Three essays on competition in the global mobile phone industry

Abstract

This dissertation that includes three quantitative essays on competition in the global mobile phone industry contributes to the field of competitive dynamics by examining strategic decisions and performance outcomes of 85 mobile phone vendors that operate in 46 countries from 2003 to 2015. In the first essay, we made an attempt to shed light on how institutional quality of an MNE’s host country affect the observability of actions of the MNE’s rivals in that country, that in turn affects the ability of the MNE to conduct an MMC strategy. The second essay contributes to the literature on patent enforcement strategies and antecedents of market entry decisions by highlighting the crucial role that escalating patent wars in a country play in deterring potential entrants. Third essay makes the first attempt to empirically show how escalating patent wars and IPR protection in a firm’s host country influence its performance in that country.