China, Europe and the Netherlands: Opportunity Is Knocking at Our Doors

Apr. 2015 
  069 
WWW.BOAOREVIEW.COM
By defining an industry standard and making it widely 
available through licensing, mobile players can develop 
infrastructure, products, and services with confidence 
that the core technologies are stable and universally 
accessible. This reduces risks associated with capital 
investments, so mobile companies can scale up faster, 
which in turn boosts consumer adoption and usage.
The standardized core technologies have delivered 
major advances in capacity, while network and device 
costs have fallen sharply (See Exhibit 2).
4G technologies have enabled a 12,000-fold im-
provement in capacity relative to 2G, with maximum 
download speeds of 250 megabits per second (Mbps), 
as opposed to 20 kilobits per second (Kbps) for 2G.
The cost of network infrastructure per megabyte fell 95 
percent from 2G to 3G, and 67 percent from 3G to 4G.
The global average cost of mobile subscriptions rela-
tive to maximum data speed has decreased 99 percent, 
or about 40 percent annually, between 2005 and 2013.
Smartphones have become much more affordable 
with approximately 30 percent of all units sold costing 
less than $100, and some selling for as little as $40, 
according to International Data Corporation (IDC). 
These falling prices have encouraged usage to shift 
from a limited pool of luxury consumers to billions of 
mainstream users. This robust growth in bandwidth, 
combined with falling costs, has spurred extensive fol-
low-on innovations, resulting in the tremendous varie-
ty of new entrants and applications that exist today.
Looking ahead to 5G and beyond 
As we look ahead to fifth generation (5G) networks 
and beyond — which promise to deliver more band-
width and higher data rates, support the Internet of 
Things, and dramatically increase the numbers of con-
nected devices — we anticipate a reinvention of com-
munication, content and services on a global scale.
While the mobile value chain is healthy and robust, 
the things that make it thrive must be nurtured. Many 
policies currently in place actively sustain the innova-
tion and interoperability needed to stitch together the 
platforms and networks that make up the global tele-
communications industry. As mobile continues to ex-
pand its reach, policymakers must continue to support 
an environment of innovation across the entire value 
chain. 
3. Yet another major leap occurred from 3G to 4G technologies. 4G has enabled 
dramatic improvements in capacity and cost. With 4G technologies, it is com-
mon to watch full-length, high-definition videos via mobile, take video confer-
ence calls, make mobile payments via near-field communication (NFC), control 
devices in cars and homes via mobile, and switch seamlessly from 4G to Wi-Fi 
networks without interruption. These functions rely on completely new tech-
nologies that were not a part of the previous generation of mobile phones, and 
required more costly R&D investments than the preceding technologies.
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070 
  Apr. 2015
I
t’s time to put an emphasis on happiness. For 
too long too many people around the world put 
a focus on money, mainly because they believed 
that they’d be happy when they raked in enough of it. 
But how much is “enough”? And what are the conse-
quences of this “strategy” for the society, environment 
or colleagues and family? It turns out that the compar-
atively rich countries in the world are not the ones with 
the happiest people. And a rich manager who spends 
most of his life time in conference rooms and airplanes 
might have a lot of money – but at the same time he 
might have lost his family and his friends because time 
is limited to 24 hours a day. Furthermore, family and 
friends are often the most important source for an indi-
vidual’s happiness.
Do people care about happiness? Yes, they do. 
When Pharrell Williams published his song “Happy” a 
movement that caught worldwide attention during last 
year was kicked-off: Thousands of people around the 
world danced to the music and uploaded the videos of 
their dancing to the Internet where they were watched 
by millions. People care about happiness when they go 
shopping: Coca Cola not only helps quenching thirst 
but at the same time makes people happier (at least ac-
cording to the commercials). Books about “happiness” 
are bestsellers, “Laughter Clubs” can be joined not only 
in India where they originated and “Wellness” is nowa-
days a huge business. Even more and more universities 
and business schools these days not only teach how to 
sell a product or service (like Coca Cola or Wellness) 
but also how to become happy in one’s life and spread 
happiness. Tal Ben-Shahar created the most popular 
course in Harvard’s history – and it was about happi-
ness. At the Stanford Graduate School of Business you 
can learn about “Designing Happiness” and at Munich 
Business School international students learn together 
0405
By Christian Schmidkonz
Making the 
World a Better 
Place through 
Happiness
Focusing on happiness has 
the potential to make the 
world a better place. Not only 
individuals but also companies 
and even states should look into 
the effects a focus on happiness 
has to offer.
Development
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