The Evolution of ICT Standards Consortia

Theoretical and empirical analyses have, as yet, shed very little light on the role of ICT standards consortia in the standard setting landscape. Standards consortia are private industry alliances of likeminded organizations that share the same interest to sponsor, develop and standardize technologies. This article is the first approach to analyze structures of a large sample of standards consortia to provide evidence on how consortia are formed, organized and why they appear or disappear in the market. Analyses reveal that standards consortia have distinct characteristics, which help to explain and justify their presence in the standard setting context. The observation of consortia existence over the last 15 years identifies relationships between the formation, termination and merger of standards consortia with respect to market and technology development. Moreover we test if organizational structures are connected to the likelihood of consortia termination. Results of a survival analysis reveal that the probability of consortia success is especially connected to structures that determine coordination among members as well as the scope and focus on technology and markets.