Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Software development firms'

As software becomes increasingly important to all aspects of industry, there is a need to encourage practitioners to adopt best practice so as to improve the quality of the processes in use, and therefore achieve targets relating to time, budget and quality. The software development industry in Australia is dominated by a myriad of small firms. This presents a challenge in terms of determining the current practices of industry participants, and in devising improvement initiatives which are feasible for small organisations. Currently, the level of adoption of best practice among local software developers is unknown. To help improve the software industry, it is necessary to determine the current status of use of practices and techniques. Furthermore, the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement for small organisations needs to be evaluated. The objective of this research is to understand the extent of software development practices currently in use, and to evaluate the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement initiatives for small firms. To achieve this objective, an extensive mail survey of the Queensland software industry was conducted to identify and compare best practice in software development with current practice. The survey was based on the software best practice questionnaire used by the European Software Institute. Following on from this, a detailed evaluation of a process improvement program in 22 small firms was carried out. The program used the Rapid Assessments for Process Improvement for software Development (RAPID) model and method. RAPID is based on ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) and includes eight processes: requirements elicitation, software development, configuration management, quality assurance, project management, problem resolution, risk management, and process establishment. The evaluation analysed the process capability of the firms as reported from one-day software process assessments and also the extent of improvement as recorded at follow-up meetings held 7 to 16 months after the assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyse the assessment reports. The study confirmed that there is wide variation in the extent of adoption of software development best practice in terms of the individual practices, as well as the organisations. While project management planning and customer involvement practices are widely adopted, the use of metrics for estimating and testing are barely used by the organisations that responded to the survey. Overall, practices of a technical nature are more widely adopted compared to techniques related to support and management. Organisations involved in developing commercial off-the-shelf software have higher adoption than firms which do not develop such systems, and adoption of best practice is associated with the size of the development group. The leaders in adoption have significantly better practices when compared to the laggards for 40 of the 44 practices included in the survey. Furthermore, organisations from the finance, insurance and utilities sectors exhibited higher adoption of best practice compared to organisations from other sectors. The overall adoption of 48 percent implies that the organisations which responded have adopted, on average, almost half of the best practices in the questionnaire. While this overall adoption rate places the Queensland software industry in a competitive position compared to adoption of firms in European countries, there is scope for improvement. The process improvement assessments of 22 firms also confirmed that the capability of technical processes is higher than that of management processes; and suggested that higher capability is associated with the proportion of experienced staff and the proportion of staff with post graduate qualifications. Higher process capability is also associated with firms undertaking projects of lengthy durations. Most of the processes were rated at the lowest levels. Almost one third of all the processes were rated as incomplete (level 0) and 46 percent were rated as performed (level 1). The evaluation of the process improvement program was conducted by analysing the 22 assessment reports, and the 20 final reports from the follow-up meetings. The extent of improvement is associated with the proportion of technical staff and the proportion of formally qualified staff. The evaluation revealed that assessment-based process improvement programs are effective for small firms, regardless of the maturity of the processes at the time of the assessment. As well as detailing the process capability of 22 small software firms, this study provides an interesting insight into the actions, reasons for inaction, and reactions of the firms as far as implementing the recommendations from the assessments. Analysis of the reactions of the participants of this program suggests that for small firms, mentoring, training and organisation stability are important factors, while senior management support may not be an issue of concern. The study indicates that small firms can benefit from a low cost process improvement program with a restricted scope, a short time frame to evaluation, and mentoring from external assessors/consultants. It is also crucial that the firm is not disrupted by internal or external events during the course of the software process improvement program. Furthermore, this study provides a contribution to assessment methods by validating the RAPID model and method, and providing recommendations to improve the RAPID method. The outcomes from this research have the potential to better equip practitioners and consultants to undertake software process improvement, hence increasing the success of small software development firms in domestic and global markets.

As software becomes increasingly important to all aspects of industry, there is a need to encourage practitioners to adopt best practice so as to improve the quality of the processes in use, and therefore achieve targets relating to time, budget and quality. The software development industry in Australia is dominated by a myriad of small firms. This presents a challenge in terms of determining the current practices of industry participants, and in devising improvement initiatives which are feasible for small organisations. Currently, the level of adoption of best practice among local software developers is unknown. To help improve the software industry, it is necessary to determine the current status of use of practices and techniques. Furthermore, the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement for small organisations needs to be evaluated. The objective of this research is to understand the extent of software development practices currently in use, and to evaluate the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement initiatives for small firms. To achieve this objective, an extensive mail survey of the Queensland software industry was conducted to identify and compare best practice in software development with current practice. The survey was based on the software best practice questionnaire used by the European Software Institute. Following on from this, a detailed evaluation of a process improvement program in 22 small firms was carried out. The program used the Rapid Assessments for Process Improvement for software Development (RAPID) model and method. RAPID is based on ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) and includes eight processes: requirements elicitation, software development, configuration management, quality assurance, project management, problem resolution, risk management, and process establishment. The evaluation analysed the process capability of the firms as reported from one-day software process assessments and also the extent of improvement as recorded at follow-up meetings held 7 to 16 months after the assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyse the assessment reports. The study confirmed that there is wide variation in the extent of adoption of software development best practice in terms of the individual practices, as well as the organisations. While project management planning and customer involvement practices are widely adopted, the use of metrics for estimating and testing are barely used by the organisations that responded to the survey. Overall, practices of a technical nature are more widely adopted compared to techniques related to support and management. Organisations involved in developing commercial off-the-shelf software have higher adoption than firms which do not develop such systems, and adoption of best practice is associated with the size of the development group. The leaders in adoption have significantly better practices when compared to the laggards for 40 of the 44 practices included in the survey. Furthermore, organisations from the finance, insurance and utilities sectors exhibited higher adoption of best practice compared to organisations from other sectors. The overall adoption of 48 percent implies that the organisations which responded have adopted, on average, almost half of the best practices in the questionnaire. While this overall adoption rate places the Queensland software industry in a competitive position compared to adoption of firms in European countries, there is scope for improvement. The process improvement assessments of 22 firms also confirmed that the capability of technical processes is higher than that of management processes; and suggested that higher capability is associated with the proportion of experienced staff and the proportion of staff with post graduate qualifications. Higher process capability is also associated with firms undertaking projects of lengthy durations. Most of the processes were rated at the lowest levels. Almost one third of all the processes were rated as incomplete (level 0) and 46 percent were rated as performed (level 1). The evaluation of the process improvement program was conducted by analysing the 22 assessment reports, and the 20 final reports from the follow-up meetings. The extent of improvement is associated with the proportion of technical staff and the proportion of formally qualified staff. The evaluation revealed that assessment-based process improvement programs are effective for small firms, regardless of the maturity of the processes at the time of the assessment. As well as detailing the process capability of 22 small software firms, this study provides an interesting insight into the actions, reasons for inaction, and reactions of the firms as far as implementing the recommendations from the assessments. Analysis of the reactions of the participants of this program suggests that for small firms, mentoring, training and organisation stability are important factors, while senior management support may not be an issue of concern. The study indicates that small firms can benefit from a low cost process improvement program with a restricted scope, a short time frame to evaluation, and mentoring from external assessors/consultants. It is also crucial that the firm is not disrupted by internal or external events during the course of the software process improvement program. Furthermore, this study provides a contribution to assessment methods by validating the RAPID model and method, and providing recommendations to improve the RAPID method. The outcomes from this research have the potential to better equip practitioners and consultants to undertake software process improvement, hence increasing the success of small software development firms in domestic and global markets.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Computing and Information Technology
Full Text

Abstract The present thesis analyses different software supplier types and the development of supplier firms in the context of the Finnish ICT cluster, which underwent rapid growth in the 1990s. The central brand-owner firms in the cluster have been accompanied by a high number of smaller industrial supplier firms that base their business on serving their large customer organisations. The research to date on the ICT cluster has largely focused on understanding the development and purchasing strategies of the large customer firms and thus does not provide a sufficient basis for understanding how supplier firms in the cluster operate and develop. It is this gap that the present study undertakes to address. The thesis begins by building a theoretical framework that identifies the main factors affecting the development of industrial supplier firms. The inner context of the framework is based on the resource-based view of the firm and the capability approach, while the outer context rests on principles drawn from theories of evolutionary economics. Supplier development is analysed as a change from one firm type to another. The empirical part of the thesis consists of a quantitative and a qualitative study. The former identifies five software supplier types and elaborates a typology capturing their main features, e.g., key resources, capabilities and operating logic. The latter then applies the theoretical framework in analysing the development of four software supplier firms within the ICT cluster. The empirical analysis generates a number of propositions on the development of software supplier firms that together constitute a description of the firms' typical development path and the most significant resources and capabilities enabling the development identified. The software suppliers' change from providing customised software services towards independent production of software products was found to be extremely difficult. The thesis concludes with a discussion of strategy-level choices that are relevant in managing this type of development.

This research aims to explore if and to what extent the IPO-Year R&D investments of 32 Application Software companies return value, as measured through stock performance. By utilizing “Ordinary Least Squares Analysis” and the “Fama-French Three Factor Model,” this research explores how the initial R&D investments in “IPO-Year” impact stock returns during the three years post-IPO. This study is purposed to discover if and how long it takes for the initial R&D investment in the IPO-Year to materialize into stock performance for Application Software companies. However, the research and analysis indicates that R&D expenditures in an IPO-Year is not a statistically significant variable in influencing stock performance.

This study investigates the impact of consumer sophistication on emerging market firms’ ability to innovate. Three constructs, namely, innovation capabilities, sources of information and strategies, were identified as critical factors in the innovation process. By leveraging off these factors emerging market firms may gain sustainable competitive advantages in a highly competitive environment. The context of the study was South African based software development firms competing in more developed markets (wealthier), less developed markets (poorer) and domestic markets only (middle income). Data collection took place via telephonic survey. It was found that the size of the firm as measured by the number of employees is related to the consumer sophistication. Firms in less developed markets tend to be significantly larger than firms in more developed markets and the domestic market. Suppliers and clients as sources of information that impact the firms’ innovation development were found to be statistically significant. Firms in the more developed markets made considerable use of international clients for innovation ideas whereas firms in the domestic market leveraged ideas off local suppliers. The firms’ resource strategy was found to be significantly different across the three groups. Domestic market firms considered themselves ahead of the industry compared to less developed markets who considered themselves average with regard to having the latest equipment.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

A partir de meados do século XX, os avanços científicos e tecnológicos desencadearam uma onda de transformações que vem atingindo as sociedades em seus aspectos: cultural, social, político, comportamental e econômico. Neste contexto, empresas intensivas em conhecimento ou de base tecnológica, como as do setor de software, vêm ganhando espaço no cenário econômico e galgando importantes posições nos mercados. Há um resgate da dimensão local na atividade produtiva e a discussão sobre temas como desenvolvimento regional sustentável, Arranjos Produtivos Locais - APLs e PLOLHX de inovação tem sido cada vez mais constante. O presente trabalho buscou analisar, sob o ponto de vista dos atores locais, os fatores de atração e fixação de empresas de software na região do município de Juiz de Fora, Zona da Mata de Minas Gerais. Para tanto, foram levantados alguns dados e realizadas entrevistas com diferentes atores, cuja análise permitiu entender melhor as possibilidades e dificuldades da região em relação ao processo de atração e manutenção das empresas deste setor e sugerir caminhos, que possam levar a forma mais adequada para realização dos dois processos supracitados. Este estudo pretende fornecer subsídios para futuras políticas de atração de investimentos para a região e para a busca de alternativas de desenvolvimento regional sustentado.
From the late 20th century on all the scientific and technological advances occurred have brought a wave of changing`s on several aspects of our society such as cultural, political, behaviorism and economical which have made intensive knowledge enterprises or those based in technologies like software production ones to win more space in the economic scenario and reach important positions in the markets. There has been a rescue of the local dimension in the productive activities and the discussions around subjects as sustainable developing in particular regions, Local Productive Arrangements - APL, new ways of innovation, among others, have been getting more importance each day. This work has the intention of analyzing the factors of attraction and establishment of software enterprises in the Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais surroundings, under the local actors` point of view. Therefore some data were obtained from interviews with different actors and their analysis is going to make it better to understand both the possibilities and difficulties in the processes of attracting and maintaining these kind of enterprises in the considered region and it`s going to suggest actions to bring the most suitable ways to make sure the two of the processes already mentioned happen. This study is also going to present sources for future investment policies to the region and alternatives for sustainable developing.

This diploma thesis deals with proposals for improving particular project management phases and their implementation into project management tools. The resulting proposals are based on a theoretical background and analysis of a specific project from a company Proof & Reason and are implemented into its environment.

This diploma thesis aims at the development of agile software projects of an existing company. The main goal of this dissertation has been to identify and analyze the most frequent current problems of the company, then to summarize their impact and to propose the best possible way of dealing with them. As an integral part, the aim of the dissertation has also been the creation of an internal knowledge base which can help to prevent those problems from happening in future projects and to share mutual experiences. To fulfil this goal, it has been necessary to learn all the problems of the agile software development, to know the most widely used agile methodologies and some latest facts and recent trends in the area of agile projects. It has also been necessary to carry out the SWOT analysis of the company and analyze the results of the internal agile development survey. The next thing which had to be done was the identification and description of the most frequent problems of agile development projects and the assessment of the categories of projects which occur in the company and linking the problems with each of the categories. The content of the internal knowledge base was created to correspond with the results of my diploma thesis. The contribution of this dissertation is the identification and assessment of the most fre-quent problems of agile projects of an existing company, identification of possible impacts and recommendation of possible solutions. The other contribution is the identification of the project categories which are linked to the identified problems. Last but not least, the main benefit of this thesis is the creation of a new internal project management knowledge base which will help to share the experience among all the projects and in this way it will help to prevent the spread of these problems. This diploma thesis is divided into two main parts, theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part, there is a definition of "agile methodologies", a description of their typical examples and statistics as well as modern trends in the area of the development of agile projects. The practical part is divided into four chapters. They contain the results of the company's SWOT analysis and the results of the internal agile development survey. Then there is a presentation of the identified agile development problems, their possible impact and the recommendation how to deal with them. There is a full description of all the identified categories of projects and their identified problems with their assessment criteria as well as time-proven ways how to effectively deal with them. The last chapter contains and internal project management knowledge base which has been done by myself. The knowledge base may be very useful in the project management now and in the future.

The goal of this thesis is to create a proposal of framework which can be used to support software quality management in a small development company. Framework is composed of processes, methodologies and tools which together should improve the quality of software products of a company. Concrete implementation of the framework is shown as a case study. Data for the case study were collected in the company Cleverbee, where the author worked during the case study's creation. Personal contribution of the author of the thesis is firstly the creation of the framework concept based on author's experiences and commented list of concrete results of framework's implementation. The detailed goal setting for this thesis and the definition of the target reader can be found in the chapter 1. Introduction. The definition of main terms, which will appear in the rest of the thesis, is contained in the chapter 2. Terms. Chapter 3. Software quality and its definition is explains the term "software quality" and the nature of the small companies. Chapter 4. Software quality management forms the theoretical foundation of the thesis. In this chapter you find how the methodologies RUP and CMMI view the software quality. Chapter 5. Framework concept contains the concept of the software quality management framework. Framework is based upon relevant sources and also author's personal experience. The chapter 6. Case study describes the concrete example of the implementation of the proposed framework. The case study also contains descriptions of the used software tools. The chapter 7. Conclusion contains the brief resume of the findings of the thesis.

This master thesis deals with problems of information technology projects and their solutions using agile project management. Based on an analysis of the company and its projects is suggested solution using agile methods.

The aim of this study is to develop a software which calculates reflection, transmission and absorption of multilayered thin films by using complex indices of refraction, as a function of both wavelength and thickness. For these calculations matrix methods will be considered and this software is programmed with the matrix method. Outputs of the program will be compared with the theoretical and experimental results studied in the scientific papers.

Sustainability in the software and Information Technology (IT) industry has previously been discussed by practitioners mostly with a focus on maintainability and extensibility. In turn, the ecological and environmental dimensions of sustainability have been neglected. Previous research has shown that there are obstacles in the industry in terms of knowledge, experience, and support. Lack of knowledge stems from a lack of tools to detect and determine factors that affect environmental sustainability in software development, such as energy consumption. Furthermore, examining employees’motivations, attitudes, and discretionary behaviours is important to understand how implementation can be enabled and sustained. The purpose of this study is to find practices and tools for achieving environmental sustainability in software development as well as understanding what factors are hindering software engineers from adopting sustainable practices and tools that already exist. A qualitative single case study was conducted with semi-structured interviews as the primary method for data collection. The interviews were performed with individuals with various roles within software engineering as well as their managers. The findings show that the focus on environmental sustainability in software development is insufficient as for now. Practices, such as, reduction of CPU cycles and inactivating idle programs are suggested as environmentally friendly. Additionally, the findings display hinders in areas such as responsibility, requirements, and knowledge. Organizations and their stakeholders have to prioritize and work against these hindrances in order to succeed with environmental efforts.
Hållbarhet inom mjukvaru- och Informationsteknologi (IT) -industrin har tidigare diskuterats av utövare mestadels med ett fokus på underhållning och tillbyggnad av mjukvara. Den ekologiska och miljömässiga hållbarheten har därför blivit försummad. Tidigare forskning har påvisat att det finns hinder i industrin gällande kunskap, erfarenhet, och stöd. Brist på kunskap härrör från en brist på verktyg för att upptäcka och fastställa faktorer som påverkar miljömässig hållbarhet inom mjukvaruutveckling, så som energiförbrukning. Dessutom, att undersöka de anställdas motivationer, attityder, och beteende är viktigt för att förstå hur en implementation kan möjliggöras samt upprätthållas. Syftet med denna studie är att hitta praktiker och verktyg för att uppnå miljömässig hållbarhet inom mjukvaruutveckling samt att förstå vilka faktorer som hindrar mjukvaruutvecklare att uppta hållbara principer och verktyg som redan existerar. Studien är genomfört som en kvalitativ fallstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer som primär metod för datainsamling. Intervjuerna var genomförda med individer inom olika roller för mjukvaruutveckling samt deras chefer. Resultatet visar på att det finns ett otillräckligt fokus på miljömässig hållbarhet inom mjukvaruutveckling för tillfället. Praktiker så som reduktion av CPU cykler och inaktivering av program på tomgång (idle programs) är antydda att vara hållbara ur ett miljöperspektiv. Dessutom visar resultatet på att det finns hinder inom områden såsom ansvar, krav, och kunskap. Organisationer och deras intressenter behöver prioritera och arbeta mot dessa hinder för att lyckas med miljömässiga insatser.

The diploma thesis deals with implementation of Agile Project Management Approach for smaller software projects of the department ATS of the office HTS CZ of the corporation Honeywell. The ATS department is a part of the Aerospace division, focused at aviation. For implementation of new approach there was used the agile methodology Scrum and the project management standard PMBoK.

The thesis is designed to improve our understanding of user participation in Web-based development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry. It aims to investigate whether the creative capacities of users and their contributions to the online firm-hosted 3D platform are indicative of a novel configuration of production that influences the processes of product development across firm boundaries. The thesis mobilizes the user participation literature developing in media research as its main theoretical framework. It builds on insights derived from work on user participation in media sites as seen through a cultural lens, in particular, as developed in Henry Jenkins' notions of 'participatory' and 'convergence culture'. The user participation literature is supported by a combination of insights drawn from work on communities of practice and user-centred innovation so as to offer a more robust approach to examine and appreciate the firm-hosted 3D platform as a site of user participation. More specifically, the conceptual framework for the study provides a basis for an examination of the ways a software developer finn encourages user participation in a market and of how this enables and facilitâtes particular modes of user creativity. These are shown to shape and maintain a firm-hosted platform that aids product development efforts that are expected to benefit the developer fimi. An empirical study of the platform, Second Life, provides the basis for the analysis of finn-user interactions which are shown to underpin a distinctive finn leaming process in the context of product development that occurs across permeable fimi boundaries. The thesis yields insight into the way a developer firm invites its user base to partner with it in product development, indicating how aspects of user participation associated with non-market dynamics are embedded in commercial activity and professionalism. The pivotal role of users is revealed in the design, development and sustainability of a firm-hosted 3D product. The findings point to interesting relationships between the distinctive creative capacities of users and the range of capabilities afforded by the firm-provided design space. Variations in user participation and contributions to product development suggest that particular patterns of learning opportunities occur. The analysis yields several new concepts including a 'modification effect market' which are used to extend existing conceptualizations of user participation in digitai development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry.

Kunskap om olika utvecklingsmetoder vid start av ett nytt mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt äravgörande för utvecklarna, styrorganen och slutprodukten. Därför prioriteras ofta nya ochokända metoder ned för att säkerställa att arbetet blir gjort och att lösningen kommer attlevereras i tid och med hög kvalitet. Detta beteende gör på lång sikt att mjukvaruutvecklingsprojektgår miste om nya och bättre utvecklingsmetoder.För belysa nya utvecklingsmetoder och upplysa de som behöver, valde vi att undersökaskillnaderna i krav framställning inom området Open Source Software(OSS)1-utveckling.I vårt arbete ställer tre forskningsfrågor som ska belysa ämnet dessa bevarar vi genom attutföra en fallstudie. I fallstudien undersöker vi hur och av vilka som krav framställts i ettföretagsstyrt projekt jämfört med ett projekt drivet av en frivilligorganisation.Fallstudien visade att externa användare i frivilligorganisation OSS-projekt har lägredelaktighet, det vill säga bidrag till projektartefakter, jämfört med företagsdrivna projektdär deltagandet av externa användare är högre. Slutligen diskuterar vi implikationerna avresultaten för både OSS-projekt drivna av företag och frivilligorganisationer. Vi kan förbåda styrorganen dra slutsatsen att det är möjligt att öka både utvecklingshastighet ochproduktens värde för kunden.
Knowledge about different development methods when starting up a new software developmentproject is crucial for the developers, the governing bodies and the end product.Therefore new and unfamiliar options are taken out of the equation to make sure that thework gets done and that the solution will be delivered on time and with high quality. Thisbehaviour in the long term does, however, exclude new and better ways of executing thework in the process.To shine light upon new development methods and enlighten those who are in needof insight into a new viable option we chose to investigate the differences in requirementelicitation within the area of Open Source Software development. By examining how andby who requirements are elicited in a firm-driven project compared to a community drivenproject, we framed a total of three research questions to base our case study on.The case study showed that in community driven Open Source Software projects externalusers have low participation, in other words contributions to project artefacts, comparedto firm-driven projects where the participation of external users is high. Finally, wediscuss the potential implications of the findings for both community- and firm-driven OSSprojects. We could conclude for both types that it’s possible to increase both developmentspeed and customer product value.

Diploma thesis deals with SCRUM methodology and its uses in innovation management. The main objective of the thesis is creation of a specific framework which will enable to use SCRUM methodology in the innovation process. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part presents theoretical framework important for the main research. This part contains literature review and research dedicated to the SCRUM methodology and innovation process. The second part of the thesis deals with mapping of the SCRUM methodology to Hladik's innovation process. This part also contains own design of the innovation management process. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to the case study. The case study uses described innovation management process for verification of the hypothesis saying that is possible to use SCRUM methodology in the innovation process. The author's contribution lies in creation of a framework which provides agile alternative to the classical innovation management models.

Businesses today face intense international competition, a heightened pace of development and shortened product life cycles. As a result, many researchers recommend firms collaborate and partner with other firms to succeed. With over a decade of research examining alliances and inter-firm collaboration, we know a great deal about the benefits and outcomes firms realize through collaboration. An important gap exists, however, in our understanding of the effect of partnering firms on collaborative outputs. This study attempts to address this gap by examining the success of collaborative new product development outputs. The study was a quasi-experimental study using archival, time-series data. Hypotheses were tested at the project level, defined as the product output from the collaborative development effort. Predictors were developed at both the firm and dyadic levels. Several findings emerged from this research. The primary finding is that roles of alliance partners impact which capability and capital benefits accrue. Firms functioning as a publisher benefit from increases in relevant experience. Firms functioning as a developer benefit from working in areas in which they have experience, but largely to the extent that the developer also generalizes their capabilities. One implication emerging from the capability findings suggests a need for configurational capability research. From a social capital conception, developers with high network centrality have a negative impact on the perceived quality of the final software product. Developers also benefit from embeddedness, products developed by developers in constrained networks outperformed products developed by developers in brokered networks.

This diploma thesis concerns with electronic business. The technology of the trade, the internet and it's services and the history is described in the first chapter. Next chapter concerns with the general theoretical issues of electronic business. Defines relationships of particular subjects, such as client, seller or government service that appear in the terms and conditions of electronic business. Then describes the general model of electronic business. The third chapter is dedicated to general approach to creation of the electronic shop project. The fourth and the last chapter describes the project of implementation of the electronic shop to the company M&N in detail, from setting goals, evaluating expenses, to actual creation of the electronic market as a enhacement to existing store. At last there is the contract between M&N and the software development company that will create the internet application in the attachement of the thesis.

碩士
崑山科技大學
企業管理研究所
91
Innovation can maintain competition advantage of a firm, and inject into knowledge can improve product innovation. Thus it can be seen knowledge play an important role in new product development process. Knowledge worker replace traditional elements become more important, result from tacit knowledge embedded in worker not easy to imitate and obtain. We used case study as method, with in-depth interview and questionary collecting. We choose five Game software development firms are belong to idea-orientated as sample. The central message from our analysis is that knowledge characteristic in each of stage in new product development process was different. Knowledge in idea-orient stage is knowledge base was obtained by human capital. Knowledge in implement and action stage is knowledge frame and knowledge dynamics were obtained by social capital.

碩士
銘傳大學
管理學院高階經理碩士學程
101
The prevalence of the Internet since 1990s, the rapid development of information spreading and soft and hardware innovation make the information services industry continuously developing diverse services. However, the gross margin of selling information products under intensive competition is only 3% to 4%. When conducting the project of software-development process, most of firms heavily rely on expertise judgment to estimate project costs and working hours. Currently, there are no reliable and acceptable estimation models in common used as the basis for estimating man-hours in software-development process. The study attempts to compare the degrees of cost-estimation accuracy between the method of Function Point Analysis and Delphi method through investigation of estimating costs of 20 projects for a Firm. Meanwhile, the study will provide suggestions for further empirical applications. The result finds that the Function Point Analysis provides an objective measurement tool for cost-estimation. Nevertheless, it is also suggested that increasing the estimation accuracy requires storing the cost data of projects conducted in the past coupled with project conducting experience. Therefore, the study suggests that establishing the base of knowledge management in project cost estimation can be beneficial to the firm in the information service industry.

碩士
輔仁大學
資訊管理學系碩士在職專班
104
For trading software project development process, IT executives must face the stages of descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics and other required processes; wherein the ad hoc team is composed of partners, experts and experienced engineers or a mature knowledge management system, and the model is built by multiple criteria in different contexts, such that optimal key decisions can be made. At present, business analytics of these companies already developed a lot of success real cases; similarly, Simon (1977) proposed the decision makingmodeling process: 1. Intelligence phase; 2. Design phase; 3. Choice phase; and 4. Implementation phase. The reasons of development differences and results of the two methods come mainly from reducing the cost of hardware and software in the later techniques, but their performances contrarily become more effective and efficient. This fact makes original companies which can’t implement practical problem analytics under limited time, but the results can now already be easily, even instantly, obtained to provide accurate and satisfactory recommendations. This study emphasizes that “speed” is the key basis for the 21st century, and then applies an experienced expert group with analytic hierarchy process (AHP) or knowledge management and collaborative systemsincluding analytics capabilities from the integration of Big Data and cloud computing, to create a “multi-criteria decision-making model” to support the company executives instantly for assigning the experts of customer and the most suitable employees from various departments of the company to compose “trading software project team”, such that the company can complete project in optimal time for both sides to achieve the goal of win-win. In addition, the managerial analysis also made use of performance measurement from changes of both quantitative and qualitative values to obtain the management guidelines and implication, in order to significantly improve software projects in future transactions to achieve purposes of company’s consecutive operating.