This paper analyzes the economics of industries where network externalities are significant. In such industries, firms have strong incentives to adhere to common technical compatibility standards, so that they reap the network externalities of the whole group. However, a firm also benefits from...

We examine the incentives of firms to form coalitions based on adherence to common technical standards. Many network goods as well as non-network goods with close complements exhibit quot;network externalitiesquot; -- i.e., the value of such goods increases with the size of sales of compatible...

This paper analyzes the economics of industries where network externalities are significant. In such industries, firms have strong incentives to adhere to common technical compatibility standards so that they reap the network externalities of the whole group. However, a firm also benefits from...