The Strategic Role of Software Customization: Managing Customization-Enabled Software Product Development

321 Pages·2016·3.145 MB·English

by  Matthias Bertram (auth.)

Matthias Bertram
The Strategic
Role of Software
Customization
Managing Customization-Enabled
Software Product Development
The Strategic Role of Software
Customization
Matthias Bertram
The Strategic
Role of Software
Customization
Managing Customization-Enabled
Software Product Development
Foreword by Prof. Dr. Harald von Korflesch
Matthias Bertram
Koblenz, Germany
Dissertation Universität Koblenz-Landau, 2016
ISBN 978-3-658-14857-7 ISBN 978-3-658-14858-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-14858-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016945106
Springer Gabler
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2016
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This thesis is dedicated to my father
Reinhold Bertram
(1952-2014)
Foreword
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. On the one hand firms following soft-
ware product business logic develop highly standardized software products
thataresoldtoamassofcustomersinthemarketwithlimitedorevenwith-
outadditionalservices. Ontheotherhandfirmsthatfollowasoftwareservice
logicdevelopsoftwareintheformofprojectsforonespecificcustomer,which
is implemented for that customer’s IT landscape. However, the distinction
between the software product and service businesses is not exclusive. Many
companies that develop professional software products for the business-to-
business market usually apply a hybrid business logic. They develop a core
product that encapsulates common functionalities for their customers’ busi-
nessesandalsoofferadditionalcustomizationservicestoadapttheirproduct
to customers’ needs. These software companies are challenged with specific
issues from the software product and software project business logic.
Duetoitseconomicalandtechnologicalrelevance,softwareproductdevel-
opmentanditsadaptiontocustomerneedshasbeenthefocusofresearchers
andmanagersinrecentyears. Researchersfromthefieldsofcomputerscience
andinformationsystemsalikehavecontributedonvarioustopics,suchasthe
softwaredevelopmentprocess,characteristicsofsoftwareproducts,customer-
specific software implementation, adaption or maintenance, customer inte-
gration in software development and implementation. Although existing re-
searchcontributestoexplainingsoftwaredevelopmentandcustomer-specific
viii Foreword
adaptionmechanisms,itlargelyneglectstoexplaintheinfluenceofcustomer-
specificadaptiononsoftwareproductdevelopmentandhowsoftwarevendor
firmsaligntheirsoftwareproductmanagementandcustomizationactivities.
To address this question, two qualitative investigations first draw on the
conceptual foundation of the resource-based view of the firm, such as re-
sources and capabilities as well as the dynamic capabilities theory. The first
qualitative investigation focuses on vendor and customer firms to develop
an in-depth understanding of the value of software customization as well as
the vendor resources and capabilities necessary to successfully provide cus-
tomizationservices. Thisinvestigationcanberegardedasapilotstudythat
aimstodevelopanin-depthunderstandingofsoftwarecustomizationaspro-
vided by vendor firms. The second qualitative investigation builds on the
results from the first investigation and focuses on the dynamic capabilities
necessary to generate a temporary competitive advantage from customiza-
tion processes. This investigation can be regarded as an elaborative study
thatcentersonsoftwarecustomizationasanimportantinnovationdriverfor
software product management.
With this book Matthias Bertram contributes to the understanding of
software product management by focusing on a part that has not received
much attention yet: the strategic role of software product customization for
software product development.
ThisbookisMatthiasBertram’sdoctoralthesisatUniversityofKoblenz-
Landau and depicts a starting point of a fruitful career. While wishing the
readers the same interesting insights I had when reading Matthias’ disserta-
tion, I can recommend it to academics and practitioners alike.
Prof. Dr. Harald von Korflesch
Koblenz, Germany
Preface
IwouldliketothankmymotherGisela,mybrothersChristianandMarkus,
andmysisterStephanie,fortheirsupportandencouragementovertheyears.
Furthermore, I would like to thank:
– my advisor Prof. Dr. Harald von Korflesch, for giving me the freedom
tobecreativewithinmythesisandsupportingmewithfruitfulfeedback
where necessary,
– my co-advisor Prof. Dr. Susan Williams, for her support and helping
me to become a better qualitative researcher,
– my good friend Prof. Dr. Mario Schaarschmidt, for his critical, but
alwaysconstructivefeedbackonmywork. Butmostlyforhisfriendship
over the last 15 years,
– my fellow PhD students and colleagues, for our talks and discussions.
Matthias Bertram
Dernau, Germany
Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
List of figures xix
List of tables xxiii
1 Introduction: The neglected role of customization for soft-
ware product management 1
1.1 The business of software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Tailor-made and software product development . . . . . . . 3
1.1.2 The role of software customization in the software business . 7
1.1.3 Managing software product development . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.1.3.1 Terms and definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1.3.2 The role of the product manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.1.3.3 Softwareproductmanagementartifacts,stakeholdersand
core competences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.1.3.4 Software product management within the company . . . . 22
xii Contents
1.2 Research relevance, research aim, and research questions . . . 26
1.3 Anchoring in the philosophy of science . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.4 Research design and dissertation outline . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.4.1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.4.2 Dissertation outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2 Literature review: Software customization in the informa-
tion systems literature 41
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.2 Concepts of customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.2.1 Existing concepts of customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.2.2 Software customization - a working definition . . . . . . . . 48
2.3 Systematic literature analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.4 The duality of software customization in IS research . . . . . . 55
2.4.1 Customization as a form of product delivery . . . . . . . . . 55
2.4.2 Customization as a form of co-creation of value . . . . . . . 58
2.5 The reciprocal nature of software customization . . . . . . . . 58
2.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3 Theoretical foundation: The resource-based view (RBV)
of the firm 67
3.1 Origins and development of the RBV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.1.1 Introduction stage: Conceptual foundation of the RBV . . . 69
3.1.2 Growth stage: Characteristics of resources and capabilities . 75
3.1.3 Maturity stage: From a view to a theory of the firm . . . . . 79