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  • Book
  • © 2013

The Software Industry

Economic Principles, Strategies, Perspectives

  • How does the software industry work, and why?
  • In which direction is the development headed?
  • Strategies and prospects
  • Economic Principles
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Basics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. The Rules in the Software Industry

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 3-17
    3. Economic Principles in the Software Industry

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 19-53
    4. Software Vendor Strategies

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 55-110
  3. Specific Issues

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111
  4. Specific issues

    1. Outsourcing and Offshoring of Software Development

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 113-153
    2. Platform Concepts

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 155-167
    3. Software as a Service: The Application Level of Cloud Computing

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 169-190
    4. Open Source Software

      • Peter Buxmann, Heiner Diefenbach, Thomas Hess
      Pages 191-210
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 211-223

About this book

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.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“Software has become a commodity that can face competition, be quality tested and certified, and support user-centered services on demand. This book describes these aspects, the challenges the industry has faced, and the way the industry has responded to user demands. … A good reference on the software industry, this book will be appreciated by practitioners, academics, researchers, students, and programmers.” (Harekrishna Misra, Computing Reviews, July, 2013)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Fachgebiet Wirtschaftsinformatik, TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Peter Buxmann

  • TDS AG, Neckarsulm, Germany

    Heiner Diefenbach

  • Inst. f. Wirtschaftsinformatik, und Neue Medien, LMU München, München, Germany

    Thomas Hess

About the authors

Peter Buxmann is a Professor of Software Business & Information Management at Darmstadt University of Technology. His research fields include Software Business, Future Internet Economy, and Information Management. Moreover, he supports the foundation of IT companies and serves as a Department Editor of the Journal Wirtschaftsinformatik / Business & Information Systems Engineering.

Heiner Diefenbach is CEO of TDS AG, Neckarsulm (Germany), a stock market listed IT services company. He has more than 20 years experience in the IT Industry as a board member at major players such as Atos Origin and Computer Science Corporation. 

Thomas Hess
After his studies in Information Systems at Darmstadt University of Technology, Thomas Hess completed his doctorate at St. Gallen University (Switzerland) in 1995. Since 2001 Thomas has been a professor at LMU Munich, where he also serves as director of the Institute for Information Systems and New Media. His research focuses on the digitalization of media industries, on software vendors and on new value systems.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access