By the end of this century, the telecommunications market in the European Union will have been transformed from a collection of national monopolies providing little apart from basic voice telephony and Value-Added Network Services (VANS) into a unified, competitive market for multimedia services...

During the recent past there have been two successive and successful takeovers of Telecom Italia, in both cases by other Italian companies and employing the device of “Chinese boxes” to secure control without the need either to hold a majority stake in the acquired company or to pay much...

Purpose – To demonstrate that the strategic typology advanced by Turner in this journal for the European telecommunications sector is in need of further clarification. Design/methodology/approach – The Turner sample is subjected to a number of tests specifically in the European mobile...

The consumer electronics market has long been a battleground between competing trade blocs – primarily the EC, the USA and Japan. Discusses the most recent, ongoing battle, which concerns High‐definition Television (HDTV). The approach taken by the EC was to promote “national champions”...

Examines the history of the ill‐fated EuroDisney theme park. Analyses the reasons for its failure to attract customers and to meet financial projections. Questions whether Walt Disney has lost its touch. Assesses the future prospects for the park. Provides a case study of culture shock and...

There is constant tension within the EU arising from conflicting national interests. One aspect of this which has received little attention is that of conflicting national cultures. In the modern world, culture is mainly transmitted across national borders via the medium of television. This...

NFC plc, as it is currently known, provides a unique case study because it embraces privatisation via a management and employee buy‐out (MEBO) as well as, until recently, majority employee share ownership. The initial sections of this article set out the circumstances surrounding the decision...

Although many factors affect next-generation access (NGA) deployment, regulatory frameworks have the power to guide future investments, further development and, consequently, the competitiveness of a next-generation broadband market. Understanding the link between markets and regulatory...