Selling packaged software: an ethical analysis

Within the IS literature there is little discussion on selling software products in general and especially from the ethical point of view. Similarly, within computer ethics, although there is much interest in professionalism and professional codes, in terms of accountability and responsibility, the spotlight tends to play on safety-critical or life-critical systems, rather than on software oriented towards the more mundane aspects of work organisation and society. With this research gap in mind, we offer a preliminary ethical investigation of packaged software selling. Through an analysis of the features of competition in the market, the global nature of the packaged software market and the nature of product development we conclude that professionalism, as usually conceived in computer ethics, does not apply particularly well to software vendors. Thus, we call for a broader definition of professionalism to include software vendors, not just software developers. Moreover, we acknowledge that with intermediaries, such as implementation consultants, involved in software selling, and the packaged software industry more generally, there are even more “hands” involved. Therefore, we contend that this is an area worthy of further study, which is likely to yield more on the question of accountability

Goal Congruence, Trust and Organisational Culture: Strengthening Knowledge Links

Collaboration between organizations benefits from knowledge links -- a form of strategic alliance that gives organizations access to the skills and capabilities of their partner and opportunity to create new capabilities together. Using the example of alliances between two universities and SAP AG, the market leader in Enterprise Software, the paper suggests some management practices to improve goal congruence, trust and alignment between different organizational cultures. For example, face-to-face interactions are critical for building a close relationship over time. A theoretical framework of the five phases of partnership development and the three challenges faced by knowledge link partnerships is proposed, along with implications for management, universities and research

Reasons behind ERP package adoption: a diffusion of innovations perspective

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages have been widely adopted and it is becoming clear that this is driven by multiple rationales that may be simultaneously at odds and complimentary. In this paper, we aim to develop a greater understanding of these rationales by taking ERP packages to be innovations and analysing their adoption with reference to the theory of diffusion of innovations. In particular, we consider the attributes of ERP packages that may affect their adoption such as relative advantage, compatibility, complexiblity, trialability and observability. We argue that users’ perceptions of these attributes are not always accurate and these ’misconceptions’ can further explain reasons for ERP adoption or rejection. Although our analysis aims to provide rich insights into the adoption of ERP packages, the results of the study are arguably of further interest to the more general study of packaged software and the more established literature on custom development

Social networking and transnational capitalism

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become a key component of users’ experience of the internet. Whilst much has been made of the social dynamics of online SNS, the influence of the structures and operations of these sites – and the business models behind them – on users is rarely accounted for. This paper argues that behind the social behaviours sup- ported by SNS, there is a growing shift towards viewing online communities as commodities, and SNS as an extension of mainstream capitalist ideologies fostered by existing patterns of commercialization and consumption. Using the works of Gramsci, Gill and Hardt & Negri to provide a critical grounding, this paper explores the popular SNS site ‘Facebook’ and suggests that SNS may feel to the users to be free, social, personal, but in fact SNS are business as usual

A Study of User Involvement in Packaged Software Selection

This paper is concerned with the decision-making processes surrounding the adoption of packaged software in organizations. We begin by looking at its increasing utilization and consider some of the strengths and limi- tations of employing a standardized approach, particularly in relation to its consideration of end-user requirements. We note the highly problematic nature of installing a global standardized product in the local environment. Using a field study concerning the adoption of a customer relationship management package in a small organization, we go on to illustrate the limited amount of end-user involvement in the selection and procurement of the product. We argue that the art of salesmanship by the third party vendor and project team, which focuses on the interests of senior management, ultimately secures the selection and procurement of the software package

Narratives that Software Nations Tell Themselves: An Exploration and Taxonomy

Looking at prominent centers of software activity across the globe we observe that software developers tell narratives about themselves to explain their identity and their successes. For example, the USA thinks in terms of the cowboy programmer, Ireland the Celtic Tiger, and Israel the commando programmer. These narratives provide insights into the mental world of individuals and groups in the global software industry. This paper collects and documents the narratives of software professionals in six nations: Russia, Israel, Ireland, USA, India, and Brazil. The country choice reflects a cross-section of prominent software nations. Using a taxonomy adapted from the political identity literature, we classify these narratives. The most frequently occurring narrative is the interplay between redemption, national suffering and heroism. Brazil, Russia, India, and Israel offer distinct narratives of redemption and suffering. Israel and the USA use distinct narratives of valor. Among the six nations\u27 narratives, we find that some narratives are collectively oriented while others are individualistically oriented. National narratives are important for reasons both academic and practical. The literature on comparative human capital focuses on readily measurable data. Therefore, there may be a gap in understanding global competition in software. Narratives influence important decisions, such as where to locate a new software R&D site or where to invest in start-ups. An understanding of narratives helps to shape them

Towards an Agile Approach to Software Process Improvement: Addressing the Changing Needs of Software Products

This paper highlights the need for greater agility and flexibility in the process improvement activity. The ideas presented here relate to aspects that have arisen from a case study of a global software product organisation. A model of how software process improvement can be agile in nature is proposed. This model is intended as indicative of the issues that need consideration by IS management. The model highlights the need to learn to improve through situated practice within an organisational framework that supports the needs of the business

Libre culture: meditations on free culture

Libre Culture is the essential expression of the free culture/copyleft movement. This anthology, brought together here for the first time, represents the early groundwork of Libre Society thought. Referring to the development of creativity and ideas, capital works to hoard and privatize the knowledge and meaning of what is created. Expression becomes monopolized, secured within an artificial market-scarcity enclave and finally presented as a novelty on the culture industry in order to benefit cloistered profit motives. In the way that physical resources such as forests or public services are free, Libre Culture argues for the freeing up of human ideas and expression from copyright bulwarks in all forms