Analysis of Japanese Software Business

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-96).Today, our society is surrounded by information system, computers, and software. It is no exaggeration to say that our daily life depends on software and its function. Accordingly, the business of software has made miraculous growth in the last two decades and is playing a significant role in various industries. In accordance with the growing business needs for effective software and information systems, various firms in various countries have entered the business of software seeking for prosperity. Some have succeeded, some have failed. What distinguishes these firms is its ability to manage and deliver quality products on demand, on time, at a low cost. To achieve such goal, software firms have thought out different methods and tools striving to establish its practice. Nevertheless, many software firms around the globe are struggling to satisfy its clients to achieve business success. With no exception, Japanese software firms are facing difficulties of managing software projects. While its ability to deliver high quality product is well acknowledged among software industry, its high cost structure and schedule delays are thought of as serious problems. Moreover, some of the transitions in the industry are forcing Japanese software firms to seek new opportunities. Therefore, it is important for Japanese software firms to establish more productive ways of developing software products and effective business strategies. Primal objective of this paper is to analyze the present conditions of Japanese software firms and to derive some recommendations which could enhance its current situation. It will also include the discussion of software development practices in US and India firms to better understand strength and weaknesses of Japanese firms and capture some important concepts which can be applied to improve current practice.by Kenichiro Inada.S.M.in System Design and Managemen

An Integrative Conceptual Model of Vietnam as an Emerging Destination for Offshore Outsourcing of Software Development for Finnish Companies

Companies are constantly under pressure to develop software within tight budgets and more efficiently. Offshore outsourcing has been seen as one solution to the dilemma, and lucrative outsourcing businesses have evolved in many countries. Vietnam is now emerging within this global outsourcing sector. This study conducts an in-depth literature review and analyzes a number of important issues related to developing countries in general and Vietnam in particular, as an offshore outsourcing destination for Finnish companies for developing their software. From the analysis, an integrative conceptual model of software development through offshore outsourcing was developed. The study found challenges as well as potential in Vietnam’s software outsourcing industry. In addition, it provides valuable information for practitioners interested in outsourcing to Vietnam and for further research within the area

Pulling offshore and staying onshore: A framework for analysis of offshoring dynamics

Given that the force of offshoring is one of the most important economic changes in the early 2000s it is vital to understand what propels it further. The landscape of offshoring is such that firms in the wealthy nations (onshore) have already off-shored, sometimes extensively. As researchers, we need to ask not whether the firm will offshore, but rather how far the firm will go offshore and what are the subtle factors that are driving this offshore decision process. Therefore, in this paper we propose a framework in order to understand the firm-level decisions that are not as well understood and not as well researched. There are a number of key variables that we already collectively know about offshoring. First, we already know that offshoring is driven by low wages and large labor pools in India, China and elsewhere. Thus, everything else being equal, work will flow to the less expensive offshore locations. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Innovation Offshoring:Asia's Emerging Role in Global Innovation Networks

Most analysts agree that critical ingredients for economic growth, competitiveness, and welfare in the United States have been policies that encourage strong investment in research and development (R&D) and innovation. In addition, there is a general perception that technological innovation must be based in the United States to remain a pillar of the American economy. Over the past decade, however, the rise of Asia as an important location for "innovation offshoring" has begun to challenge these familiar notions. Based on original research, this report demonstrates that innovation offshoring is driven by profound changes in corporate innovation management as well as by the globalization of markets for technology and knowledge workers. U.S. companies are at the forefront of this trend, but Asian governments and firms are playing an increasingly active role as promoters and new sources of innovation. Innovation offshoring has created a competitive challenge of historic proportions for the United States, requiring the nation to respond with a new national strategy. This report recommends that such a strategy include the following elements: output forecasting techniques ... Improve access to and collection of innovation-related data to inform the national policy debate; Address "home-made" causes of innovation offshoring by sustaining and building upon existing strengths of the U.S. innovation system; Support corporate innovation by (1) providing tax incentives to spur early-state investments in innovation start-ups and (2) reforming the U.S. patent system so it is more accessible to smaller inventors and innovators; and Upgrade the U.S. talent pool of knowledge workers by (1) providing incentives to study science and engineering, (2) encouraging the development of management, interpretive, cross-cultural, and other "soft" capabilities, and (3) encouraging immigration of highly skilled workers.Innovation Networks, Innovation Offshoring, Asia

Toward the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory in Software Development

“The Sun never sets on the British Empire,” was a notion emphasized during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to highlight that the British Empire was far-flung, and that the sun was always visible from some part of this vast empire. While the British Empire has gradually disintegrated, we can now coin an equivalent notion: “The Sun never sets on the 24-hour Knowledge Factory!

High growth maritime industries: Recent successes and major opportunities for Western Australia

There are indications that the maritime industry in Western Australia is currently insufficiently serviced by the tertiary sector in terms of its educational needs. Thus, in May 1995 a Maritime Industry Taskforce was formed to investigate opportunities for further development of maritime industries in Western Australia and around the Indian Ocean Rim. Following months of discussion with government agencies, industry and tertiary education providers, it was considered opportune to conduct a seminar to bring these areas together to openly explore key issues in building upon successes already achieved. The seminar included speakers from each of the areas of government, industry and education in Western Australia as well as the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada, and the Australian Maritime College, Launceston, who identified some international and national maritime industry successes

Overcoming cultural barriers to being agile in distributed teams

Context: Agile methods in offshored projects have become increasingly popular. Yet, many companies have found that the use of agile methods in coordination with companies located outside the regions of early agile adopters remains challenging. India has received particular attention as the leading destination of offshoring contracts due to significant cultural differences between sides of such contracts. Alarming differences are primarily rooted in the hierarchical business culture of Indian organizations and related command-and-control management behavior styles. Objective: In this study, we attempt to understand whether cultural barriers persist in distributed projects in which Indian engineers work with a more empowering Swedish management, and if so, how to overcome them. The present work is an invited extension of a conference paper. Method: We performed a multiple-case study in a mature agile company located in Sweden and a more hierarchical Indian vendor. We collected data from five group interviews with a total of 34 participants and five workshops with 96 participants in five distributed DevOps teams, including 36 Indian members, whose preferred behavior in different situations we surveyed. Results: We identified twelve cultural barriers, six of which were classified as impediments to agile software development practices, and report on the manifestation of these barriers in five DevOps teams. Finally, we put forward recommendations to overcome the identified barriers and emphasize the importance of cultural training, especially when onboarding new team members. Conclusions: Our findings confirm previously reported behaviors rooted in cultural differences that impede the adoption of agile approaches in offshore collaborations, and identify new barriers not previously reported. In contrast to the existing opinion that cultural characteristics are rigid and unchanging, we found that some barriers present at the beginning of the studied collaboration disappeared over time. Many offshore members reported behaving similarly to their onshore colleagues.acceptedVersio

A cultural analysis of information technology offshore outsourcing: an exercise in multi-sited ethnography of virtual work

This study is an exploration of how ethnography and anthropological analysis can provide new understanding of transnational, multi-sited research phenomena. Research focused on the work activities of one American client organization and its Indian IT service provider situated in the global virtual field of Information Technology (IT) offshore outsourcing. The Principal Investigator adapted and applied an ethnographic approach for her fieldwork in order to understand the norms, beliefs, and values about work, as well as the relationship between cultural differences and virtual communication. Dissertation findings offer new insight for anthropological discussions of globalization as well as suggest further development of studies in the virtual environment as a site for ethnographic inquiry