Comparative Research on Mobile Value Chains among China, Japan, and Korea

Abstract

East Asian region, specifically China, Japan, and Korea, is considered as an area of advanced mobile handsets and mobile services. The well-established infrastructure of this region is well known due to rapid introduction of diverse feature-equipped handsets and advanced capabilities of mobile network operators. However, the status of mobile business has rarely been dealt with in previous studies. In this paper, we compare mobile value chains among these three countries. China has adopted open platform for mobile data services while Korea and Japan’s mobile network operators control mobile portals for accessing diverse contents and services. We also discuss some possible reasons for the differences among the three countries in terms of value chain structures.