Business Models and the Dynamics of Supply and Demand for Standards

With specific reference to information and communication technologies (ICT), this Chapter examines the structural relationship of various stakeholder groups to standardization, described both in terms of how different stakeholders demand and acquire standards and in terms of their corresponding motivations and/or capabilities to influence the standardization process. To this end, the Chapter will explore these dynamics in the context of ‘business models’, an emerging framework in the innovation context that describes commercial and organisational topologies for the supply and demand of goods and services from the perspective of how value is created and exchanged. Given the increasing synergy between many ICT standards and specific product and service environments, it will be shown how the business model is also potentially a useful device for understanding evolution in the supply and demand dynamics of standardization.