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Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous current account deficit represents one of the most significant limitations of the economic development of the Republic of Serbia. The presence of a long-term current account deficit imposes the obligation to find the sources of its financing. During the last decade, the secondary income account played an important role in financing the current account deficit, primarily due to a stable inflow of remittances from abroad. Since 2011, the services trade surplus has been also contributing to offsetting the balance of payments deficit to an increasing extent mainly owing to the rising export of ICT services. Therefore, the goal of the paper is to identify the importance of ICT services in achieving the service trade surplus and, thereby, also in financing the current account deficit.

Agribusiness can potentially increase value for agriculture and the entire value chain, but it is hard to achieve these goals without digitalising the sector. The transformation reforms modern technology and digital infrastructure adoption to facilitate growth and inclusivity. These conditions make the agricultural digitization transformation more appealing. Therefore, using a survey of 400 smallholder farmers in four regions of Rukwa, Ruvuma, Morogoro and Tabora, this study examines the interplay between digitalization and agriculture transformation in Tanzania by focusing on the determinants and effects of digitalization on smallholder farmers' welfare. The study used the double hurdle model to estimate the determinants and extent of digitalization adoption; the Two-stage least square (2SLS) and the Control function approach (CFA) to estimate its effects on smallholder farmers' welfare. The findings revealed that access to credit (0.17428, p

Education, innovation, the labour force, and new businesses are considered the key important sectors (factors) for developed and emerging economies. The paper analyses are performed by using the Cobb Douglas production function for analysing the impact and correlation of these factors (variables) on the economic growth of Kosova during the period 2013 - 2021. The variables of public expenditures on education as a percentage of GDP and the labour force have shown a negative impact on growth and they have operated under decreasing returns to scale (based on the Cobb-Douglas function), while the variables of information, computer and telecommunication services (which refer to innovation technology) and new business creation have indicated a positive impact on growth and they have operated under increasing returns to scale (based on the Cobb-Douglas function). In addition, this paper summarized a few useful conclusions: first, public expenditure on education should provide an important contribution on growth; second, enhancing the role of education to improve and develop new knowledge for the labour force in Kosova, and at the same time, to adapt with new labour market demand; third, information, computer and telecommunication is one of the leading export sectors and this sector should provide higher potential and contributions on the economic growth of Kosova; fourth, new businesses creation should provide a significant contribution to increase economic growth. These variables in many countries have made a key value contribution to the economy by driving it toward sustainability, development, and growth.

The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture.

The quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises yearly because human activities emit more of it than the earth's natural processes can absorb. The overall carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise due to development demands. In a panel setting, this paper investigates the link dynamics between gross national spending, energy consumption, information and communications technology, and CO2 emissions in advanced nations from 2000 to 2020. We employ quantitative sequential approaches, such as DOLS, unit root test, and cointegration techniques, to ensure the coherence and feasibility of the study. Both versions of the estimators show statistically significant effects of gross national expenditure, energy consumption, and Information & Communications Technology on CO2 emissions. The findings of this paper show that there is a long‐run relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study also shows that rising exports of ICT services, energy consumption, and population need environmental protection and highlight the necessity for environmental regulations that can minimize emissions throughout the country's expansion. Even in advanced nations, climate vulnerability is not automatically reduced by development status but is instead reduced by the right sort of growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to understand the growth and advantage of the country in exporting ICT services. To see the export growth and comparative advantage of Indian and Chinese ICT services, secondary data for both countries have been extracted from trade map from 2009-2019. RCA using Balassa Index and RSCA have been used to analyze comparative advantage. Exponential growth analysis used to see the growth rate of ICT services within the period. Both countries have revealed comparative advantage in computer services but have declining growth rates over the period of time. For telecommunication service export which did not revealed a comparative advantage but shown positive growth in India and declining growth in China. Therefore India has the potential to grow in the same sector and need to take necessary action by the government as well as industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares changes in tendencies of value-added flows and the places held by the Central and Eastern European economies (11 countries: Visegrad countries, Baltic States, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania; CEE) in global value chains (GVCs) in manufacturing, services, and their subgroup—information and telecommunication (ICT) services, by relying on the trade in value-added data retrieved from the OECD's Inter-Country Input–Output Database, available over the period 2005–2015. The objective of this study is to understand the role of these economies in international production linkages applying a value-added methodology. Therefore, the study discusses the role of CEE economies in global economy in terms of forms of participation of services, especially ICT services, in GVCs, including the process of "servicification" of manufacturing. This study led to the verification of two hypotheses: (1) the position of manufacturing in GVCs has been steadily weakening and (2) services, especially ICT services, can have a positive effect on participation of CEE economies in GVCs. The first hypothesis was confirmed by most of analysed countries. The other research question turned out not to be true for all CEE countries, but most of them proved this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the experience of teaching the practical discipline «Artistic needlework» for students of the specialty 012 «Pre-school education» in a distance format. Changes in the organization of the educational process took place in connection with the 2020-2022 global pandemic of COVID-19, which forced the change of face-to-face learning format to distance education. Teachers of practical disciplines faced significant difficulties: working out technical skills of making products, mastering the methods of educational interaction and communication in the process of subject-transformative and artistic activities with preschool children. The transition to a distance learning format required the development of electronic educational content and the search for effective tools for educational interaction. The conducted experimental research made it possible to find out the attitude of students to the form of mastering the educational material and to study the effectiveness of the use of digital ICT services in ensuring the educational process. The advantages and disadvantages of distance learning of the practically oriented discipline «Artistic needlework» according to the opinion of the students of education were highlighted. It has been found that the most effective way to master the discipline is the organization of online classes, which allows the teacher and students to communicate, show the main technical techniques of making products in real time, give methodological recommendations for completing tasks, and discuss educational tasks. Various services are offered for the organization of educational interaction while studying the discipline «Artistic needlework».

The position of information and communication technology (ICT) services is growing in the European Union (EU) trade, however to different extend in different EU countries. The article aims to identify trade positions of the EU Member States in intra-EU trade and extra-EU trade in ICT services and to assess changes that have taken place in the years 2013–2018. The importance of the EU Member States in trade in ICT services is assessed, followed by the analysis of their trade positions in terms of selected indices. We discovered that countries of the highest importance for the intra-EU and extra-EU trade in ICT services are not holding the best positions in trade in this area, except for Ireland. Additionally, leaders in ICT services trade do better in extra-EU trade rankings than in the EU Internal Market, since the distance does not matter to business operations consequent to the digitalization of economic activities.

Digital technologies and their role in global economic development have been increasing the past two decades. Digitalization has changed many aspects of human society. It had a significant impact on business processes in international trade, reducing costs, increasing the value and speed of cross-border transactions. E-commerce is becoming the most important engine for economic growth. The article examines new digitalization trends in the context of the international trade development. Among the key trends caused by digitalization and affecting international trade, it highlights the following: 1) expanding of globally e-commerce sales and the world marketplaces turnover; 2) increasing the value of international trade in ICT goods and services, and digitally-deliverable services; 3) growth of world exports in services by mode 1 of supply, i.e. cross border supply. The problem of assessing the level of digitalization of the economy and its impact on trade is becoming more and more urgent. Many leading international organizations including OECD, WTO, IMF, UNCTAD are working on developing universal approaches to the formation of terminology in the field of digitalization of trade, measuring digital trade and classifying economic sectors depending on the level of digitalization. The study draws particular attention to these issues. The authors have systematized an extensive list of international indices. The first cluster includes indices characterizing the level of e-commerce markets development. The second cluster contains indices that assess the development of information and communication technologies. Finally, the third cluster of indices assesses penetration of digital technology into economy and life. Indices that assess digital trade policy measures were also examined

The dynamic nature of information use has called for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in entirely every field of the human venture, and information services and academic libraries are not an exception. The adoption of ICT based services has provided the platform where universities can source and access information easily. Though some studies on ICT availability and utilization have been conducted in the developed world, few studies on ICT services availability and utilization exist in Ghana, especially in the University for Development Studies (UDS). Underpinned by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the study employed mixed research design to gather data from 300 library users, librarians, and library officers in the UDS. The findings revealed that four major ICT services (Wi-Fi, internet technology, digital library resources, and online public access catalog) are available across the five campuses' libraries of the University for Development Studies, Ghana. The findings also revealed that less available facilities/services in the UDS libraries are the E-mail facilities and the CD-ROM technology facilities while laptops and iPads were non-available for library users to independently search for information in the absence of their personal laptops. Despite the perceived availability of library facilities and services, the usage of library services and facilities among library users in the UDS is generally modest. The increasing availability of ICT facilities and services has facilitated communication between libraries and among library users. As recommendations, the provision of ICTs facilities and services in university libraries must be accompanied by in-services training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – to assess the integration and management of the formation and implementation of the competitive advantages of the Visegrad Four countries in the European market of information, computer, telecommunication (ICT) services based on their analysis in the individual market segments. Design/Method/Research approach - this study aims to determine the presence and nature of the competitive advantages of countries in the European ICT services market based on the calculation of export specialization indicators, to establish factors for their growth and effective implementation based on the results of structural, regressive, comparative analysis and synthesis. Findings. It has been suggested that the introduction of the European rules for market organization stimulated the building-up in the Visegrad Four countries of their competitive advantages in the European ICT services market through innovative investment resources, effective management of private, public sector and international investors and personnel. Practical implications. The accession of Eastern European countries to the European digital market and digital space requires a generalization of the experience of the Visegrad four countries and the identification of factors, directions and priorities of the national policy for the development of the ICT sector. Originality/Value. Scientific novelty of the study - based on the calculation of the comparative advantage index, different integration and effectiveness of managing the competitive advantages of the Visegrad Four countries, primarily the sphere of IC services to the European market (relatively high - in the Czech Republic due to state financing, moderate – in Poland due to financial support from the state, in Slovakia due to private investment in R&D, low – in Hungary), this situation requires a balanced innovation and investment strategy of the countries in the future, the training of a sufficient number of qualified IT specialists, stimulation of private investment in R&D and business cooperation with the sphere of knowledge by means of tax and administrative incentives, facilitating the transition of small and medium-sized businesses on the principles of economics 4.0. Paper type – empirical.

Digital technology has brought profound changes in the services trade, particularly accelerating the growth of the international Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services trade. Understanding the evolving characteristics of the ICT services trade is pivotal for trade participants to formulate effective policies and enhance their competitive advantages. This study used the data from UN COMTRADE to construct ICT services trade networks spanning from 2004 to 2020. Using complex network analysis methods, it delved into several aspects of ICT services trade, including trade patterns, trade relationships, and participating countries. The findings revealed that central countries in ICT services trade are progressively dominating trade relationships. Moreover, many countries in the middle and lower tiers of the ICT services trade system tend to engage in bilateral trade with major economies or form trade alliances with a select few nations. Examining the evolution of trade participants, early adopter countries such as the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom have solidified stable competitive advantages in ICT services trade. Building upon these findings, the study puts forth several recommendations to enhance the competitiveness of the ICT services trade. This study not only enriches the existing knowledge base on ICT services trade networks but also provides valuable insights for shaping policies in this domain. The outcomes offer crucial guidance for interpreting cooperation and conflicts within the realm of ICT services trade. • ICT services trade networks from 2004 to 2020 are constructed. • Characteristics of ICT services trade are depicted according to the change in network topology. • Recommendations to enhance the stability of ICT service trade have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries endowed with abundant natural resource have not shown similar economic growth. Thus, the study investigates why some resource-abundant countries are not successful while others are. By using the fixed effect panel data model, the study examines the role of institutions and ICT services in overcoming the resource curse problem. The study employed panel data from World Bank database for the period of 25 years (1995–2019). The result shows that natural resource abundance and institutional performance indicators have significant negative effect on economic growth in the case of some group of economies, confirming presence of resource curse and institutional curse. However, these economies have the potential to escape the resource curse provided that they able to build human capital, adopt ICT services and build quality of institutions. Therefore, policies that firmly promote building human capital, quality institutions, adoption and usage of ICT services in resource curse economies could help them to escape the curse.

Customer satisfaction is an indicator that is generally utilized to improve goods/services for customer retention. Therefore, companies should understand the changes in customers’ perception of their goods/services and decide improvements. Therefore, a transitional evaluation approach is needed for goods/services rather than merely improving items with the highest dissatisfaction score. This paper proposes a transitional method for identifying improvements in video distribution services from questionnaire results over 4 years.

Involvement in the global innovation system and the level of ICT influence the technological state of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) countries and their position in the world economy. Many studies were inspired that examined these economies from various prospective. However, only a few have specially focused on information and communication technologies (ICT), and particularly in services sectors. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the evolution of services ICT systems in BRICS. The main hypothesis of the article is that BRICS has made significant progress in economic cooperation, at the same time, the group has not been equally successful in designing and implementing their own agenda in the technology field. The BRICS are not released at a sufficient level of interaction and advocacy in ICT services, which would increase their role in international trade. The authors observe the retrospective of the process of formation of national innovation systems of the country participants of BRICS, consider current trends and challenges in the development of national markets for these services in each member country, and highlight future directions for the development. Then they provide an analysis of BRICS countries' participation in the international ICT services trade. An estimation of revealed comparative advantage indicators allowed determining the dynamics in comparative advantage for ICT service trade in BRICS. Despite the increase in the volume of export operations in the trade in ICT services, their level of competitiveness is declining. The most vulnerable to the reduction of revealed comparative advantage was India, at the same time Brazil and South Africa showed the least volatile dynamics. It is argued that the policies aimed at promoting investment and enhancing conditions for trade in ICT services contributed significantly to services exports expansion in BRICS. Based on the analysis, a conclusion is made about the current problems and insufficient level of technical cooperation within the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper includes analysis and assessment of trade in the ICT services performance of Poland. This study is looked at the trade position, essentially on the basis of the share in the world ICT services exports, revealed comparative advantage (RCA), and trade coverage ratio. It also identifies trends of the world trade in the ICT services. The statistics are derived from the basis of UNCTAD and Eurostat. International trade in the ICT ser-vices sector has specific characteristics and the interpretation of results of this trade is to take account of the particular nature of the ICT services. Poland is currently not revealed comparative advantage in the ICT services exports, but has had positive balance. Practically all trade indicators for Poland show very strong growth, which indicate a significant improvement in its ICT services trade position.

Background: Presently, libraries, especially academic libraries, have increasingly used information and communication technologies (ICTs) to automate their core functions in order to implement efficient and effective library operations and services. This now requires library and information professionals as knowledge workers to intensify managing both explicit and tacit knowledge for the organisational growth of the libraries. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the use of ICT facilities that support knowledge management (KM) in academic libraries in Nigeria and South Africa. Methods: Both quantitative through survey and structured questionnaires and qualitative by content analysis and interview research methodologies were applied in the initial study. The qualitative approach of content analysis was applied to literature review, and key informants were also interviewed. One hundred and thirty-two professional librarians and six key informants across the sampled academic libraries in the two countries were targeted for information. The study sampled only six academic libraries, three in each country, which renders generalisation difficult. This article largely focuses on quantitative aspects of the study in the reported findings. Results: Availability and accessibility of ICTs for KM among the sampled libraries were not uniform, even within one country. Infrastructural support has affected some of the university libraries to a great extent. The knowledge and skills for using ICT for KM were largely adequate, but varied within the libraries and librarians as well. The challenges facing the libraries border on inadequate infrastructure and professional staff, but irrespective of the challenges faced, libraries have devised strategies for coping and rendering services. The study has provided new information relating to the use of ICT facilities and services for KM in academic libraries that calls for rigorous continuing education for re-skilling the librarians. The changing user behaviour also calls for major attention. Government support for academic libraries with policy and funding is still crucial. Conclusion and recommendation: The study concludes that because ICTs have had robust histories as used to support information services, both staff and students’ information needs to be met in a variety of ways in academic libraries. This would help to foster and improve the understanding of how librarians manage the organisation in present-day library operations. We recommend that staff development be intensified to enable how librarians could cope with changes and new technologies for modern information services being encouraged and acquired. This article provides a unique long-term survey on the use of ICT facilities and services, strategy and structure in an academic and/or university library services.

This issue of the journal of Complex Systems Informatics and Modeling (CSIMQ) presents papers that discuss selected topics on information systems engineering. The papers are extended versions of selected papers from the CAiSE Forum 2016 held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The CAiSE Forum is a place within the International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering for disseminating and debating new ideas and tools related to this area.

Building on research that emphasizes the dependence of services firms on the networks and experiences of individual employees, this paper investigates the urban concentration of information and communication technology services employment in Norway from the perspective of labour market linkages. It finds that urban regions generally provide firms with access to sector-specific expertise. Beyond this, intrinsic region characteristics determine the position of individual firms in national labour markets for expertise: Firms in the dominant university town have strong contact points to academic labour markets, whereas firms in the industrial stronghold of the Western Capital region exploit a broader range of recruitment channels than firms in any of the other urban and non-urban locations. The results illustrate how capability building through recruitment is influenced by local conditions, and imply that the industry will continue to concentrate in the large-city regions where surrounding organizations provide firms with priveliged access to expertise. Implications for research, innovation policy and societal development more generally are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ICT plays a very dynamic role in the field of research because of their eminent qualities like easy to access, download, current information access, or retrospective in nature, easily transfer of information etc. This research paper is an attempt to focuses on the use of ICT products and services by the research scholars. A survey was conducted in the academic year 2016-17 at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU). It is based on the survey of 69 research scholars. The study put light on the overall proficiency in managing various e-resources and stresses its impact on research work. Further, the study identifies drawbacks due to lack of training and technical knowledge to use of ICT as major hindrances faced by the research scholars in MDU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was undertaken to find out the role of library and Google in dissemination of information and how the users make use of services offered by library and Google. The study disclosed that in the modern context libraries have to try hard to reach out to clients. The use of traditional system in library is not attracting the users' community, so they have to make use of 1CT tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a systemic methodology to assess the potential of and facilitate policies for the diffusion of a smartphone based service enabling supply chain (SC) operations in the e-grocery sector. Design/methodology/approach – A System Dynamics (SD) model combining the Bass paradigm for innovation diffusion and an inventory management framework is developed. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to understand the industry business processes; a simple SD model is designed to capture the most important variables together with the relationships among them; a detailed SD model is calibrated and simulation outcomes are analysed. Findings – The efficiency and reliability of the service drive its diffusion among producers and consumers, who in turn persuade retailers to adopt. The assessment methodology can be part of feasibility studies and marketing investigations in order to understand the impact of e-commerce tools on SC processes. Research limitations/implications – This contribution stresses the need to analyse how mobile information technologies may benefit all the business processes of the e-grocery SC, and not just one single process or stakeholder. Practical implications – The approach offers a roadmap to identify the factors influencing the diffusion of mobile e-grocery services as well as the associated impacts on SC processes. Originality/value – The work contributes to overcoming the lack of approaches studying the diffusion of e-grocery by taking into account all the relevant aspects and stakeholders involved and not only the consumer perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In all the economies of the world, Economic Growth presents a good indicator of development, and so it is always necessary to examine the factors influencing this growth. Many recent studies show that one of the factors that influence economic growth is ICT services. We will show in this paper that ICT services have an impact on economic growth in African countries. In fact, working on a panel of 28 African countries, we were able to identify through the Solow and Swan (1956) and Mankiw, Romer and Weill (1992) models, that ICT services exports haves a positive and statistically significant effect on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the electricity consumption in use of telecommunication equipment to achieve one remote multi-user work meeting, an existing service proposed by Orange group. It also examines the electric gains of substitution for a meeting requiring physical transport. Equipment comprises participant computers PC and phones, access to core networks and servers to permit audio link and the share of documents on PC display between users. Each device requires power to perform hours of activity or transfer nominal bit/s of throughput. A generic and modular method is suggested to determine from this information, which is not directly related to services processed by the devices, the consumption of the service under study. The method thus provides a quantitative relation of service consumption to its characteristics – duration, number of users and access throughput – but also to device consumption efficiency and utilization rate. The relation of dependance permits to assess potential energy saving by substituting devices for more efficiency ones and/or by increasing their utilization rate at same provided service. With some utilization rates at around 10%, as observed for the servers, a telemeeting between three users and lasting 2.3 h requires 9 MJ of electricity. Using better equipment and higher rates it can be decreased to 1.5 MJ. By comparison transport of two of the users by train over a total distance of 2500 km requires 500 MJ. The method can be applied to any service provided its characteristics are known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the problem of survival and growth of incumbent telecommunication operators. In particular, this paper investigates the extent to which the platform-based approach is appropriate for the internationalisation strategy (platform leadership) of incumbent telecommunications operators in the context of the transition to the Next Generation Network (NGN). It examines the case of BT in the UK, as a large-scale first mover in this transition, exploring the major transformation project BT 21st Century Network (BT21CN). The case demonstrates how the platform-based approach can be used to promote business transformation of an incumbent telecom operator in a turbulent environment. The platform architecture integrates two main features that are usually treated in different contexts and time frames in the literature: (i) the reusability of components and sub-systems (typically in the automotive industry); and (ii) the openness of the platform to external actors in order to drive innovation in the industry (typically in the ICT industry). BT21CN emerged as an industry platform, made possible by the maturation of the Internet Protocol (IP) as a "common technology" able to transport not only data, but also real time voice and video, with an acceptable quality of service (QoS). Reusability can help reducing costs and decreasing time-to-market for new products and services. However, openness of the platform to external actors has still limited impact due to the limited success of BT (and incumbent telecom operators in general) in their process of internationalisation. Thus, in the context of BT (and of potentially other incumbent telecom operators), the limitations in their process of internationalisation have a negative impact on the evolutionary dynamics of the platform-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]