Users, standards and the economics of coalitions and committees

Information technology (IT) users should be allowed to participate in the process of IT standardization to minimize losses relating to the social benefits of standardization. By allowing user participation, compatibility between products is assured, and the inefficiency resulting from the existence of multiple standards will be eliminated. To ensure user involvement, it may be necessary to adopt coordinate methods which can help in the creation of user coalitions and in solving problems relating to the accomodation of more objective functions brought about by user participation.