The national champion in ICT standard competition: evidence from an emerging country

Some emerging countries, like China, hope to capture value from indigenous innovation through a more aggressive approach to the management of their intellectual properties, and especially toward the establishment of indigenous standards which reflect the technological capabilities accumulated by local leading ICT firms. Some local players are not satisfied to be followers behind foreign multinationals. With government backing, these local players are already in a position to compete for core technology and hope to harvest technological development in support of national economic and security interests. They pursue these goals by leveraging the opportunities presented by the cycle of development in information technology. Studying the evolution trajectory of mobile telecommunication technology in China, we find that the government continues to have a great influence on the technical direction of existing or potential mobile technology by intervening in setting the standards for telecommunication operators. The commercialization progress of the homegrown 3G standard will be an important factor in the decision-making process of national regulators. Emerging countries like China are trying to resolve the trade-offs between alternative technical choices of future technological standards from the political, social, and community perspectives and we develop an analytical framework. Undoubtedly, emerging countries will play more proactive and significant roles in the future communications area with their great potential market. By grasping the opportunity through their technological capability, local firms want to change some of the international rules of industrial games.