Is the Mobile Phone a Disruptive Technology?: A Partial Review of Evidence from Developing Economies

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Author(s): Simon Columbus (Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands)
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 17
Source title: Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Global Redesign: Emerging Implications
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Ndubuisi Ekekwe (African Institution of Technology, USA)and Nazrul Islam (Aberystwyth University, Wales and Middlesex University, London, UK)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0134-5.ch004

Keywords: Computer Science & IT / Global Information Technology / Information Science Reference

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Abstract

The authors of this chapter provide an inter-disciplinary review of studies on economic impacts of mobile telephony in developing countries, giving particular attention to the disruptive potential of the technology and its associated social practices. Four major areas of impact are identified: the emergence of a mobile phone economy around retail and service provision, including mobile banking; a significant reduction in search costs with profound impacts on market efficiency and, possibly, welfare distribution; changes in the formation and maintenance of trusting relationships between market actors as face-to-face contact is replaced with remote communication; and facilitated organisation and cooperation within and among firms, as well as changing credit procurement practices. While the mobile phone has been hailed for its transformative power, the authors tentatively conclude that its impact in most areas is not primarily disrupting, but rather amplifying existing structures.

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Is the Mobile Phone a Disruptive Technology?: A Partial Review of Evidence from Developing Economies

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