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Profiles broadband communications, wondering whether AOL Time Warner will keep its side of the bargain that promises to provide a universal telephone service, in exchange for accepting regulations regarding monopoly. Recommends that only by quality of service monitoring can AOL Time Warner be seen to be keeping its side of the bargain. Concludes that quality of service monitoring is a timely approach in the USA with regard to broadband communications systems.

Over the past several years, Pechiney has launched intensive R&D activities, in close connection with its main customers, aimed at tailoring property balances to specific applications and at reducing the overall cost of manufactured aircraft parts. These close partnerships led to the development of a number of new alloys and tempers covering all the major aircraft structural parts, all of them bringing benefits in one or more design properties, and all of them having being chosen for new aircraft. Similarly, new special qualities were designed to reduce customer costs: low residual stress, high formability, age formable and weldable solutions were developed and chosen for their efficiency in lean manufacturing. It is the purpose of this paper to review these cost reduction and weight saving initiatives conducted by Pechiney. The main design property improvements for the newly developed alloys and tempers and practical applications of the special material qualities will be reported. In addition, the underlying metallurgical principles of the performance improvements will be discussed.

This preliminary study aims to investigate and describe aggression-supportive normative beliefs among patients of a high-secure hospital.

Therapy data from a sample of high-secure forensic hospital patients (N = 11) who had participated in Life Minus Violence-Enhanced, a long-term violence therapy, was examined using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). During therapy, cognitions linked to past incidences of aggression were explored using aggression choice chains.

IPA was applied to data generated through this process to examine the presence and nature of normative beliefs reported, identifying seven themes: rules for aggressive behaviour; use of violence to obtain revenge; processing emotions with violence; surviving in a threatening world; do not become a victim; using violence to maintain status; and prosocial beliefs.

Findings demonstrate that forensic patients have specific aggression-supportive normative beliefs, which may be malleable. Limitations and implications are discussed.

At Warner‐Lambert we have recently made a significant and revolutionary change in the way we manage our business. Our objective has been to reposition Warner‐Lambert as a high‐technology health‐care company, a change from our previous identity as a diversified pharmaceutical firm. This has had to be an evolutionary transition since quite obviously it couldn't be done overnight.

Creates a future history of the evolution of the US telecommunications network infrastructure, by combining a scenario approach with the tool of concept mapping to explain how optical fibre technologies became the dominant technologies in that infrastructure.

This paper aims to underscore how the digitization of content and the convergence in the telecommunications sector has prompted a wave of consolidation between telecom and content players.

Using interdisciplinary insights from competition policy and business strategy, the paper draws attention to the interplay between business model innovation and merger control in the converged telecoms sector.

Technological innovation and business model innovation led to the emergence of over-the-top (OTT) services. This innovation in turn led to two key effects, first, successful commercialization of content and the emergence of the “smart pipes” that in turn has led to the second effect, which is increased mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the converged telecommunications sector. Emergence of OTT with big data as a key advantage challenged the strategy and business models of the more established players, such as the AT&T, Time Warner, Liberty Global and Fox, which in turn led to the current trend of M&As in the sector.

This paper makes the following key contributions to the literature on M&As between the fixed/mobile and content players. First, it elucidates how the existing market players can benefit from competition policy, such as merger remedies to enter new and related markets. Second, it advocates that the US and the European competition authorities while assessing these M&As, take due account of innovation in business models, as business model innovation not only promotes innovation in the market but also enhances consumer welfare, considering that it offers the merged firm economies of scale and scope to offer better-quality goods and services at subsidized prices.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

This paper investigates if investors consider legal insider trading data while making investment decisions. If any investment decision is based on insider transactions, then it will result in abnormal stock characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if insider trading affects stock characteristics like price, return and volume. The paper further investigates the effect on stock characteristics after the trade of different types of insiders and the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.

The study uses the event study method to measure the abnormal price, return and volume. Two-stage least square regression is used to investigate the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.

The insider trades affect price, return and volume. The results are identical for both buy and sell transactions. The trades of different types of insiders have diverse effects on stock characteristics. The trades of substantial shareholders give rise to the highest abnormal price and return, whereas the promoters' trades result in the highest abnormal volume. No relationship is detected between abnormal return and volume.

A novel method to calculate the abnormal price is proposed. The effect of trading of all types of insiders on stock characteristics is analyzed. The relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume, after an insider trade, is investigated.

In the years to come, traditional product‐centered strategies alone won’t create the kind of growth companies desire. An alternative platform for driving significant, sustained new growth is demand innovation (as opposed to product innovation). Demand innovation focuses on using one’s product position as a starting point from which to do new things for customers that solve their biggest problems and improve their overall performance. Embedded in the customer’s use of your product are all kinds of hassles and inefficiencies as they buy it, use it, store it, maintain it, finance it, and eventually dispose of it. This broader web of activity represents tremendous economic activity, often 10 to 20 times greater in total value than the product market itself. Understanding and participating in this customer “value chain” is the key to demand innovation. Making demand innovation profitable means improving both your customers’ economics and capturing value for your company. Here success is rooted in putting to use a set of powerful hidden assets that your company may already have. Five types of hidden assets are described with guidelines for how to master the new discipline of demand innovation. Five principles are offered to guide managers through the challenges that arise for developing new‐growth projects into major opportunities.