Coordination in Distributed Agile Software Development: A Systematic Review

In order to decrease the consumer return transaction cost, e-commerce platform Alibaba invited an insurance company to develop a new type of insurance to compensate consumers for returns, which is called return-freight insurance. The new insurance has resulted in online return\u27s explosive growth. However, some online retailers still choose to offer complimentary return-freight insurance to signal their products\u27 quality. Using signaling theory, we build a conceptual economic model to explore what kind of online retailer should adopt this strategy under incomplete information. Based on the fact that each product\u27s return probability, profit, and insurance compensation are different, our main results show the separating equilibria, where only high-quality online retailers will offer complimentary return-freight insurance. Interestingly, return-freight insurance profit and compensation play different roles in the signal effect. The insurance premium plays a deep role while the compensation plays at the surface, because consumers could only observe the compensation when purchasing

Agile methods influence on communication in globally distributed it project teams

Agile methods are increasingly used by companies. Although these methods were initially developed for collocated teams, the number of their successful implementation in globally distributed IT project teams is growing. Despite the considerable research on distributed teams and agile methods, little is known about how they influence communication in globally distributed IT project teams. The study aims at examining the relationship between agile methods and communication in such teams. The research question of the study is dedicated to the exploration of agile methods influence on communication in globally distributed IT project teams. Data collection was done with the help of such qualitative research method as a case study in form of ten semi-structured Skype interviews. The results showed that the use of agile methods has a mixed impact on communication in globally distributed IT project teams. On one hand, agile methods facilitate informal communication among team members. However, the use of agile methods may further limit this informal communication, which is ICT mediated. At the same time, agile methods do not offer adequate tools for effective formal communication.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format