Inter-firm alliances during pre-standardization in ICT

Standards have become one of the most important elements in technological development in ICT. However, standard-setting process is a complex coordination between different players. One of the strategies is the inter-firm alliance during the pre-standardization stage. Yet, it remains unclear how the inter-firm alliances occur during the process. Using the case study of the current developing technology in ICT industry and interviews with people who are familiar with standardization work, this paper points out two types of partnerships in the prestandardization with the analysis of the firms’ motivation of having the partnerships. Besides to promote the technology as the standard, two other motives of having partnerships are also discovered.