Abstract This study explores the feasibility of applying mobile phone¡¦s value-added services in attracting adolenscents¡¦ participation in local festival. In recent years, Taiwan¡¦s local governments have been considering how to effectively enhance cultural identities and promote cultural tourism through conducting various kinds of festivals. Against this backdrop, the introduction of using mobile phone for festival marketing is seriously considered. Although adolescents are the group most in need of cultivation of local culture, previous marketing effort proved to be fruitless. Traditional festivals continue attracting visitors from the so-called cultural tourists ¡V those already with cultural knowledge of the tourist site (known as tourist gaze). Usually it was in the ccasion of family tour that adolescents would participate in festivals. Therefore, it has been an issue regarding how to attract adolescents in attending festivals. While adolescents are characterised by the nature of social grouping, plus high flexibility of adopting new technologies, the auther is most interested in how to use mobile phones as a effective means for attracting them to festival places. By conducting a survey of 738 valid samples, generally aged 14-16, from Kaohsiung¡¦s public high schools, the author uses factor analysis to sort out perceiveably the most favorable marketing tools. Short message service (SMS) stands out as the first choice. They also favour value-added services that adds with local culture taste. Particularly they would welcome value-added services that can incorporate role models, favourite products, and group activities into festival marketing. Using adolescents¡¦ familiar jargons will touch their heart as well. This study would contribute to the understanding of Kaohsiung¡¦s adolescents in adopting and using information and communications technologies (ICTs) in general, and whether they would accept mobile marketing for promoting festivals in particular. Hopefully by using this findings as an clue or a guide, local governments and telecommunications operators can design a better-planned and effective festival marketing arrangement which can further help constructs adolescents¡¦ local cultural identity. Keywords: mobile phone, value-added services, festival, marketing, short message, service (SMS)

With the rapid growth of cellur phone users in Taiwan,the voice service market is going to mature.The 2.5G and 3G become the main stream.The license of 3G has released in last year.Therefore,mobile value-added services are more and more important for telecommunication service oprators.The study combines the TAM and task-technology fit theory to analyze the adoption of mobile value-added services.

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Competition in the logistics service industry has constantly increased over the last decades which has lead to the traditional services offered by third-party logistics (TPL) providers becoming commodities and no longer offering attractive profit margins. When the company’s core product becomes a commodity, the company’s performance of supplementary services becomes vital for competitive advantage. The term “value-added service” is defined as a service adding extra feature, form or functions to the basic service and stands for all types of activities which are not directly based on services traditionally offered by TPL providers, i.e., transportation and warehousing. The term value-added service is mainly used in the logistics literature while supplementary service is used in the service management literature. Although value-added services can offer obvious advantages in form of customer lock-in and improved competitive advantage, such services are still offered at a low level and there is much space for development. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how TPL firms develop value-added services and to investigate what the driving forces and barriers for developing and providing such services are. In the frame of reference, literature within service management, outsourcing, third-party logistics, value-added services, innovation and learning have been used. In the thesis, an inductive research approach is used and qualitative study has been carried out by applying multiple case studies as a research strategy. The empirical material is gathered from three TPL providers: Bring Logistics Solutions, Aditro Logistics and Schenker Logistics. Data was collected through several interviews conducted at the three target companies and the findings have been analysed using the existing theory stated in the frame of reference. The main conclusions from analysing the development process of value-added services are that this process in most cases is initiated by customer request and that development of value-added service can occur both in the beginning or during an ongoing relationship, though a lack of information about a customer’s business in the beginning of the relationship can hinder the TPL provider to develop value-added services. Apart from the TPL provider and the customer, firms such as IT companies, transport suppliers and other companies can be involved in the development process. No formal innovation process is applied for developing value-added services. The main driving force behind value-added services is meeting customer demands. Lack of proactiveness from the TPL provider’s side can be a barrier for developing value-added services, as well as problems with achieving successful organizational learning. The difficulty for the TPL firm to coordinate offering so many different services can be also seen as a barrier.

Globalization, economic volatility and uncertainty have impacted global business markets. This has also had an effect on the logistics and supply chain sector. The third party logistics (3PL) industry is constantly changing due to global industry consolidation, technology integration, industry specialization, and industry alliance networks. The most significant changes have been in areas such as 3PL industry size and make-up, services offered, geographical reach, and the information technology (IT) support provided. Companies can survive in a highly competitive environment by creating competitive advantage. Literature presents three different strategies for creating competitive advantage. These are cost leadership, differentiation and focus. Furthermore, innovations and collaboration between companies can also be strategies for creating competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to analyse from the retailers’ perspective, how 3PL providers could meet the customers’ needs better and create competitive advantage in the 3PL market. Furthermore, the purpose of the research is to find out which are, according to the customers’ needs, the best directions that 3PL providers should follow. This research contains both inductive and deductive research approach elements. The empirical data is collected through a survey and interviews. In total 45 retailers took part in the survey. Moreover, five of the survey respondents were selected for additional interviews. The collected data have been analysed by using theories and previous studies in the literature. The main findings from analysing the empirical data and the existing theory are that in order for 3PL providers to create competitive advantage, they should focus on the three elements: selection criteria, incentives and barriers. These influence their relationship with the retailers. 3PL providers should also try to enhance the service quality and satisfaction level in the fields of transportation, warehousing and reverse logistics activities. Most importantly, 3PL providers should provide logistics services and solutions that are in the same level with the retailers’ objectives. Furthermore, 3PL providers can also improve their efficiency and become more competitive by having deeper co-operation with other logistics providers.

<p>Competition in the logistics service industry has constantly increased over the last decades which has lead to the traditional services offered by third-party logistics (TPL) providers becoming commodities and no longer offering attractive profit margins. When the company’s core product becomes a commodity, the company’s performance of supplementary services becomes vital for competitive advantage. The term “value-added service” is defined as a service adding extra feature, form or functions to the basic service and stands for all types of activities which are not directly based on services traditionally offered by TPL providers, i.e., transportation and warehousing. The term value-added service is mainly used in the logistics literature while supplementary service is used in the service management literature. Although value-added services can offer obvious advantages in form of customer lock-in and improved competitive advantage, such services are still offered at a low level and there is much space for development.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how TPL firms develop value-added services and to investigate what the driving forces and barriers for developing and providing such services are. In the frame of reference, literature within service management, outsourcing, third-party logistics, value-added services, innovation and learning have been used.</p><p>In the thesis, an inductive research approach is used and qualitative study has been carried out by applying multiple case studies as a research strategy. The empirical material is gathered from three TPL providers: Bring Logistics Solutions, Aditro Logistics and Schenker Logistics. Data was collected through several interviews conducted at the three target companies and the findings have been analysed using the existing theory stated in the frame of reference.</p><p>The main conclusions from analysing the development process of value-added services are that this process in most cases is initiated by customer request and that development of value-added service can occur both in the beginning or during an ongoing relationship, though a lack of information about a customer’s business in the beginning of the relationship can hinder the TPL provider to develop value-added services. Apart from the TPL provider and the customer, firms such as IT companies, transport suppliers and other companies can be involved in the development process. No formal innovation process is applied for developing value-added services. The main driving force behind value-added services is meeting customer demands. Lack of proactiveness from the TPL provider’s side can be a barrier for developing value-added services, as well as problems with achieving successful organizational learning. The difficulty for the TPL firm to coordinate offering so many different services can be also seen as a barrier.</p>

This Master’s Thesis concerns the technical problems and solutions in the Telia Mobile’s Golden Gate Architecture. The Golden Gate project will bridge service control from the IPnetwork to the circuit switched network. Connecting the different users of PSTN, GSM, W-LAN, and GPRS networks together will require solutions to many problems. Most of the problems have already been defined by Telia. Our task is to evaluate two parts of the Golden Gate architecture, namely the Interconnect- and Service Provider roles. The Interconnector provider connects networks of different technical standards and enables other network operators to reach Service Providers on the Internet or other IP-based networks. The role concerns mainly mapping between SS7 signaling and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), charging and billing. Via the Interconnector the Service Provider can connect different services to any network. We will describe the SIP-protocol in detail and then we will look into the mapping between SS7 and SIP. We will also propose a charging model. It is important to have a solution that supports roaming between the different networks, we will evaluate such a solution. Most of the protocols (INAP, ENUM, MAP and ISUP) that are involved in the Golden Gate architecture are not completely defined. There are many Internet Drafts that discuss the possible functionality of the protocols and the interworking between them. Many different Internet-workgroups are working with these issues. No one seems to have the right answers for the interconnection between the protocols involved. Since the IP-telephony will probably replace today’s telephony systems, it is important to ensure a suitable Quality of Service (QoS), security that guarantees privacy, and a fair billing function. These are the three major problems in the IP-telephony world. IP-Telephony or Voice over IP (VoIP) has been on the market for a long time, there are many 'free IP-call sites' that use VoIP, but the quality of the calls are not yet good enough to replace traditional telephony. Our task here is to make sure that the necessary quality of service is provided, and a reliable charging model is used.

"The failure to consider the complexity of the regional telecommunication systems in planning has increased the telecom gap between other regions and the rural sectors in the developing countries. Earmarked funds generated by Universal Service Obligations and various types of other direct and cross-subsidies have not helped this situation. This research uses system dynamics modeling approach to understand the complexity of the system and to evaluate how different policies affect telephone densities. It is demonstrated that some of the prevalent policies may be counterproductive. Policy experiments with the model demonstrate that market-clearing pricing implemented with Universal Service Obligations, and a value-added service combination may significantly improve rural telecommunications."

"The failure to consider the complexity of the regional telecommunication systems in planning has increased the telecom gap between other regions and the rural sectors in the developing countries. Earmarked funds generated by Universal Service Obligations and various types of other direct and cross-subsidies have not helped this situation. This research uses system dynamics modeling approach to understand the complexity of the system and to evaluate how different policies affect telephone densities. It is demonstrated that some of the prevalent policies may be counterproductive. Policy experiments with the model demonstrate that market-clearing pricing implemented with Universal Service Obligations, and a value-added service combination may significantly improve rural telecommunications."

Telecommunication has evolved tremendously from its origin to the present. Competition has grown in the telecommunications industry. One of the idiosyncratic characteristics of the mobile telecom services industry is the offering of homogenous products/services to the whole market, which indicates services being undifferentiated. The purpose of this paper is to study the differentiation strategies of mobile telecom operators and the impact of factors influencing the process of differentiation. The study will concentrate on the differentiation strategies of the mobile telecom service firms operating in Pakistan. The analysis model of this research was developed based on the determinants of product differentiation, relating to the tools that managers at mobile telecom service companies employ to execute differentiation strategies, and the factors influencing them. The empirical part of this study was conducted in January 2017. The multiple case study approach was adopted as a study method, and four case studies of the mobile telecom service companies operating in Pakistan were compared through cross-case analysis. Qualitative methods of data collection were employed and through semi-structured interviews primary data was gathered and secondary data was extracted from the websites and annual reports. The findings from the four case studies revealed that all the mobile operators opt for the differentiation strategies based on the determinants. It was examined from this research that these determinants are interrelated with each other. It was evident from the study of all the case companies that regulations affect the industry profits, increase the cost of upgrading the networks and infrastructures, causing a delay in the adoption of innovation, thereby influencing the differentiation strategy. The second factor influencing the differentiation process revealed in this study was competitive imitation, which caused convergence of strategies resulting in undifferentiated services even though operators tried to differentiate their services. The competitive imitation becomes easier due to the oligopoly structure of the mobile telecom industry.