Exploring The Coopetition among Instant Messaging Firms from Network Externalities Perspectives

• Main Authors: Chen Wan-Yu, 陳宛俞
• Other Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94828043059379762840

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 管理科學系所 === 95 === Due to the popularity of personal computer and broadband service, instant messaging (IM) gradually truns into the main medium to communicate with each other. However, the most important key factor which users take into consideration is the number of people who adopt the same or compatible product/service. It might imply that there is the network externality in the IM industry. That is, a user of the particular IM software experiences an increase in the value for each additional person using the same IM software. Network externality also exists in other industries, but it is especially strong in IM industry. We can send e-mails to others who use different webmail providers. We also can phone others up who subscribe to different mobile communication suppliers. In contrast to e-mail and mobile phone, the IM users are blocked from connecting with others using different IM software on the uncompatible communication protocol. Therefore the more users there are in the particular IM software, the more value the IM software has.The preference of IM potential users depends on the number of the installed base of the IM service. This results in the positive feedback: the more users in a network, the more attractive it is for any prospective user to join. In order to understand the impact of network externality on the IM firms’s strategy formulation and generate the rule of IM firms’ competitive behavior.The author chooses the top three IM firms in American market as the object of study, including AIM of American Online, MSN Messenger of Microsoft, and YAHOO! Messenger of Yahoo. The author also illustrates the consumer’s utility, firm’s profit and the social walfare in two cases with an ecomonic model.