| Contracting in software business: Analysis of evolving contract processes and relationships | ||
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| Prev | Chapter 1. Introduction | Next |
Chapter 1 outlines and positions the research setting and intention.
Chapter 2 discusses the current situation of the contracting research in software business. The review is divided in three main parts of the contracting that gives the legal viewpoint, the software business that characterizes the environment and lastly discusses the present day contractual issues in software business.
Chapter 3 presents the process and relationship approaches that are central to this study. The chapter starts with an introduction of the process approach with different process classification views. The general process approach is focused on business processes and relationships. The chapter ends with a discussion of different processual relationship development models that are of interest in this study.
Chapter 4 constructs the “Software contracting process” model that is subsequently used as the reference during the empirical data analysis. The model consists of three models embedded within each other, where the main model is based on the Möller and Wilson (1995b) “Dyadic Interaction Model”. This model is further customized with a general software development process model that brings the line of business specific perspective needed in the elaborated model. To give the model more dynamism to analyse the relationship development process in time it is complemented with the Ford et al. (1998) model of “Development of buyer-seller relationships in business markets”.
Chapter 5 describes the empirical research design including the aspects of process research and the methodology used. The reliability and validity issues are discussed accordingly.
Chapter 6 analyses the empirical data. The chapter starts with a discussion of the background for the analysis work. Then moves to analyse the environment and pre-requisites for the relationship forming. The main part of the chapter is devoted to the analysis of the three different software business modes, COTS, tailored, and MOTS and contracting practices in these environments. The chapter ends with an analysis of the contractual aspects of the relationship development in software business context.
Chapter 7 summarizes the results of the analysis, and describes a modified and augmented contracting model to reflect more precisely the prevailing software contracting environment.
Chapter 8 presents the main theoretical, empirical and managerial implications of the research.
Chapter 9 sums up the findings and the significance of the research, and evaluates how well the research questions were answered.