Technological change and Post Office communications in Britain, 1918–1945

Crowley, Mark J.

doi:10.1080/07341512.2016.1252509

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A significant downside of the period of government ownership was the varying levels of Treasury influence over investment flexibility and profit appropriation (Campbell-Smith, 2012), which affected the BPO, its customers and its suppliers. This impeded investment in infrastructure, limiting the service's efficiency and ability to meet customer needs (Crowley, 2016;Pitt, 1980). Prior to 1980 demand for telephony grew quickly and government controls on spending made service provision less predictable, resulting in waiting lists and erratic ordering from suppliers (Peran, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In telecommunications, government control of investment limited how quickly and predictably telephone services could be provided as the customer base grew, impacting investment in the technology platform, thus limiting the service's efficiency and ability to meet business customer's functional needs (Crowley, 2016;Pitt, 1980). Technical developments in convergence and digitalisation also made sunk costs less significant and the market more contestable, undermining the natural monopoly and economy of scale arguments for public ownership Millward, 2005).…”

Section: Telecommunications and The Privatisation Zeitgeistmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Technology, market change and the privatisation of communications in Britain

Smith

2021

JMH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose What are the trade-offs between public and private ownership in the business and how does this impact industries responsible for providing and offering services on critical national infrastructure? The privatisation of British Telecom (BT), the UK telecommunications provider that was initially part of the British Post Office, is used to explore this question. By broadening the business perspective beyond the political goals and economic consequences of privatisation; this study aims to approach management history provides new perspectives of the benefits and challenges offered by both public and private ownership. Design/methodology/approach To fulfil its purpose, this paper examines how the UK telecommunications incumbent proactively adapted from being an organisation shaped by its unique position within the public sector, to one embracing the challenges offered by the private sector. The analysis is synthesised by linking an understanding of the customer’s requirements, services and technology with surveys of the secondary literature, supported where applicable by archival material, combining perspectives from authors both within the organisation and external to it. Sources include specialist and more general academic material and contemporary and reflective publications from practising engineers and managers; supplemented by material held at the BT Archives and the Guildhall Library in London. It links the debate on ownership to the evolution of the market under study and provides a balanced view across the business, its market, competition and technology. Findings The arguments surrounding public or private ownership, are complex, in particular, it is difficult to separate effects due to liberalisation and privatisation. Whilst the former provided the impetus for beneficial change, the latter reduced the level of detrimental entanglement with government policy and enabled the technology and structural changes that took the market forward. Originality/value A new and balanced view of the privatisation of BT is taken, with an emphasis on how the company needed to change to thrive in a liberalised market, noting how technological change both required organisational change and enabled it. In contrast to many studies, the emphasis is on what was driving the organisation rather than the policy of privatisation and its effectiveness.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Telecommunications and The Privatisation Zeitgeistmentioning

confidence: 99%