Market, regulation and technology regime: implication for China mobile phones industry

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to prove that the technology that customers accept is sometimes not the most advanced, but backward, and to explain why different technologies could coexist under certain market situations and government regulations.

Design/methodology/approach

A general model was developed to analyze choice of technology regime under evolution of market demand and government regulation led by evolutionary economics.

Findings

Market demands and government regulations can affect the change of technology regime deeply, regardless of the level of certain technology. With the change of environment factors which affect China's mobile phones technological evolution, this paper testifies to the rationality and inevitability of PHS's market success and indicates that government regulations would impact the technological choice and lead to some technology market success, but it would lead to low efficiency of resources allocation.

Originality/value

The paper provides an instrument for analyzing the co‐evolution of market demand, government regulation and technology regime.

Citation

Sun, W., Peng, J., Ma, J. and Wang, S. (2009), "Market, regulation and technology regime: implication for China mobile phones industry", Journal of Technology Management in China, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 250-261. https://doi.org/10.1108/17468770911013555