Factors affecting entry-level Internet technology adoption by small business in Australia : evidence from three cases

The adoption of Internet technologies by the small business sector (SMEs)The adoption of Internet technologies by the small business sector is important to their on-going survival. Yet, given the opportunities and benefits that Internet technologies can provide it has been shown that Australian small businesses are relatively slow in adopting them. This paper develops a model from recent literature on the facilitators and inhibitors to the adoption of Internet technologies by small business. Cross-case analysis of findings from three case studies are presented. Findings indicate that perceived lack of business benefit, mistrust of the IT industry and lack of understanding of Internet technologies are major inhibitors to Internet adoption by small business

Exploring failures at the team level in offshore-outsourced software development projects

Offshore-outsourced software development (OOSD) projects involvemultifaceted risks throughout the project execution, as they are handed over tothird-party organizations and thus are exposed to more risks than in domesticoutsourcing or captive offshoring. We concentrate on failed OOSD projects inthis paper and analyze the unique aspects of such projects at the team level thatlead to failures. Using the grounded theory approach, we conducted semistructuredinterviews with 19 project managers involved in OOSD projectfailures from the vendor and client sides, who are based in India or Switzerland.We developed a set of propositions regarding multiple teams in the OOSDproject context to explain failures. Integration of inter-organizational offshoreand onshore teams from the vendor and client sides was found to beindispensable in avoiding project failures. Six categories of unique aspects thatlead to OOSD project failures were identified and discussed in this exploratorywork

The Cross-Cultural Knowledge Sharing Challenge: An Investigation of the Co-location Strategy in Software Development Offshoring

Part 4: Software DevelopmentInternational audienceCross-cultural offshoring in software development challenges effective knowledge sharing. While research has suggested temporarily co-locating participants to address this challenge, few studies are available on what knowledge sharing practices emerge over time when co-locating cross-cultural software developers. This paper presents a longitudinal case study of an offshoring project with co-location of Indian and Danish software developers for 10½ months. A community-of-practice (CoP) analysis is offered of what knowledge sharing practices emerge over time and how these where facilitated. The study supports previous studies’ suggestion of co-location in offshoring for helping cross-cultural knowledge sharing. However, the short initial period of co-location suggested in these studies, was insufficient for achieving knowledge sharing practices indicating a CoP. In conjunction with a longer period of co-location four facilitators of cross-cultural knowledge sharing were shared office, shared responsibility for tasks and problems, shared prioritization of team spirit, and a champion of social integration

Bond-graph-based multivariable non-linear UIO-type estimation

International audienc