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The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must |  |
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The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must | |
The world's leading expert on the global software industry and coauthor of the bestseller Microsoft Secrets reveals the inner workings of software giants like IBM, Microsoft, and Netscape and shows what it takes to create, develop, and manage a successful company -- in good times and bad -- in the most fiercely competitive business in the world.
In the $600 billion software industry it is the business, not the technology, that determines success or failure. This fact -- one that thousands of once glamorous start-ups have unhappily discovered for themselves -- is the well-documented conclusion of this enormously readable and revealing new book by Michael Cusumano, based on nearly twenty years of research and consulting with software producers around the world.
Cusumano builds on dozens of personal experiences and case studies to show how issues of strategy and organization are irrevocably linked with those of managing the technology and demonstrates that a thorough understanding of these issues is vital to success. At the heart of the book Cusumano poses seven questions that underpin a three-pronged management framework. He argues that companies must adopt one of three basic business models: become a products company at one end of the strategic spectrum, a services company at the other end, or a hybrid solutions company in between. The author describes the characteristics of the different models, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, and shows how each is more or less appropriate for different stages in the evolution of a business as well as in good versus bad economic times. Readers will also find invaluable Cusumano's treatment of software development issues ranging from architecture and teams to project management and testing, as well as two chapters devoted to what it takes to create a successful software start-up. Highlights include eight fundamental guidelines for evaluating potential software winners and Cusumano's probing analysis, based on firsthand knowledge, of ten start-ups that have met with varying degrees of success.
The Business of Software is timely essential reading for managers, programmers, entrepreneurs, and others who follow the global software industry.
作者简介 Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and one of the world's leading authorities on software development and the management of software companies. He is the author or coauthor of seven other books, including the bestsellers Microsoft Secrets and Competing on Internet Time, as well as Japan's Software Factories and most recently Platform Leadership.
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Cusumano, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and coauthor of Microsoft Secrets, offers a comprehensive overview of the software business and how the right approach is key to the success of technology companies. Cusumano first identifies the key distinction between software and other businesses. In fact, he believes it is unlike every other business because software doesn't have one purpose but becomes whatever function it is handling for a particular customer or company. As a result, software companies must sell both products and services, according to the author. The two typical ways software companies operate is by getting the lion's share of revenues from new product sales or via IT consulting. The third way is what the author calls "hybrid solutions companies??software firms that have some new product sales, but derive as much as 80% of their revenues from services and "maintenance." However, what's essential for company success in today's rapidly changing technological marketplace is having sufficient flexibility to change to meet customer needs. Citing both real companies including IBM, Netscape, etc., along with academic studies, Cusumano describes the changing face of the software industry over the past two decades. The writing is coherent and, given the somewhat technical subject matter, surprisingly graspable even for technophobes. Still, this is a niche book, apt to appeal to people involved in the world of software, rather than a general business audience.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
目录
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1: The Business of Software: A Personal View
2: Strategy for Software Companies: What to Think About
3: Services, Products, and More Services: How Software Became a Business
4: Best Practices in Software Development: Beyond the Software Factory
5: Software Entrepreneurship: Essential Elements of a Successful Start-up
6: Start-up Case Studies: Software Products, Services, and Hybrid Solutions
7: Conclusion: The "Ideal" Versus "Realistic" Software Business
Appendix
Notes
Index
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文摘 Preface
My goal in this book is to provide an overview of the software business for managers who are already working in the business, programmers who would like to be managers, and anyone who would like to be a software entrepreneur. I focus mainly on firms selling what we can call "enterprise software" to other companies and large organizations, although much of what I say about products, services, and software development also applies to companies selling software to individual consumers. My primary concerns are with strategy and business models, a historical look at software entrepreneurship, best practices in managing software development, and the do's and don'ts of founding a software start-up. The examples and topics reflect my personal experiences as a researcher, teacher, consultant, director, and company founder. I have used a version of this book in my MIT class "The Software Business." The material should also be a useful reference for investors and analysts who follow software companies and for anyone else interested in how high-tech firms deal with problems of strategy and product development in rapidly changing markets.
Chapter 1 starts out with a personal sketch of my involvement in the software business and how the business seems to differ around the world. I also sketch out the experiences of two firms that I have worked with recently and that demonstrate many of the strategic and business-model issues that I take up in subsequent chapters: Business Objects in France and i2 Technologies in the United States.
Chapter 2 focuses on strategy for software companies -- the most important things that managers and entrepreneurs, as well as programmers, should think about. I begin with the most fundamental question: Do you want to be mainly a products company or a services company? I also talk in more detail about a third alternative: hybrid solutions. Other key issues are the kinds of customers and ma
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