T-109.7510 Research Seminar on Telecommunications Business (5 cr)

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T-109.7510 Research Seminar on Telecommunications
Business (5 cr)

• Sakari Luukkainen
• Helsinki University of Technology
• Telecommunications Software and Multimedia
  Laboratory

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Goals of the course

• Students taking Telecommunications Management for
  their major/minor this course provides an
  introduction for making and presenting the
  master's or PhD thesis
• Preferred prerequisites TU-91.2005, T-109.5410
• To develop
• techno-economic analysing skills related to
  emerging technologies and services in the
  telecommunications business
• focusing on essential questions in verbal
  presentation and defending of own arguments
• writing scientific research report

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Telecommunications Management / Networking
Business
Industrial Management (Theory)
Telecommunications (Application area, research
target)
Internet Multimedia (Application area, research
target)
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Recent masters theses

• Utilisation of WAP technology in extranet
  business
• Monetary transactions in mobile environment
• Mobile location product strategy
• Mobile information systems in maintenance
  industry
• Discriminatory pricing of telecommunications
  services
• UWB technology strategy analysis (see course
  www-page)
• Consolidation in the Finnish consumer ISP
  industry
• Disruptive technologies and the music industry

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Graduating the course

• active participation to the seminars (5/7
  seminars including introductory session)
• holding a presentation (about 30 min)
• making a research report (see guidelines in
  course www-page)
• acting as opponent, all in English (opponent
  allocation will be published in the www-page)
• summary of 10 freely selected reports of the
  seminar (send it to eino.kivisaari_at_hut.fi before
  week 20, 1 page / report)
• - all these achievements together will be
  evaluated by scale 0-5 (50 presentation / 50
  report)

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Preparing the report

• The title of the study can be selected freely
• The content should however focus on the topics
  described in the course www-page
• The report and slides should be e-mailed to
  eino.kivisaari_at_hut.fi at latest four days before
  the verbal presentation
• All reports will be put on the course www page,
  and are available to all before the presentation
• Specific feedback of the report are given by the
  seminar organizers after each presentation
  session, second revised version according
  feedback (before week 20 to Eino)
• Reports will be published together in a seminar
  proceedings booklet (TML publication series)
• Possibility to develop paper further as
  conference paper or Masters thesis (see thesis
  example in the www-page)

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Report - Technical details

• - A4, 4-6 pages, max 3500 words
• - Use the report template (available on course
  website)
• - Use Harvard style references (see template)
• - MS Word document format
• - If you have to use bitmap pictures (gif, jpg,
  tif), send them also as email attachments.
  However, vector graphics (for diagrams etc.) are
  strongly preferred (e.g. in wmf, emf, or eps
  formats)
• - Check spelling and language the report will be
  published make your text camera-ready
• - Submit the report by email to
  eino.kivisaari_at_hut.fi

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Preparing the presentation sessions

• On Thursdays at T5 clock 9.15-12 starting 23.3.
• Dataprojector is available, you need your own
  laptop, come early enough to check that
  everything works
• Actual presentation 30 min, opponent 10 min and
  10 min general discussion (read reports before
  session)
• Max 20 slides
• The role of opponent is to review (verbally) both
  the report and verbal presentation and challenge
  some arguments of study

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Levels of knowledge creation

• Seminar
• Applying existing literature as a tool to analyse
  and describe a narrow research target, subjective
  conclusions possible
• Masters / Licentiate thesis
• Combining from broader existing literature search
  your own framework to study systematicly and
  normatively a narrow research target, contains
  still mainly practical, target specific results
  (e.g. UWB technogy success factors)
• Doctoral thesis
• Creation from existing literature and theory an
  own framework, usage of a formal research method
  and empirical material in order to contribute new
  theory containing causes and effects relevant to
  a larger research target (e.g. innovation
  diffusion mechanisms in larger context),
  conclusion rigorously only based on empirical
  material

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Study Backround

• Most of the recent success of telecommunications
  business is related to GSM technology
• Domestic industry has especially benefited from
  Nordic market conditions which preceded global
  diffusion of GSM
• If current hyper price competition and
  technological maturity of GSM precedes again
  global development, the whole value chain would
  require ever increasing cost reductions if new
  innovations and related business opportunities do
  not arise
• Market uncertainty is high increasing number
  of technical possibilities open up with unclear
  market need - many failures and unexpected
  success stories
• No history data of business new kind of
  opportunities difficult to forecast, unreliable
  quantitative market research need for
  qualitative techno-economic foresights of
  emerging technologies

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Study Content

• Study related technical aspects thoroughly, but
  use that information only to present what the
  technology can do
• Analyse critically under what circumstances the
  technology in question could be commercially
  successfully (if in any), your goal is not prove
  it to be a success story
• Analyse also the real service behind the
  technology (product innovation requires service
  innovation)
• Focus e.g. on enduser value, substitutes,
  required investment costs, pricing, market
  segments, regulation, standardization
• Use several different sources for information
  literature, www, operator/vendor interviews,
  statistics (avoid biased views)
• Critical assessment of related market studies

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Study Grading

• Focusing on the most relevant issues
• Clarity of thought throughout the
  text/presentation
• Successful applying of communications business
  literature on the case in question
• Technical issues discussed where they make a
  strategic difference
• Reader/listener gains understanding about the
  application field of the technology / business
  models / service models (depending on the
  specific topic)
• Adhering to the technical rules for making the
  report / slides
• In two person group more quality (no longer
  report / presentation) of all above mentioned
  issues is required, both should contribute equally

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Date / Topic / Speaker

• 23.3. Mobile Market / Janne Janhunen
• 23.3. Mobile Videophone / Li Jingxuan Fang Ying
• 23.3. Mobile E-mail / Marko Berg
• 30.3. Mobile Browsers / Mika Lahti Janne Hakola
• 30.3. DRM / Yrjö Raivio
• 30.3. E-commerce / Ari Koponen
• 6.4. Mobile TV / Visa Forström Tapio Haantie
• 6.4. Media Centers / Antti-Jussi Kangas
• 6.4. Triple Play / Aleksandr Poutanen
• 20.4. Roaming / Kristian Dahlgren
• 20.4. Radio Policy / Henrik Saksela Timo Smura
• 20.4. UWB / Jing Jin
• 27.4. Broadband Access / Sami Aarnikoivu Juha
  Winter
• 27.4. UMA / Ari Kuvaja Olli Mäkinen
• 27.4. ATCA / Jussi Mäki