1 What are the differences in implications for the service operations manager in implementing the two approaches outlined above? Telecorp is one of the major global suppliers of telecommunications equipment, with competitors that include Ericsson, Motorola and Nortel. The traditional business of these suppliers has been in the development and production of fixed network equipment – the switches that form the heart of a country’s telecommunications structure.

In recent years the traditional business of these telecommunications suppliers has been under threat. Existing stable customer relationships have been broken up. For example, Ericsson, being a Swedish company, has been the preferred supplier to Swedish Telecom, in the same way that Alcatel would relate to France Telecom. In many countries the national telecommunications provider (for example, British Telecom in the UK) has been privatised, with the objective of injecting competitive forces into the industry. Alongside this has been the advent of mobile phone networks. These are often owned by companies that do not have a long history and technical expertise in the telecommunications market, and are operated for profit rather than public service.