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The purpose of this paper is to analyze standard setting and how a critical mass of users emerged in an industry in which multiple interface standards co‐exist and a critical mass of users was created multiple times.

This paper is based on research conducted for almost ten years using the case study approach. Data were gathered through more than 100 interviews with Japanese firms and through analyses of published sources.

The paper finds that growth in mobile internet services required agreements on multiple interface standards where some of these interface standards exhibited interdependencies and thus required integral design, while others have been built on top of these “basic” interface standards. Agreements on the former interface standards enable basic data connections between phones, services, and content and this required integral design. The latter interface standards connect the mobile phone with content and applications from other industries (e.g. music, video, publishing, broadcasting, and payment) and each critical mass of phones, services, and content for them partly builds from previously created critical masses.

The research focused on a single industry in a single country.

This paper helps scholars and practitioners better understand how interface standards and critical masses for them emerge.

This is the first paper to analyze multiple interface standards in a single industry and the emergence of a critical mass of users or complementary products for these standards.

This paper describes the key technological trajectories and their potential effect on the expansion of mobile Internet applications. The initial success of entertainment content in Japan in 1999 caused manufacturers to introduce phones with color displays, polyphonic tones, cameras, and Java programs, and these functions are supported by other technological improvements like faster microprocessors, larger memory, and faster network speeds. Coupled with an evolution in user behavior, these technologies are making the phone a portable entertainment player, a new marketing tool for retailers and manufacturers, a multi‐channel shopping device, a navigation tool, a new type of ticket and money, and a new mobile intranet device. These trends will have a large impact on competition in the global mobile phone market as dominant designs emerge at the global level.

Presents a model that hypothesizes relationships between logistical complexity and both the importance of JIT manufacturing and the most appropriate organization structure for implementing JIT manufacturing. Logistical complexity can be defined in terms of the number of manufacturing steps or the number of different part numbers handled in a factory. Hypothesizes that the greater a factory′s logistical complexity, the greater the importance of JIT manufacturing and the greater the interdependences between different manufacturing steps and people and thus the greater the need for co‐ordinating mechanisms.

This article examines the dynamics of wireless R&D as a combined function of technology and market evolution, focusing on the management and organization of wireless R&D. From the postwar era to the late 1990s, the management and organization of wireless R&D capabilities has been effectively reversed. Industry thrust has shifted from closed specifications, central innovation and domestic market to open specifications, distributed innovation and global networking. The old era is reflected by the classic Bell Labs; the new era by Nokia. Due to the alternation of sustaining and disruptive change, no wireless company can survive without incessant innovation. In this rivalry, the winners are companies that best match their organizational capabilities with the changing industry opportunities.

Throughout this study, the authors sought to identify the antecedents and consequences of a multi-dimensional consumption-value construct. Data were collected from sports spectators in Japan (n=372) and the United States (n=396). The results indicate that three quality dimensions (functional, technical and aesthetic quality) have a significant impact on their respective value dimensions in the context of sporting events. Moreover, the constructs of entertainment and community prestige have positive effects on customers' behavioural intentions.

With the available technological tools, fans are able to access sport products regardless of geographic proximity. Through technology, fans can follow sports teams from other countries. In contrast to previous research focused on the local fan, in this paper we report on a study of a group of distant fans – Chinese National Basketball Association (NBA) fans – as the focal object. The study was guided by three questions: RQ1: what motives drive a distant fan’s involvement with their favorite NBA team? RQ2: are there differences in the motives associated with the different stages of psychological connection among distant fans? RQ3: are there differences in the amount of media consumption at the different stages of psychological connection? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An online survey was distributed to consumers of a Chinese sports message board to assess the motives of distant fans (n=281) following teams in the NBA, and strength of psychological connection to the NBA based on the psychological continuum model (PCM).

There were significant differences in the motives for following a distant NBA team among the respondents at different stages of psychological connection. Significant differences were also found among Chinese NBA fans at the respective stages regarding media consumption.

This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge regarding sport fandom. It is one of the first studies to include an assessment of the sport consumption motives of distant fans, more specifically, motives influencing Chinese fans’ consumption of the NBA. Utilizing the PCM allows for the segmentation of a specific fan population and to ascertain whether there are differences in the motives and behaviors associated with different stages of an individual’s psychological connection with a team.