scholarly journals The Presence of the Customer and the Supplier Perspectives in Studies on Software Development Project Success

Author(s):  
Jarmo Ahonen ◽  
Paula Savolainen

The Presence of the Customer and the Supplier Perspectives in Studies on Software Development Project SuccessA systematic literature review on software development project success/failure from customer's or supplier's perspective is presented. The review covers studies published in peer-reviewed journals only. The results show that knowledge on software development project success/failure is multidisciplinary and fragmented. In addition, there are very few studies that consider software development project success from the supplier's perspective. One of the main contributions of this article is the table of articles in which articles have been classified by the perspective which they discuss. Another contribution is the list of journals in which the accepted articles have been published. Moreover, these results show a clear lack in our understanding of software development project success in outsourcing situations.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 880-896
Author(s):  
Helena Merikoski ◽  
Paula Savolainen ◽  
Jarmo J. Ahonen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a life cycle phase of a software development project which is substantial for the success of the project. This paper visualizes the project start-up phase from suppliers’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach The method is a theory building from case studies. The data were collected from three software supplier firms by conducting process modeling separately in each firm. Findings The study resulted in a model of a supplier’s software project start-up which includes start-up practices and involved roles. The results indicate that project start-up is an integral and structured phase of project life cycle, which influences the execution of a software development project, especially from the supplier’s perspective in the project business context. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on the start-up phase of software development projects delivered to external customers. Therefore, developed project start-up model is applicable as such in software supplier firms. Practical implications The project start-up model presented in this paper indicates that project start-up is a complex and multi-dimensional activity in a supplier firm. This study suggests that if the project start-up phase is clearly defined, planned and followed in a supplier firm, it reduces confusion and miscommunication among the people involved in the project and helps to achieve the business goals of a project. Originality/value This study emphasizes that it is necessary to make a distinction between the perspectives of the customer and the supplier when studying projects in the project business context. The findings contribute the new knowledge for managing outsourced software development projects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajorshi Sen Gupta

This article describes how entrepreneurs face critical risks in terms of quality control and knowledge management while outsourcing software development to independent service providers. First, it is recommended that lump-sum payment contracts should be avoided since software development project involves uncertainty. Instead, a variable payment contingent on observed quality can induce the service provider to exert optimal effort on the project. Second, entrepreneurs must not overlook the importance of providing economic incentives. They can protect their intellectual property by withholding critical knowledge and paying information rents in terms of higher than market wages to the service providers. Third, a startling result is that a low wage nation is not necessarily the optimal location to outsource software development projects. Thus, high wage-strong IPR nations might be chosen instead of low wage-weak IPR nations. Finally, the article explains the apparent paradox that software projects are often outsourced to locations that are characterized by weak intellectual property rights regime and high propensity of imitation.


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