Practical Expressivist Strategies and Presumptive Arguments for Realism

There are several general ‘domesticating’ strategies that quasi-realists can employ to vindicate the important features of moral practice. These include the ancestral strategy (which subsumes an expressivist account of the feature in question under a more general account that also applies to non-expressive discourses), the immanent strategy (which elucidates a role for the relevant feature within the first-order debates of the discourse), and the standards strategy (which understands the relevant feature in terms of standards governing the correct application of predicates). Furthermore, common objections to the quasi-realist project can be rebutted: it is not committed to vindicating ‘second-rate’ versions of the important features of moral practice, nor to a problematic revision of our philosophical understanding, nor to an unhappily disjunctive account of our discursive practices. These points also suffice to undermine many ‘presumptive’ arguments for moral realism (and descriptivism).

New Standards, Strategy, and Artillery

Chapter 5 shows that through 1951–1952, the CMAG systematically introduced Chinese military standards and regulations as the model for a regular, modern Vietnamese army. All of the PAVN divisions adopted more flexible and realistic strategies and tactics. They engaged in both offensive and defensive battles to maintain a relatively stable front line, emphasizing the role of firepower and technology, especially artillery, operating on the front and behind the enemy lines, and improving logistical support. By the summer of 1952, the People’s Army of Vietnam had completed its first transformation from a peasant force fighting guerrilla warfare to a regular army engaging in mobile warfare. This chapter examines three major campaigns from November 1951 to May 1953, including the defense of Hoa Binh, the Northwestern Offensive Campaign, and the Battle of Laos. In 1951–1952, China helped the Vietnamese establish the 316th and 325th Divisions.

Background of Standards Strategy

First, the literature of research on standards is reviewed, and an overview of the definitions and classifications of standards is provided. Then particular aspects of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) industry as related to standardization are reviewed. Finally, standards strategies in the ICT industry are examined by critically reviewing the existing literature and identifying important areas that need further investigation.

Developing a Theoretical Model

Much of the literature on standards strategy focuses on classifying the various observed strategies. However, what is not clearly evident from the literature is an account of why and how organizations choose their strategies. By what logic does any company decide how to promote the necessary economic factors to spread its technology, how to create a value network built upon that technology, whether to work with collaborators or go it alone, and whether to close or open IPR? What influences these decisions? What mix of elements in a company’s situation will prompt it to make one choice rather than another? To go beyond a mere listing or categorization of the types of standards strategies, but try to understand why and how organizations choose certain strategies, a theoretical model to analyze the organizational process for deciding upon standards strategy is needed. In this chapter, by reviewing existing theories that researchers have used in the literature on standard-setting processes, a theoretical model for the purpose of this study is proposed.

Preface to the Research on Standards in the Mobile Communications Industry

In this chapter, the Self-Organized Complexity Unfolding Model and the Framework of Organizational Standards Strategy are applied and explored further to the evolution of standards in the mobile communications industry. To introduce the mobile communications industry, three different infrastructures that presently exist at the beginning of the 21st century for communication over long distances are discussed. The reason to present them is to illustrate the position of the mobile communications industry in our society and how it is related to other industries.