Technology standards-setting in the US wireless telecommunications industry: A study of three generations of digital standards development

This article focuses on the evolution of technology standards-setting in the US wireless telecommunications industry during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand and model the organizational process and environmental influences employed to develop three generations (i.e. second generation (2.0) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), second generation (2.5) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and third generation (3.0) Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)) of de jure US wireless digital telecommunications standards. Through the use of a multi-case study approach, the research study focuses on inter-organizational strategic cooperation among wireless telecommunications firms proposing competitive technology designs in the standard development process. Based on data collected in these three case studies, wireless standard development models are “mapped” for the TDMA, CDMA and WCDMA technologies. Moreover, a generic, conceptual wireless technology standard development model is “mapped”, a further refinement of an earlier seminal model of telecommunications standard-setting. Finally, conclusions are reached, with both theoretical and practical implications, and suggested areas of future research (in the form of a set of research hypotheses) are presented.