Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Software - Economic aspects'

The inability to accurately estimate costs which are associated with software development is an increasing concern of the scientists and practitioners involved. Many factors influence the cost and many models have been offered to estimate the expenses for developing a software system of any size and type. Unfortunately, the problem remains the same. There is a significant need for further research in order to develop complete understanding in this area.This thesis examines the cost influential factors and reviews a number of existing cost estimation models. Then, a hypothetical method is shown for estimating cost, incorporating the PERT sizing technique, the Basic and Intermediate COCOMO models, and a blend of features from the Putnam's Resource Allocation model and the SLIM model. The implementation of this method is also included.
Department of Computer Science

This thesis analyzes how the ability of consumers to buy components of a system from different firms affects prices, profit margins, RandD effort, and welfare. It also examines firms' incentives to make their products compatible, that is, to allow consumers to mix-and-match different brands of components into systems. Chapter 1 reviews the economic literature on product compatibility with motivating material drawn from the personal computer industry. Three strands of the literature study compatibility using definitions based on the ability of consumers to mix- and-match components, to capture externalities arising from networks, and to switch brands costlessly. The mix-and-match literature has found that compatibility raises prices compared with those under incompatibility in a variety of settings. In practice, however, compatible computers appear to be less expensive than incompatible computers, and computer buyers have promoted standardization. Chapter 2 develops models of mix-and-match compatibility which make predictions that are the opposite of the literature's. If many Bertrand competitors draw their component costs, qualities, or characteristics from independent random distributions, then expected prices and profit margins are lower under compatibility than under incompatibility, while expected consumer surplus is higher. In addition, the chapter examines the incentives of firms to form coalitions around competing standards. It is found that a subset of firms may become compatible with each other to attract customers away from other firms, creating excess incentives for firms to become compatible from the perspective of industry profits. However, compatibility raises welfare if it is costless and components are homogeneous, because incompatibility is a restriction on the technology for combining components into systems. Chapter 3 shows that shifting from incompatibility to compatibility has an ambiguous impact on RandD effort to reduce costs. In an industry with sufficiently many firms that faces elastic demand, compatibility lowers prices and raises output, and therefore leads to greater RandD incentives. If effort lowers costs without changing the shape of the cost distribution function, compatibility induces firms to choose RandD effort levels that are closer together than under incompatibility. Chapter 4 relaxes the assumption that consumers combine components in fixed proportions. With variable coefficients, compatibility does not necessarily raise the profits of duopolists. For instance, compatibility prevents a dominant firm from setting the price of either component above its competitor's cost. On the other hand, when two "mirror-image" firms each have the lowest cost in one component and demand is symmetric across components, the firms prefer compatibility, as they did in the fixed coefficients case. When sufficiently many firms draw their costs from discrete random distributions, this ambiguity disappears, and expected profits are higher under incom- patibility. Variable coefficients also allow analysis of quantity competition, by eliminating the problem of unmatched components when there are asymmetric quantity choices. In this case, firms with mirror-image costs prefer compatibility to incompatibility because they can specialize in their low-cost component. However, when each firm has the same cost across components, firms are indifferent between the two regimes.

Orientador: Jose Maria Ferreira Jardim da Silveira
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T18:29:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vieira_ErivaldoCosta_M.pdf: 624383 bytes, checksum: e056c8e7fd377525c15548f62773b5e1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005
Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar capacidade que o instrumental teórico microeconômico tem para explicar a estratégia competitiva das empresas do setor de software de gestão integrada (ERP), mais especificamente pela análise da indústria brasileira de software de gestão, tendo como fundamento o trabalho de Shapiro e Varian (1999). Este trabalho está dividido em três fases principais, nas quais foram utilizadas três formas de pesquisa: revisão bibliográfica, pesquisa documental e pesquisa de campo (estudo de caso ou multicaso, já que envolve mais de um sujeito, mais de uma situação). A partir destes elementos elaboram-se considerações sobre as potencialidades e limitações do instrumental teórico microeconômico de explicar o comportamento dos agentes no referido setor
Mestrado
Mestre em Ciências Econômicas

This study aims to explore the decision-making criteria for requirements selection in market-driven software development projects in China. Requirements selection decisions are made by reconciling the conflicting stakeholders??? value propositions into a mutually-agreed set through the negotiation and communication process between stakeholders. Firstly, this study identified decision-making criteria according to different stakeholders??? value propositions, and then evaluated the importance of the criteria when making the decisions of requirements selection. Moreover, the study determined the degree to which the stakeholders from business, product, and project perspectives influence the decision-making process. Furthermore, the study explored the communication between major stakeholders in requirements selection process, as a foundation to support and guide the process. A Delphi survey was applied in this study. Opinions from experienced industrial experts were obtained to achieve reliable consensus among them on the criteria and relative importance of the criteria in requirements selection process. The Delphi survey in this study included four phases of data collection by a series of intensive questionnaires interspersed with controlled opinion feedback and follow-up interviews. 132 Experts from 11 companies were recruited by following the rigid procedure to ensure the validity and reliability of the research. The study indicated that criteria from the business perspective had a major influence on decision-making of requirements selection, while project- and product-perspective criteria were relatively lower in priority. However, there were some inconsistencies among the opinions of the recruited experts regarding the importance of the criteria. The inconsistencies may result from a number of different factors, for example; different software development projects; different size, culture, organizational structure or maturity level of the companies; or different working positions of the experts surveyed. In addition, the study found three different types of communication in requirements selection in the companies surveyed. Further, Chinese culture was believed to have effects on the communication process between stakeholders. While informal communication was highlighted in Chinese context, the Chinese culture of strictly hierarchical communication could lead to problems in the communication process. Further research is recommended to gain deeper insight into these issues.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a catalyst for economic development and has been seen to provide new business opportunities and a source of competitive advantage. The acute ICT skills gap in South Africa is widely acknowledged. Such a shortage has cost the South African economy dearly, resulting in the government adopting a multi-pronged approach to the problem. The various interventions have yielded limited success leaving room for other players to contribute to the solution. The Cisco Academy programme, executed through the establishment of Cisco Academies in educational institutions, is a professional education programme focused on the provision of computer networking skills and other basic information technology technical skills. Its comprehensive approach has seen it playing a complementary role to those of the government and other stakeholders. This study focused on the factors that affect Cisco Academy performance. The primary objective was to improve the academic performance of the Cisco Academies in South Africa. More specifically the study assessed the effect of instructor quality, use of technology tools, multi-culture needs, motivation, supporting infrastructure and accessibility on academy performance. The sample consisted of 166 respondents from five Cisco Academies in South Africa. Techniques such as multiple regression analysis, two sample t-tests and analysis of variance were employed on the empirical data. It was established that instructor quality and use of technology tools were the significant determinants of academy performance. It was also established that the Cisco Academy programme is making a significant contribution towards addressing the ICT skills shortage. A number of recommendations are made for the government, Cisco Academies and Cisco systems itself. Recommendations for future research are also provided.

This qualitative study of networks of entrepreneurs in the mobile technology industry in three ecosystems - Kathmandu, Nairobi and London - examines perceptions and attitudes of entrepreneurs related to their networking activities. The focus is on understanding the entrepreneurs' motivations for, and benefits and risks of networking, as well as the overall trends of development of the three ecosystems, which are very different from each other in terms of socioeconomic circumstances. The findings provide new insights into the link between the concept of a community of supportive peers and the acquisition of subjective resources, such as self-efficacy and legitimacy, while also supporting conclusions of earlier empirical and theoretical work linking networks with the acquisition of resources necessary for founding and building a new firm. A comparison of results across the three ecosystems uncovers a strong tendency towards institutional convergence of the three ecosystems based on a model inspired by the Silicon Valley experience. The mechanisms through which this is found to occur are mimesis and storytelling, motivated primarily by learning goals and the pursuit of legitimacy for entrepreneurial action in the mobile technology industry, as well as for the individual ventures. The overall finding emerging from the cases is that, despite significant differences, the three ecosystems are reliant on a shared pool of relevant information and knowledge, via the Internet and through personal and organizational connections. They resemble one another not only in terms of resources sought by entrepreneurs through their networks, but also in the ways entrepreneurs signal their purpose and value to their community, and in the way the describe their environment - through references to other entrepreneurship ecosystems. In the absence of an existing theoretical approach to analyzing convergence of diverse entrepreneurship ecosystems, the study proposes a framework based on DiMaggio and Powell's theory of institutional isomorphism, and integrating the works of Wiewel and Hunter, on legitimacy-building by association through networks, and Djelic, on the process of cross-national transfer, or export, of economic models. The type of isomorphism perceived is termed "aspirational," since it is found to occur in the context of pursuing a specific outcome previously achieved by the application of a particular institutional model. The difference between "aspirational isomorphism" and behaviours described by DiMaggio and Powell lies in the interpretation and adaptation of a model that can then be embedded in a nascent institutional environment (in this case, an entrepreneurial ecosystem). Rather than pure mimesis, aspirational isomorphism is a flexible and creative endeavor.

L'environnement cybernétique est devenu un maillon essentiel au fonctionnement de notre société et de nos activités socio-économiques. Cette transformation va de pair avec un changement d’échelle et de portée des menaces de sécurité numérique, qui deviennent d’autant plus nombreuses et plus sophistiquées. Dans un environnement mondialisé où les systèmes sont connectés à de millions d’autres systèmes, les parties prenantes sont engagés dans de multiples interactions stratégiques. Qui doit-on responsabiliser et de quelle manière, afin d’inciter à une gestion efficace de la sécurité ? De quelle façon les différentes motivations économiques de chacun influencent-elles les décisions en matière de sécurité et par conséquent ont-elles des impacts sur la vulnérabilité d’un système ? Les nouvelles et rapides évolutions en cybersécurité apportent de nouveaux défis en matière de cybersécurité et force est de constater que le développement des solutions techniques ne suffit pas à comprendre et maitriser les risques. Dans cette thèse, nous mobilisons les outils de l'économie industrielle pour appréhender des éléments qui ont transformé l'environnement de la cybersécurité, tels que l'adoption de modèle de revenu basé sur la gratuité des logiciels, l'utilisation de mécanisme de crowdsourcing dans la découverte des failles de sécurité, ou l'implication croissante des acteurs externes à l’entreprise tels que les chercheurs individuels, les concurrents, les firmes de sécurité, ou les organismes publiques dans l'amélioration de la sécurité des logiciels. Nous nous attachons en particulier à comprendre les motivations des acteurs majeurs de la sécurité, allant de l'éditeurs de logiciels aux tierces parties telles que les white-hat hackers et les firmes de sécurité. Cette thèse est constituée de trois chapitres distincts, présentant chacun une contribution empirique. Le premier chapitre s'intéresse à la relation entre la réactivité des éditeurs de logiciel à corriger les failles de sécurité et l'intensité de la concurrence sur le marché. Nous étudions le cas d'un marché au coeur de la sécurité d'Internet, celui des navigateurs web, où l'utilisateur jouit d'une gratuité et les éditeurs dérivent leur revenu d'un autre marché connexe - celui des moteurs de recherche - et par conséquent sont en concurrence par la qualité du navigateur. A travers l'analyse économétrique de données de la correction des failles de sécurité sur les navigateurs web sur une dizaine d’années, nous montrons que la concurrence sur le marché n’incite pas nécessairement les éditeurs à renforcer la sécurité.Le deuxième chapitre se focalise sur le crowdsourcing des hackers pour découvrir des failles de sécurité, mécanisme représentatif du marché des vulnérabilités qui capitalise sur la contribution des tierce-parties. A travers l'analyse empirique de 156 programmes de chasse aux bug gérés sur la plateforme HackerOne, nous montrons comment la perception de l'incertitude à être rémunéré des hackers, défini par le niveau de détail des termes contractuels, affecte leur choix de participation et par conséquent l'efficacité du programme. Enfin, dans un troisième chapitre, nous examinons comment la divulgation publique d'une vulnérabilité critique sur un système affecte le comportement des acteurs à fournir un effort pour améliorer sa sécurité. A travers l'analyse de panels de données sur 3 cas de divulgation de faille de sécurité particulièrement critique, nous montrons combien les acteurs autres que l'éditeur de logiciel - les chercheurs individuels, les firmes de sécurité, les organismes publiques, etc. - , contribuent de manière significative à améliorer la sécurité du logiciel et sont davantage impacté par des externalités telle que la divulgation publique de failles critiques
This thesis aims at contributing empirically to the research field of information security economics, by referring to traditional tools and knowledge in economics especially in Industrial Organization. It focuses on new and evolving elements in the cybersecurity environment such as the use of free software revenue models in digital markets (Chapter 1), the introduction of crowdsourcing mechanisms to improve software security (Chapter 2), or the increasing involvement of third parties in software security (Chapter 3). I am particularly interested in understanding the incentives of major actors that contribute to software security, such as software vendors, white-hat hackers, security firms, and other third parties. The thesis is organized in three chapters, each addressing a separate research question. In a first chapter, I examine the impact of competition intensity on software vendors' security investment behavior. I study the case of a software at the center of Internet security, namely the web browser, in which the vendors derive their revenue from advertising and compete in quality. I find out that market concentration is not necessarily harmful to security provision: indeed, higher market concentration positively impacts vendors' responsiveness in patching vulnerabilities, although this effect is reduced when a vendor is too dominant. In a second chapter, I focus on the crowdsourcing mechanism of white-hat hackers, which is representative of the market for software vulnerabilities that capitalizes on third parties' contribution. I study how hackers' perception of the uncertainty to be rewarded, determined by the level of information a contest provides about the contractual terms, affects their participation and thus the efficiency of the contest. I show that the self-selection process of participants leads to a trade-off between more numerous, but less performant participants, and higher quality but fewer participants. In a third chapter, I examine how the disclosure of a critical vulnerability affects the contribution of software vendors and third parties in discovering new vulnerabilities. I find that third parties' overall contribution in improving software security is considerable and that their contribution is significantly affected by externalities such as the disclosure of a critical vulnerability

This paper tries to identify and understand the human social obstacles for developing quality software. These include lip-service, cutting corners, deception and effects of internal politics. These obstacles can undermine the good intentions behind the software methodologies. The paper draws from the literature in different disciplines and uses an ethnographic research methodology to create a rich picture of the concerning aspects in the framework of one software development company in India. What stands out among the findings are that internal audits has mainly focused on finding errors in documentation procedures but study of the actual practices has often been shallow. In addition the understanding of business risks by the internal auditors have often been weak. Context. The human based obstacles affecting Software Development Methodology analysed in the context of an ISO 9000 quality system in an Indian Software Development company working mainly with Swedish companies. Objectives. Identifying and increasing the understanding of intrinsic negative social aspects such as lip service, cheating and politics which are affecting the results of Software Development Methodologies and if possible suggest some means to mitigate them. In particular to create a deeper understanding of why people cheat and pay lip service to methodologies and to try to understand the political aspects of methodology and quality systems. There are other positive social aspects, but they are not considered since the objective is about understanding the negative aspects and possibly mitigate them. Methods. Ethnographic research using analysis of ISO 9000 and design artefacts, semi-structured interviews, participation in internal audits, Results. Most focus in audits was on documentation and very less focus on underlying methodologies, some indications of lip-service to process and processes were also mainly managed on a higher level in the organization while the understanding and practices were less well established on lower level. It was hard to get a grip on the internal political aspects since the perception of the subject in the informants view was that it is mainly malicious and therefore embarrassing to speak about. Some conflicts between internal quality goals and customers’ needs were also identified. Conclusions. An ethnographic research methodology gives a rich picture. The analysis gives deeper understanding of the problem areas, but not necessary solutions. The author suggests that at the heart of the problem is a difference in world view. Software professionals generally tend to resolve [technical] problems using a reductionist approach, while these intricate challenges cannot easily be resolved by this approach. A more holistic systemic approach is required and while the software methodology is useful to structure the development it does not resolve these dysfunctions. They have to be resolved on another level. It was also found that further studies is required in particular to better understand Internal politics, the effect of Positive and Negative Incentives, the effect of software metrics on quality performance and subjectivity in customers’ perception and expectation.
Uppsatsen försöker förstå mänskliga sociala hinder för att utveckla programvara med hög kvalitet. Dessa hinder inkluderar "läpparnas bekännelser", ta genvägar, vilseleda och internpolitik. Sådana hinder kan underminera utvecklingsmetoder. Denna uppsats bygger på literatur från olika discipliner och använder etnografisk forskningsmetodik för att skapa en rik bild av dessa oroande aspekter inom ramen för ett IT-företag i Indien. Vad står ut är att intern kvalitetsrevision fokuserar för mycket på att finna fel i dokumentationsprocesser medan revision av hur utvecklingsarbetet faktiskt sker har varit för ytligt. Dessutom har de interna revisorernas förståelse av affärsrisker varit svag.

The after-sales pricing industry has, as many other industries, transformed with the digital era which have enabled automatization and scalable solutions. For companies pricing over 35 000 after sales items, scalable, digital solutions is needed. “The Company” International AB offers their SaaS solution Price, which integrates with the company’s ERP system and helps gain as much profits as possible by assisting with value-based pricing.  But lately, “The Company” has realized to be able to be market leading they need to ensure a better user experience (UX). This research’s aim was to understand how design affect customer value by understanding what UX factors are important to succeed in a B2B after-sales spare part market. The main research question were thereby: How do the UX design affect the customer value on an after sales digital service?. An important note to make is that this study will focus on the market, UX design trends and customers and their needs – not how the design should be done per se (e.g. “this button should be green, not blue”).  From the literature review, the sub-elements of UX were found to be Functionality, UI Design, Usability and Affect. Moreover, Organization is found to be a vital part to enable as good the UX as possible. The review suggested all sub-elements and their units could play a part of creating enhanced customer value.  The study is based upon qualitative interviews, followed up by a quantitative validation form studying the sub-elements and CSI. The interviews were held online with video calls and lasted for about 1–1,5 hr.  The findings verify earlier studies and implications, that all UX sub-elements do affect customer value significantly. The factor with least correlation to CSI is functionality which could be explained by being a hygiene factor, not motivator factor. Another finding, in contrary to B2C research, suggests that positive emotions is not wished for in B2B software’s as the users are “forced” to use the software as it is a part of their job, but this implication need to be further researched.  To be able to use UX as a market strategy “The Company” is advised to, within the product development team, not only prioritize new functionalities but also improving existing functionalities. It is also advised to share UX goals and vision throughout the different division working with Price. Some actions advice to take to enhance Price’s UX is making error messages actionable, enabling the user to save drafts in wizards and make it possible for the user to terminate any actions in the system.

La spécificité de l’objet de la PI imprime une singularité au régime du contrat d’entreprise. L’affirmation se constate aussi bien au sujet de la PLA qu’au sujet de la PIND et appelaient donc la recherche d’une théorie générale. Concernant la PLA, l’existence de droits moraux de l’auteur perturbe la relation contractuelle et justifie la mise en œuvre d’un formalisme important. L’objectif du législateur est alors de tenter de protéger l’auteur, envisagé comme la partie faible face au maître de l’ouvrage. Et quoique certaines exceptions aient été mises en place, elles demeurent insuffisantes. Une telle méthode « principe – exception » se révèle néanmoins alternativement inutile ou préjudiciable, de sorte qu’il conviendrait de convertir les exceptions en règle commune. À titre d’exemple, l’attribution initiale des droits d’auteur au maître de l’ouvrage dans le cadre de l’œuvre collective ou le logiciel devrait être généralisé. Si la protection apportée à l’entrepreneur dans le cadre du droit de la propriété littéraire et artistique apparaît ainsi excessive, elle est au contraire insuffisante dans le cadre du droit de la propriété industrielle. En effet, en dépit de fondements identiques, le contrat d’entreprise relatif aux droits de propriété industrielle est régi par les dispositions du Code civil, lesquelles ne protègent pas l’auteur ou le créateur. Ainsi, dans ce cadre, l’inventeur ne bénéficie pas d’un droit à la rémunération proportionnelle, car l’aspect économique domine toutes les étapes de la relation contractuelle, de l’obtention de la création à son exploitation. Néanmoins, les règles de l’attributions du droit à la création industrielle ne sont pas claires
The specificity of the subject of intellectual property entitled to a singularity of the contract of enterprise regime. The assertion is evident both on the literary and artistic property as about industrial property and therefore called the search for a general theory.Concerning the literary and artistic property, the existence of moral rights of the author disrupts the contractual relationship and justify the implementation of an important formalism. The aim of the legislator is then to try to protect the author, seen as the weak party to face the project Owner. And although some exceptions have been introduced, they remain insufficient. Nevertheless, such a method "principle - exception" proves alternately unnecessary or harmful, so the exceptions should be converted into common rule. For example, the initial attribution of copyright to the Owner project under the collective work or software should be generalized.If the protection provided to the contractor under the law of literary and artistic property thus appears excessive, it is insufficient otherwise under the law of industrial property. Indeed, despite identical basis, the contract of enterprise for industrial property rights is governed by the provisions of the Civil Code, which do not protect the author or creator. Thus, in this context, the inventor does not have a right to remuneration proportional because the economic aspect dominates all stages of the contractual relationship, obtaining creation to its exploitation. Nevertheless, the rules of the attribution of the right to creation industrial are not clear

Regression testing is an expensive testing process used to validate changes made to previously tested software. Different regression testing techniques can have different impacts on the cost-effectiveness of testing. This cost-effectiveness can also vary with different characteristics of test suites. One such characteristic, test suite granularity, reflects the way in which test cases are organized within a test suite; another characteristic, test grouping technique, involves the way in which the test inputs are grouped into test cases. Various cost-benefits tradeoffs have been attributed to choices of test suite granularity and test grouping technique, but little research has formally examined these tradeoffs. In this thesis, we conducted several controlled experiments, examining the effects of test suite granularity and test grouping technique on the costs and benefits of several regression testing methodologies across ten releases of a non-trivial software system, empire. Our results expose essential tradeoffs to consider when designing test suites for use in regression testing evolving systems.
Graduation date: 2003

A presente pesquisa consiste num trabalho exploratório de análise dos aspetos específicos da gestão de projetos de desenvolvimento de software de Patient Relationship Management (PRM), tendo em vista contribuir para a definição, no futuro, de um framework específico. Uma revisão de literatura sistemática permitiu concluir a inexistência de referências neste âmbito inseridas, tendo-se procurado suprir esta lacuna através da realização de um estudo de caso suportado em três entrevistas a peritos de reconhecida competência. As conclusões remetem para a necessidade e pertinência de um framework de gestão de projetos de desenvolvimento de software de PRM, evidenciando também um controlo do projeto de reduzida complexidade. Propõe-se e discute-se, neste aspeto, a utilização do sistema de controlo Balanced Scorecard. Esta pesquisa fornece um importante contributo para o conhecimento, compreensão e orientação da gestão e da tomada de decisão subjacentes a projetos de PRM no setor da saúde.