Whether ERP software, office applications, open-source products or online games: In terms of its economic characteristics, software differs fundamentally from industrial goods or services. Based on the economic principles and rules of the software industry, the book reveals strategies and business models to software vendors that comprise cooperation, distribution, pricing and production and industrialization strategies, as well as software as a service and platform concepts. Further aspects including the outsourcing behavior of software vendors and users; providing business software as open source software; selecting software; and the value chains in the software industry are also addressed. Based on a number of expert meetings, it contains numerous case studies and new empirical findings. Target audience of the book are professionals and executives from the software, consulting and IT branches as well as students and scholars of business administration, computer science, business and industrial engineering.

A business history of the software industry from the days of custom programming to the age of mass-market software and video games. From its first glimmerings in the 1950s, the software industry has evolved to become the fourth largest industrial sector of the US economy. Starting with a handful of software contractors who produced specialized programs for the few existing machines, the industry grew to include producers of corporate software packages and then makers of mass-market products and recreational software. This book tells the story of each of these types of firm, focusing on the products they developed, the business models they followed, and the markets they served. By describing the breadth of this industry, Martin Campbell-Kelly corrects the popular misconception that one firm is at the center of the software universe. He also tells the story of lucrative software products such as IBM's CICS and SAP's R/3, which, though little known to the general public, lie at the heart of today's information infrastructure.With its wealth of industry data and its thoughtful judgments, this book will become a starting point for all future investigations of this fundamental component of computer history.

Software plays a critical role in today’s global information economy. It runs the computers, networks, and devices that enable countless products and services. Software varies in size from vast enterprise and communications systems like the enormous enterprise resource planning system from SAP to the tiny app Angry Birds. This book offers a profile of the software industry and the companies in the industry. It describes the primary products and services produced; reviews its history; explains how the industry is structured; discusses its economics and competitive environment; and examines important trends and issues including globalization, workforce, regulation, and the emergence of new software business models. Software runs the computers and networks that support the flow of information in the global economy, and this book provides a real look at the intricacies of this industry.

The relevance of software business models has tremendously increased in recent years. Markus Schief explores opportunities to improve the management of these models. Based on a conceptual framework of software business model characteristics, he conducts large empirical studies to examine the current state of business models in the software industry. These data then serve as a foundation for statistical analyses of business models’ impact on firm and M&A performance. Finally, the author develops a software business model management tool.

This book describes the state-of-the-art of software ecosystems. It constitutes a fundamental step towards an empirically based, nuanced understanding of the implications for management, governance, and control of software ecosystems. This is the first book of its kind dedicated to this emerging field and offers guidelines on how to analyze software ecosystems; methods for managing and growing; methods on transitioning from a closed software organization to an open one; and instruments for dealing with open source, licensing issues, product management and app stores. It is unique in bringing together industry experiences, academic views and tackling challenges such as the definition of fundamental concepts of software ecosystems, describing those forces that influence its development and lifecycles, and the provision of methods for the governance of software ecosystems. This book is an essential starting point for software industry researchers, product managers, and entrepreneurs.

The software industry is being inundated with important accounting and valuation questions. The rules and regulations governing accounting of the software industry are very different from other industries. The software industry has unique accounting concerns, such as capitalization of development costs and software revenue recognition. This book emphasizes accounting and financial reporting, and discusses taxation, law, and general industry subjects.