Matthias Bertram

Consideration of Knowledge and Technology Transfer Characteristics for Research Evaluation

Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) is currently becoming the third mission for the scientific community in addition to research and education. Therefore, there is a growing need to evaluate the impact of KTT, both directly and indirectly, on industry and society. However, despite the growing importance of KTT and the considerable amount of research that has already been conducted in this field, existing approaches to research evaluation primarily focus on quantitative determinants (e.g., number of publications, patents and licenses, number of collaboration projects with industry, or of companies founded) thereby neglecting transfer-oriented aspects of research evaluation. Therefore, in this article we investigate the characteristics of KTT, and to what extent they are taken into account by existing research evaluation approaches. Our results confirm that, up until now, KTT has been infrequently considered as an approach toward the evaluation of current research. Existing evaluation approaches focus on quantitative determinants, but to some extent they fail to realize that those determinants are not equally appropriate for evaluating KTT in different scientific disciplines or traditions. Based on our results, we call for more integrative and systematic research, building a foundation to meet the requirements of the growing importance of KTT in research evaluation.

CUSTOMER-INDUCED INTERACTIONS AND INNOVATION IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: THE CASE OF SOFTWARE CUSTOMISATION

Typically, it is customers who demand that product software be adapted to organisational processes and aligned with their organisational IT landscape. From a knowledge perspective, such customisation services can be conceptualised as a reciprocal knowledge transfer between professional service firms (PSFs) and their customers. In addressing the scarcity in the innovation management literature regarding the benefits that arise from reciprocal knowledge transfers in customer-induced interactions, the present research investigates customer-induced interactions in relation to customisation services. The authors aim to improve the understanding of the complex relationships among PSFs resource deployment, customer input, and performance. They extend and refine previous research by developing a conceptual model and testable propositions for academic and managerial consideration based on an extensive field study of PSFs and customers in the field of large enterprise product software.

Customization of Product Software: Insight from an Extensive IS Literature Review

In recent years, companies started not only to ask customers by means of market research but to integrate them into the innovation process. Within information systems (IS) research, both customization as a way to serve the uniqueness of customers (inside-out) and as a form of customer integration and value co-creation (outside-in) has been considered. However, since many software vendors have consummated the shift from being manufacturers to being service firms, in practice, customization as a service highlights the continuance of customization projects. This paper addresses the research question of how concepts of customization are distinguished in recent IS literature. By conducting an extensive review of the IS literature between 2001 and 2011 we find that future research could benefit from considering knowledge interactions in customization processes more deeply.

Exposing Differences of Governance Approaches in Single and Multi Vendor Open Source Software Development

Research confirms that commercial OSS exists in many different ways according to its revenue model, type of license, development style, number of participating firms, number of participating volunteers or governance mode. In order to differentiate between an increasing variety of commercialization approaches, one may distinguish between projects with one dominating company, so called single vendor projects and those where more than one company is active, so called multi vendor projects. Furthermore, in order to structure different approaches, a project’s history is equally of importance in terms of whether a project was initiated by a firm or a community. In this paper, we therefore analyze and compare single and multi vendor as well as firm initiated and community initiated OSS projects with regard to technical contribution of voluntary and paid project members. Based on a dataset build upon Eclipse projects we expose, that the number of paid members is significantly higher in firm initiated and multi vendor projects.

Qualitative investigation II: Elaborating the strategic role of customization for software product development

The study in this chapter builds upon the existing body of knowledge on software customization, the concepts of resources, capabilities and value from the RBV as well as the insights presented from the last investigation. It aims to provide an elaborative understanding of software customization activities and their strategic role for a software vendor’s software product management. Building upon the theoretical concept of dynamic capabilities, this study employs a qualitative multiple case study design within two different software vendor firms.

Qualitative investigation I: Exploring software customization from the vendors’ and customers’ perspectives

The study in this chapter builds upon the existing body of knowledge on software customization and the concepts of resources, capabilities and value from the RBV as presented in the last two chapters. It aims to provide a deeper understanding of software customization activities from a software vendor firm’s perspective.

Theoretical foundation: The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm

Regarding resources and products as two sides of the same coin (Wernerfelt 1984), the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm is one of the dominant perspectives in strategic management (Newbert 2007). At its core, the RBV states that the resources or the bundles of resources a company possesses are the basis for achieving competitive advantage (cf. Barney 1986, 1991; Conner 1991; Peteraf 1993; Wernerfelt 1984). Since its introduction, the RBV has become one of the most widely accepted theoretical perspectives in the strategic management field as a framework for explaining the conditions under which a firm may gain a sustained competitive advantage (Armstrong and Shimizu 2007).

Conclusion: Summary, contributions and implications, limitations and outlook

Over the past decade, the software industry has developed three types of business logic: (1) the software product business, (2) the software service business and (3) the hybrid business. Firms following a software product business logic develop highly standardized and productized software products that are sold to a mass of customers or consumers in the market with limited or even without additional service. Firms that follow a software service logic develop software in the form of projects for one specific customer that is implemented for that customer’s IT landscape.

Introduction: The neglected role of customization for software product management

In recent decades, software has transformed the way in which organizations and businesses coordinate and work, even going so far as to transform people’s everyday lives. Software is used in notebooks and mobile devices; it is embedded actively and passively to steer cars, organize households, and label and control groceries. Enterprises rely on software systems to organize their workforce, bill their customers, and manage innovations. Software is ever-present and has become an important part of our society.

Literature review: Software customization in the information systems literature

Companies increasingly need to understand their customers’ wants and needs in order to strengthen their competitive position. Thus, in recent years, companies have started not only to discover customer needs by means of market research but also to integrate customers into the innovation process (Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2000; Von Hippel 2005). Concurrently, since the late 1970s, the co-creation of value has become a field of intense research in marketing and service science.