Assignment:
Prepare a paper that is suitable for publication relating to your problem statement and research objectives. (create one). The paper should move logically from your introduction of the business problem, to the question, culminating in your proposed solution or hypothesis. Your presentation should provide a clear background from the literature to clarify and define your research question. This background will provide both the theoretical and practical information that would be used to structure the complete research process to answer the research hypotheses related to your business problem.
You should present the material in such a way that the reader will follow logically to your conclusion. Every point that you make should be supported by a reference to one of your journal articles.
You should plan on averaging three to five citations per page. Many journals will be cited more than once, so the total number will not be thirty to fifty journals, but realistically five to ten journals.
Pay attention to the readability of the paper. If the reader can't understand what you are saying, you might as well not write it. Neither the number of pages nor the number of citations is a significant measure of quality.
Clarity of presentation will be the prime measure of quality. You need to assume that you are writing to other professionals who probably have limited knowledge of the material that you are presenting. You will want to look at the grading rubric to see how this paper will be scored.
Remember that applied business research is neither informative research, aka a term paper, nor theoretical research, aka a thesis, although there is some theoretical research done for business reasons. Applied business research is decision oriented and therefore seen as a persuasive style of paper.
It should be APA style and No Plagiarism.
Abstact:
Companies seeking to develop a presence with in the confines of developing countries need to consider the development of telecommunication technologies. This paper reviews principles that need to be followed in supporting the development of a telecommunication infrastructure. An appropriate infrastructure is necessary for most businesses today. It provides a major disincentive for corporations to develop in many developing nations. Latin America is used to illustrate the principles, but they are not limited to this region.
Any company considering the possibility of beginning to conduct business in a country needs to consider the probability of economic growth in that country. This is especially true for that part of the world termed ‘developing’. The developing world is marked by very distinctive problems that must be addressed, either politically or entrepreneurially. These problems are generally related to the fact there is a, “. . . significant migration from rural to urban areas and the consequent need for rapid expansion of service delivery combined with low levels of per capita income.” (Alexander & Estache, 2000, 308) These problems pose threats to all businesses within the country, whether they are new or well established. The literature shows a clear link to the development of infrastructure and economic growth. (Alexander & Estache, 2000) (McMahon & Cohill, 2003) (Doh, P & Teegen, J, 2003) (Madden & Savage, 2000) (Press, 1996) (Tudor, Davis, 1999) (Dutta & Roy, 2003) It is necessary that we consider the state of development of the telecommunication infrastructure in any country that we would wish to establish a business relationship. Telecommunications play an important role in modern economic activity. (Dutta, 2001)
For a businessman, who may wish to establish a business in a country without a fully developed telecommunications infrastructure, the question is, “What type of an infrastructure should be encouraged or promoted?”
Discussion:
It might seem to be the most appropriate to establish a wire-based infrastructure much the same as was done in much of the developed world. This would allow the nations to migrate to a more advanced system as their economy develops. However, Mendez-Wilson (2001) states that, “. . . landline telephony is famously inefficient . . . .” (p. 12) Doh and Teegen (2003) found that there was a major growth in the wireless telecommunications service as an alternative to traditional wired services. This is primarily driven by private investors who see the need to develop a broad based approach to infrastructure development. This is not discounting the amount of governmental investment. (Von Dran, Guynes & Prybutok, 1996) The problem is that the demand for transmission infrastructure is outstripping what’s available. (O'Connor, J, 2003) It is important that whatever is developed be scalable in some relatively easy manner. (Clark et al., 1996) The infrastructure must, “accommodate growth in bandwidth, number of users, and number of connections, and from lower-level services such as routing to higher-level services such as naming.” (Clark et al., 1996, p 681) The demand for this development will occur rapidly, if the current trends, as demonstrated in model trials, hold true. (Ismail, M & El-Naway, A, 2000) (Morrison, 2000) (Dutta & Roy, 2003) Since the infrastructure must be built to support this growth explosion and wireline is not efficient and expensive (Schaff, 2004), it is important that an appropriate infrastructure be established up front.
The development of an appropriate infrastructure will be illustrated by considering Latin America. While many would view Latin America as a homogenous entity, it, in fact, represents a region where each country is unique in many ways. (Mendez-Wilson, 2001) It does, however, display many of the characteristics of other developing regions. (Alexander & Estache, 2000) The lack of an adequate infrastructure is consistent with their economic condition. (Alexander & Estache, 2000) Jan Tudor (1999) quotes the International Data Corporation reporting, “. . . that Latin America ‘encompasses some of the fastest-growing and least penetrated information technology markets in the world today.’” (p. 66) This provides a fertile ground for the development of an infrastructure that would enable the region to develop economically, politically and socially. This will enable the region to narrow the gap between the developed and developing. (Schober, 1999) (Connolly, 1998)
It is imperative that the infrastructure not lag behind the developed world or they will languish in an effort to catch up at a time when they should be benefiting from the infrastructure. Without an affordable broadband capability, they will be left far behind in the knowledge economy that is developing now. (McMahon & Cohill, 2003) They cannot afford to lag behind as they develop. The costs of renovating the system after it is built will be far greater than the cost of implementing it right the first time. In fact, it is highly likely that the land-line infrastructure will, ‘never be fully developed, let alone upgraded to provide high-speed data services . . . .” (Demise of fixed-line telecom seen, unless..., 2004, p 19) Currently the number of wireless customers in Latin America exceeds the number of wired customers. (O'Connor, J, 2003) In other areas of the world, we see that communications infrastructure has difficulty keeping pace with the demand. (Schaff, 2004) With this lack of an infrastructure and the increasing demand for internet access, Latin Americans seem to be poised to use alternative access methodologies, such as WAP phones and PDA’s. (O'Connor, J, 2003) In a recent study, McKinsey and Company report that current trends in the market place are eroding the economic model of fixed telephony. (Demise of fixed-line telecom seen, unless..., 2004)
If Latin America can overcome its communications infrastructure deficit, they stand a chance to benefit from the impetus of near shore outsourcing. Many companies are seeing the benefits of this arrangement because it allows them to operate in the same or very close time zones in order to maintain active communication and monitoring of the projects. (Rao, T, 2004) Without broadband connections that are cost effective, this is not likely to happen. (Rao, T, 2004) This is the clear choice for those who are interested in privately investing in the development of infrastructure. (Doh, P & Teegen, J, 2003) Doh et al. (2003) further states that the investment shift is to wireless from fixed line. This is seen as a better solution to the problems of establishing a fixed line connection in an environment that is highly disruptive by both natural and political upheavals. In many of the developing countries there are little or no alternatives. The lack of a developed fixed-line network and the increasing demand for communication infrastructure access is propelling the growth of wireless system. (Demise of fixed-line telecom seen, unless..., 2004) As the developing world becomes internet connected, they will play an increasingly more important role in the world than they do now. (Mueller, 1999) Furthermore, they will change the way the internet functions. (Mueller, 1999)
The widespread use of cellular technology in the region makes them very suitable to leap frog old technology in favor of the new. Cellular technology will allow for high quality voice and data over the same system. (Katz, 1997) (Press, 1996) It now remains to identify the most appropriate network structure to employ.
Conclusion:
With an inadequate infrastructure in place, the region must consider other alternatives to jump start their internet presence. In the current economy, “more than 97% of all Internet hosts are in developed countries . . . .” (Petrazzini & Kibati, 1999)(p 31) It is imperative that developing countries begin to develop their own internet backbone and host structure. Without their own backbone, they are left to pay the high prices of connecting to the U.S. (Petrazzini & Kibati, 1999) “Because data is a growing component of communications worldwide, developing regions will eventually have to upgrade their infrastructures to accommodate data communications.” (Kibati & Krairit, 1999, p 65) As was pointed out earlier, the demand will outstrip that which available and the cost of upgrading will exceed what it would cost to do it right from the start.
With the current presence of wireless technology in the region, it would seem logical to build upon that technology for the future. Wireless will play a key role everywhere, but most importantly in the developing nations and those economies that are in transition, for the foreseeable future. (Deen, 2004) The region should capitalize on the fixed service that is currently available while adding the use of wireless. It should also be possible to utilize satellite transmission for the long distance loops. (Kibati & Krairit, 1999) This would help to control the costs of the system. Some of the countries of the region have already begun plans to deploy a, ‘ringed submarine and ground-based fiber network connecting major cities in Central and South America.” (Brown, 2000, p 56) This would enable them to develop a very sophisticated telecommunications backbone with cellular serving as the ‘last mile local loop’. “Combined, satellites and fiber provide more and more unlimited coverage.” (Schober, 1999, p 56) Because of the nature of the region geographically and politically, it is imperative that access must reach the interior and not be limited to the major cities. (Petrazzini & Kibati, 1999) There are a number of ways that mobile technology can be implemented, but it is important that it be digital and incorporate the ability to transmit data in a sufficient quantity to exceed current and foreseeable demand. Without that capability, the system will be outdated and a hindrance before it is installed.
With the use of modern cellular phones, the capability exists to create a truly mobile internet connection. Most modern phones contain a microprocessor and limited storage allowing them to function as a mobile computer. Users in the region are not hampered by the necessity to have a large desktop computer to satisfy their concept of internet access. With the development of a regional backbone, they will have the capability to develop a web presence suited to their needs and technical capabilities. This will usher a new wave of internet usage that impact the rest of the world. (Katz, 1997) Wherever data access is enabled, it generally outstrips voice usage rather quickly. In this system, the infrastructure could adapt quickly to meet the demand. (Katz, 1997)
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