Information infrastructure is the cornerstone of development of the knowledge society and information industry. Until the mid-1990s, Korea had been a follower in the telecommunication industry relying on equipment from advanced countries. However, since 1996, Korea has been successful in commercializing the CDMA-based digital mobile telecommunication service, a world first and leading the world in broadband Internet access services since 1999. The success of Korea in mobile and broadband infrastructure has received considerable attention as a benchmark and several studies attempted to explain how Korea came to be the forefront in such a short period of time. However, a few studies captured a full picture of commercialization and penetration process of the Korean mobile and broadband telecommunication services.
The purpose of this study is to explore the patterns of decision-making activities and interactions among key innovation actors, such as the government, government sponsored research institutes, service providers, equipment providers, and content providers. For this purpose, an integrated conceptual framework, wherein models of innovation systems and decision making under uncertainty are combined, is used to analyze the above cases ― CDMA commercialization and ADSL penetration. Researchers of the innovation systems perspective has been posited that firms do not innovate in isolation but interact with other organizations to obtain, develop, and exchange knowledge, information, and resources required for innovation. Since the telecommunication industry is generally composed of many constituent actors with different interests and capabilities, it is important to examine the interactions and coordination patterns among innovation actors in order to understand how to cope with uncertainties inherent to the development of new telecommunication services at the system level. At the same time, this study examines the dynamics of decision-making activities of each innovation actors and interactions among innovation actors in response to changing levels of uncertainty in order to identify underlying driving mechanisms for the success of mobile and broadband service in Korea. Decision-making activities are conceptualized into interrelated steps of scoping, searching, evaluating, and committing activities and uncertainty is divided into 4 levels based on assumption for the future.
An in-depth case analysis on the above cases is undertaken using various secondary data from international organizations, publications of the Korean government, other international and Korean reports and papers as well as interview with key decision-makers from the government and industry.
The results of both case analyses revealed that as the level of uncertainty decreases, the focus of decision-making activities moves from scoping, to searching, to evaluating and to committing. Also this study found that at the early stage with higher level of uncertainty, the government plays a pivotal role in coordination of related parties to participate in the innovation process, while service providers replaced this role at a later stage of innovation with lower level of uncertainty. It is the coordination of interrelationships among related actors that is the distinct characteristics of a system of innovation to accomplish new innovation in the telecommunication services. However, given the high level of uncertainties inherent to the commercialization of emerging telecommunication services, coordination among various related parties with different strategic intents and circumstances may not be efficiently managed by only a pure market mechanism, especially in a nation whose domestic market size is not huge, as Korea. Rather, the government can play the role of a catalyst in coordinating various participants and reducing uncertainties simultaneously in combination with market competition. In both cases, the Korean government took initiatives in establishing emerging telecommunication services by providing a strong vision, making a concerted effort to build a coalition among various related parties, and supporting the creation of a new market under high uncertainties even though approaches to policy implementation were quite different mainly due to different environmental situations. In contrast, under low uncertainty, it would be better to let the industrial actors lead the interactions themselves based on the market competition, because after all, it is market competition and coordination among industrial actors that triggers the market explosion of an emerging telecommunication service market.
Finally, policy and managerial implications, particularly in terms of facilitating the creation of an emerging telecommunication service market, and future research directions are suggested.
정보통신 인프라는 지식사회와 정보산업 발전에 있어서 가장 기초가 된다. 우리나라는 1990년대 중반까지 주요 장비를 선진국에서 수입하던 후발 통신국이었다. 그렇지만 우리나라는 1996년 세계 최초의 CDMA 상용화에 성공하였으며, 초고속가입자망 보급의 경우 1999년 이후부터 세계의 벤치마킹 대상이 되고 있다. 많은 학자들은 한국이 어떻게 짧은 기간동안 세계적 수준의 통신 인프라를 구축하게 되었는지에 대해 관심을 보이고 있으나, 아직까지 포괄적으로 설명하고 있는 문헌은 드문 편이다.
본 연구는 우리나라 CDMA 상용화 사례와 초고속가입자망 보급에 있어서 어떻게 정부, 출연연구소, 서비스사업자, 장비제조업체, 콘텐트업체들이 어떠한 의사결정을 내렸으며, 어떠한 상호작용 패턴을 보이고 있는지 살펴보고자 한다. 사례를 분석함에 있어서 혁신체제관점, 불확실성 하에서 의사결정에 관한 기존 문헌을 바탕으로 개념적 분석틀을 구성하였다. 혁신체제 관점에서는 혁신은 기업 혼자서 수행하기 보다 여러 조직들과의 상호작용을 통해 달성된다고 보고 있다. 통신산업에서 혁신은 상이한 이해관계자의 협동을 통해 달성되기 때문에, 혁신 사례를 이해하기 위해서는 이들 다양한 혁신주체간 상호작용 패턴을 살펴보는 것이 중요하다. 개별 혁신주체들의 의사결정 활동들은 범위설정, 탐색, 평가, 몰입의 4가지 하위 단계로 구분하였으며, 불확실성은 미래에 대한 가정을 바탕으로 4가지 수준으로 구분하였다. 다양한 2차 자료 뿐만 아니라 정부 및 민간부문의 핵심 의사결정자들과의 인터뷰를 통해 사례연구를 수행하였다.
연구결과는 다음과 같다. 불확실성 수준에 감소함에 따라 의사결정 활동들의 초점은 범위설정, 탐색, 평가, 몰입 단계로 변화하였다. 초기 불확실성 수준이 높은 상황에서는 정부가 혁신주체간 상호작용을 조정하고 있었다. 이는 한국과 같이 시장 규모가 크지 않은 국가에서는 신기술이 본질적으로 가지고 있는 높은 불확실성으로 인해 시장 메커니즘에 따른 조정이 쉽지 않기 때문이다. 구체적으로 한국 정부는 강력한 비전 제시, 다양한 이해관계자들의 연합체 구성, 시장 창출 지원 등의 정책적 수단을 사용하였다. 불확실성 수준이 낮아짐에 따라 시장 메커니즘에 따라 혁신주체간 조정이 바람직하며, 통신사업자가 혁신주체간 상호조정의 역할을 수행하고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구는 마지막으로 통신시장에서 신기술의 확산을 위한 정책적, 실무적 시사점, 향후 연구방향 및 한계점을 제시하였다."
