus groups. Three focus groups were conducted in Luleå, Sweden, with a total of 18 participants of ages 20-30. The results of the research project point towards the customer being in charge of social CRM interaction with companies, meaning companies have to adapt their social CRM strategies to fit the customers’ desires. The social customer have high demands of privacy in social media, which implies a thin line companies have to walk to convey their message, while at the same time not intruding on the customer’s privacy. The findings also indicate that customers want high flexibility, simplicity, and trustworthiness from telecom companies’ value propositions, emphasizing companies to adapt their value propositions to meet these demands.

The customer’s role as a co-creator of value is an essential element in the service-dominant (S-D) logic, highlighting the importance for firms to develop relationships with customers through dialogue. By providing feedback customers become co-developers, and help create a competitive advantage. Moreover, the Internet offers an abundance of digital channels for dialogue. Payne et al (2008) have developed a framework for value co-creation, which in this paper is adapted to communication in digital channels, focusing on a company perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies in the Swedish telecommunication industry use digital channels, including social media, for value co-creation with customers. To enable this a case study is conducted with three network operators. The data collection consists of several interviews. Findings indicate that the companies are indeed customer-centric in their offerings, and that communication and feedback in digital channels are of strategic importance. Furthermore, changes in technology, industry logics and customer preferences offer opportunities as well as challenges. Another challenge lies in finding suitable metrics and in knowledge management. The concept of lead users is presented as a potential resource. It is concluded that communication in digital channels enhances the features of the S-D logic.

Customer loyalty has been investigated in years, and its importance to corporate is understood by managers. The purpose of this paper is to find out what kinds of specific and concrete operational factors have an important impact on Chinese mobile telecom customer loyalty. Firstly, a model was established to represent the relationship between customer loyalty and its influencing factors (customer satisfaction, perceived quality, customer value, switching cost and corporate image). 11 specific and concrete operational factors were found according to Chinese mobile telecom industry which were never been studied by the pre-researchers. Secondly, a survey of questionnaire has been conducted which help to found out that the 9 factors (call quality, coverage of area, SMS quality, the convenience and reliability of Inquiring phone fee system, service quality of service center and hotline, rating price of given quality, customer’s worry of troubles after change cell phone number, social responsibility, advertisements about corporate image) have an important impact on customer loyalty on Chinese mobile telecom industry. Thirdly, separating these 9 factors into 3 groups through investigate the performance of customer loyalty in China Mobile. At last, some recommendations were given to China Mobile

There is an increasing pressure on service firms to innovate and compete on new offerings. As our lives become more digitized through the ubiquitous connectivity by the usage of digital devices, companies are now able to collect vast amount of various data in real-time, and thus, know radically more about their customers. Companies could leverage on this growing body of data and developing relevant services based on customer demands accordingly. One industry compelled to benefit by utilizing customer information is the telecom industry due to fierce competition and a need of innovation in a saturated market. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate how telecom companies use customer information in their development process of new services by answering the research question: How do telecom companies use customer information within their New Service Development process? To illuminate this, a qualitative research was conducted on three Swedish telecom companies. The findings indicate that telecom companies possess a beneficial position since they are able to collect a vast amount of data about their customers due to the digital nature of their services. However, they struggle to efficiently integrate the data and seamlessly disseminate the obtained knowledge internally. Hence, leveraging customer information in new service development has not reached its full potential and how well it is incorporated is determined by the skills of key employees and their collaboration rather than deployed internal processes.