References
- This case study relates to the video multimedia strategy that NTT has pursued for the past four years. It was created on the basis of an interview with 13 of NTT's senior managers who played a central role, and on materials prepared for use inside and outside the company.
- ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a digital network service established by the telecommunications standardization section of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T). Additional information on ISDN is available at <http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/∼dank/isdn>, and ITU-T recommendations are also available at <http://www.itu.ch/itudoc/itu-t/tec/i.html>. Deutsche Telecom leads the ISDN diffusion rate among the various telecommunications carriers across Europe. Deutsche Telecom is energetically strengthening its network base and advancing into foreign markets through the liberalization in 1998 of the European telecommunications market. In response to the growth of ISDN, Deutsche Telecom is actively investing, including one proceeding with investment of 12 billion marks, with the aim of creating a digital network connecting 50 German cities. Currently, ISDN can mutually connect 41 countries, and a digital network platform that will make interactive video communication internally possible with video terminals is already in place. In Japan, which has the second highest ISDN penetration rate, NTT, the largest telecommunications carrier, has positioned the promotion of ISDN as an important business strategy to promote the popularization of multimedia services, and has been vigorously developing the business since 1995. Specifically, NTT has increased the number of new ISDN subscribers by developing ISDN terminal applications through strategic partnerships with numerous companies in various industries, offering new network services and various content provision services, and offering services that are valuable and beneficial to the user.
- Rosen , Evan . 1996 . Personal Videoconferencing , 132 – 134 . Greenwich: Manning Publications Co. . Video terminals based on videoconferencing systems and/or videophones standardized by the ITU-T. See, for example:, and T. Trowt-Bayard and J. R. Wilcox, Videoconferencing & Interactive Multimedia: The Whole Picture (New York: Flatiron Publishing, Inc., 1997).
- Interview with NTT project leader.
- The “Phoenix Mini,” which was released to the market in September 1997is an ISDN videophone featuring high picture quality and the world's lowest price. Approximately 30,000 had been sold in Japan as of the end of 1999. This model achieved an ISDN transmission rate of approximately 64 kbps and a video image transmission frame rate of approximately 10 frames/second. At 128 kbps, the rate is 20 frames/second. This model has been growing as a sign language support tool used by people with hearing handicaps in remote locations. (Reference: Normal television frame rate is approximately 30 frames/second.) See Kodama (1999a)
- The concept of strategic community management with customers is based on the creation of strategic communities based on interactive relationships between businesses and customers. This element is essential for improving the quality of products and services generated in the process of strategic business creation so as to create new value for customers. By taking customers as important strategic partners and working with them to improve the quality of products and services, it becomes possible to create new businesses and expand markets. See Kodama (1999c, 2000)
- The “customer value creation management” concept, emphasizing customer value so that, through the provision of products and services by an enterprise, customers receive new value and satisfaction and become repeat purchasers of those products and services, is an important idea from the viewpoint of advancing high-quality company management. Drucker (1954, 1985) points out that it is a big mistake to understand business or corporate value from the viewpoint of a pursuit for profit. Drucker also emphasizes that the mission and objective of businesses operated by corporations is to create customers. In other words, no matter how competitive a company's product or service might be, if a customer does not ask for it and pay money for it, that product or service cannot possibly exist. The important viewpoint is how much value for money a customer will receive for that product or service. What will the product or service do for the customer? Is the product or service suited to the reality of the customer? In other words, does the product or service have value to the customer? Barnard (1938, 1948) also expresses the view that the objective of enterprises is not profit but service to customers and argues that coordinating behavior with customers is important. Similarly, Simon (1976) states that the customer is a structural element making up the movement of the organization.
References
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