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Changes within European telecommunication systems have been analyzed by the author with the purpose of exploring the social, political, and economic conditions that will determine the emergence of a new continental communication infrastructure by 1992. Alfred L. Thimm examines the commonly neglected institutional factors that have shaped the different responses of British, French, and German political and economic elites to both technological changes and the European Community's telecommunication strategy. The concepts of political economy are applied to explore the views and vested interests of adversaries in the intense struggle over the reform of the telecommunication systems in these key countries.
Thimm briefly reviews the historical and political roots of the telecommunication administrations in Great Britain, France, and Germany, and the technological and political events that have undermined existing institutions. He emphasizes the national importance of telecommunication as a strategic industry and its vital role as an integral part of the integrated European infrastructure. He considers the strategic role of technical standards as a device that simultaneously harmonizes European networks and serves as a marketing obstacle to non-European enterprises. The winners and losers in the struggle to adapt European telecom policy to new technological and political conditions are clearly identified.
List of contents
Preface
European Telecommunication Policy: Creative Destruction in a Corporate Environment
German Telecommunication Policy, 1970-89
The Final Phase of German Telecommunication Reform, 1987-90
The Reform of the French Telecommunication System: A Case Study in Industrial Policy
Minitel: An Industrial Policy Success by William L. Cats-Baril
The Deregulation and Privatization of British Telecommunication
The Telecommunication Policy of the European Community; Project 1992
The National and Corporate Strategies of International Standards: The Case of Telecommunication
Index
About the author
ALFRED L. THIMM is a Professor of Management at the University of Vermont. Over the past twenty years he has frequently been affiliated as a visiting professor with the University of Munich, Institut fur Organization and the Wirtschaftsuniversitat, Institut fur Organization in Vienna. An international consultant, he is the author of many scholarly articles and five books, including
Economists and Society (with J. Finkelstein) 1973,
Entscheidungstheorie (with E. Witte) 1976, and
The False Promise of Codetermination 1980.
