An international comparison of operator‐driven business models

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to understand the success factors of mobile operators. Design/methodology/approach – Explores the business practices of leading carriers in Japan, South Korea, China, Europe and the USA. Findings – The paper finds several common characteristics in the more successful markets including a handset design and quality of service that are aligned with the operators' service concepts, effective billing systems, reasonable prices, and targeted marketing strategies. While these internal factors can be easily copied by a mobile operator, it is found that there are additional, external factors such as the existing customer base and its preferences, government policy, technological constraints and value chain dynamics that can greatly affect the transferability of a mobile operator's business model to another market. Research limitations/implications – The findings present opportunities for further research including the possibility of developing a new theory into which factors are more difficult to transfer and why. Practical implications – The practical implications of this paper are that operators who wish to pursue profitable business models need to take into account the factors of a successful business model and which ones are easily transferable in their respective markets and which ones are not. Originality/value – The paper is unique in that we compare the business models of mobile operators across five different countries.