Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Standard setting in markets: the browser war
- 2 Competition through institutional form: the case of cluster tool standards
- 3 The economic realities of open standards: black, white, and many shades of gray
- 4 Coordination costs and standard setting: lessons from 56K modems
- 5 Promoting e-business through vertical IS standards: lessons from the US home mortgage industry
- 6 Intellectual property and standardization committee participation in the US modem industry
- 7 Manipulating interface standards as an anticompetitive strategy
- 8 Delay and de jure standardization: exploring the slowdown in Internet standards development
- 9 Standardization: a failing paradigm
- 10 Standards battles and public policy
- 11 Switching to digital television: business and public policy issues
- 12 Should competition policy favor compatibility?
- Index
- References
5 - Promoting e-business through vertical IS standards: lessons from the US home mortgage industry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Standard setting in markets: the browser war
- 2 Competition through institutional form: the case of cluster tool standards
- 3 The economic realities of open standards: black, white, and many shades of gray
- 4 Coordination costs and standard setting: lessons from 56K modems
- 5 Promoting e-business through vertical IS standards: lessons from the US home mortgage industry
- 6 Intellectual property and standardization committee participation in the US modem industry
- 7 Manipulating interface standards as an anticompetitive strategy
- 8 Delay and de jure standardization: exploring the slowdown in Internet standards development
- 9 Standardization: a failing paradigm
- 10 Standards battles and public policy
- 11 Switching to digital television: business and public policy issues
- 12 Should competition policy favor compatibility?
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
Vertical information systems (IS) standards are designed to promote communication and coordination among the organizations comprising a particular industry sector. The authors present a case study of the emergence of vertical IS standards in the US home mortgage industry to provide insights into three processes: (1) the way the standardization process is structured to facilitate participation and consensus, (2) the approaches used to promote adoption of open and transparent standards, and (3) the steps taken to ensure the ongoing maintenance and integrity of the standards. Interviews with participants involved with the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, as well as meeting observations, inform the authors' case analysis. The findings emphasize the importance of company and individual incentives to contribute to the process, the formal and informal governance mechanisms used to minimize conflict and develop consensus, and the inclusive and proactive policies regarding membership. Also addressed are the limited scope of standardization activities, an explicit intellectual property rights policy, and efforts to institutionalize the entire standardization process into a formal structure. Discussing implications for theory and practice, the authors pay specific attention to recommendations for policymakers regarding their potential role in the promotion of vertical IS standards development.
Introduction
Information systems (IS) standards – standardized business documents, data definitions, and business processes – have been seen as key to effective interorganizational commerce since the 1980s, when electronic data interchange (EDI) became the technology of choice for business-to-business coordination.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Standards and Public Policy , pp. 160 - 207Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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