Developing a Theoretical Model

Much of the literature on standards strategy focuses on classifying the various observed strategies. However, what is not clearly evident from the literature is an account of why and how organizations choose their strategies. By what logic does any company decide how to promote the necessary economic factors to spread its technology, how to create a value network built upon that technology, whether to work with collaborators or go it alone, and whether to close or open IPR? What influences these decisions? What mix of elements in a company’s situation will prompt it to make one choice rather than another? To go beyond a mere listing or categorization of the types of standards strategies, but try to understand why and how organizations choose certain strategies, a theoretical model to analyze the organizational process for deciding upon standards strategy is needed. In this chapter, by reviewing existing theories that researchers have used in the literature on standard-setting processes, a theoretical model for the purpose of this study is proposed.