從1997年開始，網際網路上的資料傳輸量(Internet traffic)每年呈現倍數成長，隨著dotcom公司興起，預期大量頻寬的爆炸性成長需求促使通訊產業之蓬勃發展，所以無論是dotcom、datacom、或是telecom公司，股價在1999年或2000年上半年間都達到了頂點，投資人瘋狂買進股票，經營者不斷的以購併的手段來擴大自己的版圖，整個通訊產業(communications)呈現一片欣欣向榮的景象。然而在2000年下半年開始，網路股泡沫化後(dotcom crash)，實際的頻寬成長需求亦遠低於預期，過度投資加上經濟不景氣，電信產業也產生史上最大的崩盤現象(The Economist, The Great Telecoms Crash, 2002)，其嚴重程度10倍於網路股泡沫化所帶來之影響，全球銀行業因電信業大崩盤所引發的債務風險(exposure)超過一兆美元。許多電信公司的執行長及高階主管相繼被撤換，有的公司在一夕之間進入破產法保護之列，產業大幅裁員也造成數十萬的電信從業人員失去工作，還有為數眾多的投資大眾因為電信業大崩盤而蒙受巨大的損失。
本研究從全球電信產業裡面，挑選數家具代表性的電信設備供應商(telecom equipment supplier)與電信服務商(telecom operator)，分別從整體產業面之科技創新、市場需求和投機風潮，個別公司面之營運策略與管理應變，廣泛收集各公司所發佈的消息和各項相關資料、報導，予以徹底之整理與分析，並找出此次電信業大崩盤的關鍵因素，希望能提供給企業高階管理者、投資人與學術研究者一個未來思考的方向，以歷史為殷鑑，避免重蹈泡沫覆轍、做出錯誤的投資決策。

Since 1997, Internet traffic had roughly doubled every year. But much of the industry was betting on it doubling every 100 days. The mythical growth rate was then expected to apply to all forms of telecom traffic. The stock prices of telecom firms soared up in 2000, and M&A activities pervaded the whole industry worldwide. However, since the second half of 2000, the Internet bubble crashed and the global economy also came into slowdown, then the great telecom crash happened. The telecom bust is some ten times bigger than the better-known dotcom crash. The rise and fall of telecoms may indeed qualify as the largest bubble in history. Telecom firms have run up total debts of around $1 trillion.
In this thesis research, several telecom equipment suppliers and operators were picked up for analysis. From the views of technology innovation, market requirement, speculations, telecom firms’ business strategies and managerial measures, many of the related industry reports, market research reports, business news and company announcements were collected and analyzed to find out the root causes for this telecom bubble.

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Christensen, Clayton M. and Raynor, Michael E. (2003) The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth.
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Moore, Geoffrey A. (1995) Inside the Tornado: Marketing Strategies from Silicon Valley’s Cutting Edge, HarperBusiness.
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Moore, Geoffrey A. (1999) Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, HarperBusiness.
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Chancellor, Edward (1999) Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation, Plume.
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MacDonald, Larry (2000) Nortel Networks : how innovation and vision created a network giant, John Wiley & Sons.
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Gilder, George (2000) Telecosm: How Infinite Bandwidth Will Revolutionize Our World, Simon & Schuster/The Free Press.
《英文部份》
1. Afuah, Allan (2003) Internet Business Models and Strategies (2nd Edition), McGraw-Hill.
2. Bryer, Amy (2003) “In Deal of the Year, Comcast buys AT&T Broadband,” The Denver Business Journal, Denver: Mar 21, 2003, Vol. 54, Iss. 35, p. B3.
3. Communication Today (2002) “Alcatel Posts 2001 Loss, Says Better Days Ahead This Year,” Potomac: Feb 1, 2002, Vol. 8, Iss. 22, p. 1.
4. Communication Today (2002) “Alcatel Trims Revenue Outlook, To Cut 20,000 Jobs,” Potomac: Sep 23, 2002, Vol. 8, Iss. 182, p. 1.
5. Communications Today (2002) “WorldCom To Cut More Jobs,” Potomac: Nov 22, 2002, p. 1.
6. Cowell, Alan (2002) “World Business Briefing Europe: Britain: BT Reverses Loss,” New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), New York, N.Y.: Nov 8, 2002, p. W.1.
7. Dillon, Nancy (2002) “Lucent Technologies Cuts 10,000 More Jobs,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Oct 12, 2002, p. 1.
8. Electronic Times (2001) “Jobs Meltdown: JDS Uniphase,” London: Apr 30, 2001, p. 1.
9. Forouzan, Behrouz A. (2002) Data Communications and Networking (2nd Edition), McGraw-Hill.
10. Goldstein, Alan (2002) “Alcatel to Cut 10,000 More Jobs Through End of 2003,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Sep 21, 2002, p. 1.
11. Heinzl, Mark (2002) “Nortel Suffers From Larger Telecom Woes,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), New York, N.Y.: Apr 18, 2002, p. 5.
12. January, Brendan (2002) “Lucent Spinoff Agere Systems Will Cut 4,000 Jobs, Close Plants,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Aug 15, 2002, p. 1.
13. Joseph, Mike (2003) “Centre County, Pa., Job Services Rush to Organize Help for Corning Workers,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Apr 17, 2003, p. 1.
14. Kapner, Suzanne (2002) “World Business Briefing Europe: Britain: Job Cuts At BT,” New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), New York, N.Y.: Mar 28, 2002, p. W.1.
15. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News (2003) “JDS Uniphase Lays Off 10 Percent of Work Force at Rochester, Minn., Plant,” Washington: May 16, 2003, p. 1.
16. McBride, Yolanda E. and Pamela Tate. Solomon (2003) “AT&T to Cut Work Force by 3,500 --- Business Services to Get Lion''s Share of Job Losses; Latin Charge Is Planned,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), New York, N.Y.: Jan 7, 2003, p. B.7.
17. McKay, Martha (2004) “AT&T Says Profits Won''t Last; Firm Expects to Cut Jobs amid Falling Revenue,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Jan 23, 2004, p. 1.
18. Naik, Gautam (1999) “BT to Acquire Rest of Cellnet For $5 Billion,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), New York: Jul 28, 1999, p. A.20.
19. Nemes, Judith (2004) “Look for telecom players to invest in infrastructure,” B to B, Feb 9, 2004, Vol. 89 Issue 2, p. 17.
20. New York Times (2003) “Technology Briefing Telecommunications: Worldcom Will Cut 5,000 More Jobs,” Late Edition (East Coast), New York, N.Y.: Feb 4, 2003, p. C.9.
21. New York Times (2004) “Worldcom Plans to Eliminate 4,000 Jobs,” Late Edition (East Coast), New York, N.Y.: Mar 27, 2004, p. C.4.
22. Ojo, Bolaji (2002) “Nortel Blames New Layoffs On Telecom Capex Cuts -- To cull 7,000 jobs as network equipment sales fall,” EBN, Manhasset: Sep 2, 2002, Iss. 1328, p. 12.
23. Parker, Vicki Lee (2002) “Corning to Close Concord, N.C., Plant, Cut 2,200 U.S. Jobs,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Oct 31, 2002, p. 1.
24. Ryan, Margaret (1998) “Nortel to acquire Bay in $9.1B all-stock deal,” Electronic Engineering Times, Manhasset: Jun 22, 1998, Iss. 1013, p. 46.
25. Schiller, Dan (2003) “The Telecom Crisis,” Dissent, Winter 2003, pp. 66-70.
26. Solomon, Deborah and Nikhil Deogun (2000) “WorldCom to Acquire Intermedia for Stock, Debt,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), New York, N.Y.: Sep 5, 2002, p. A.3.
27. The Economist (2002) “The Great Telecoms Crash,” July 20, 2002, p. 11.
28. The Economist (2002) “Too Many Debts; Too Few Calls,” July 20, 2002, pp. 57-59.
29. Thurm, Scott (2001) “JDS to Cut 7,000 Jobs, Posts $7.9 Billion Loss --- Fiber-Optic Leader Reduces Forecasts Yet Again, Sees No End to Telecom Bust,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), New York, N.Y.: Jul 27, 2001, p. A.3.
30. Vuong, Andy (2002) “Telecom-Equipment Makers Lucent, Avaya Plan to Cut More Jobs,” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington: Jul 25, 2002, p. 1.
31. Weiss, Todd R. (2002) “AT&T speeds up global network expansion work,” Computerworld, Framingham: Jul 29, 2002, Vol. 36, Iss. 31, p. 7.
32. Wiedersehen, Ron Auf (2002) “Face Value,” The Economist, July 20, 2002, p. 56.
33. Wireless Week (2001) “BT delays 3G launch,” Radnor : Mar 21, 2001, p. 18.
34. Zipern, Andrew (2002) “Technology Briefing Telecommunications: Combined AT&T And Comcast To Cut Jobs,” New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), New York, N.Y.: Oct 10, 2002, p. C.3.
35. Zipern, Andrew (2002) “Technology Briefing Hardware: Corning Posts Loss And Cuts Jobs,” New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), New York, N.Y.: Oct 31, 2002, p. C.4.
《網站》
1. Alcatel，http://www.alcatel.com/，1998 ~ 2002 annual reports & business highlights.
2. British Telecom，http://www.bt.com/，1998 ~ 2002 annual reviews.
3. Corning，http://www.corning.com/，1998 ~ 2002 annual reports.
4. Economist，http://www.economist.com/，telecom related reports.
5. Euroland，http://www.euroland.com/，stock price charts.
6. Google，http://www.google.com.tw/，business news searching.
7. JDSU，http://www.jdsu.com/，1998 ~ 2002 annual reports.
8. Lucent，http://www.lucent.com/，1998 ~ 2002 financial highlights.
9. Nasdaq，http://www.nasdaq.com/，stock price charts.
10. Nortel，http://www.nortelnetworks.com/，1998 ~ 2002 financial reviews.
11. ProQuest，http://proquest.umi.com/，business news searching.
12. Yahoo，http://tw.yahoo.com/，business news searching.
13. 工研院，http://www.itri.org.tw/，industry research reports.
14. 中華電信，http://www.cht.com.tw/，technology explanations.
15. 中華電信企業電子商務網站，http://www.hib2b.com.tw，technology explanations.
16. 文艷，http://china.sina.com.tw/tech/it/t/2003-03-18/0808172178.shtml，全球電信巨頭喊虧 惟英國電信成行業獨秀。