A Software Development Approach For Driving Competitiveness In Small Firms

"This book tells the story of the entrepreneurial journey that small firms should take to deliver high-quality software products. By utilizing practical examples and providing several recommended solutions to decrease the likelihood of producing low quality software"--

The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many businesses to accelerate their digital transformation strategies to continue to meet the changing needs of their customers. This has resulted in significant growth in the global software market. However, for decades, managing software product quality has been a major challenge for many software development firms. This low success rate is due mainly to the development and delivery of low-quality software products. In addition to the direct costs associated with poor-quality software, software flaws can also raisesecurity concerns, as hackers can gain complete control of various devices and data, such as mobile phones, computers, or the operational transactions of businesses. These security and privacy breaches are currently occurring with great frequency. Although producers and consumers of software products spend vast amounts of money developing and purchasing these products, in many cases the promised benefits of user satisfaction, efficiency, productivity and profitability are not realized. In more severe circumstances, software development firms have failed and face the threat of going bankrupt, being acquired or suffering closure, because customers are demanding high-quality software products that they consistently fail to deliver. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating within the software development industry have a more critical need to produce high-quality software since they are less able to absorb both the cost and the reputational impact of producing low-quality output. A Software Development Approach for Driving Competitiveness in Small Firms provides some cost-efficient options that can help SMEs increase the likelihood that their software will be of high quality. It tells the story of the entrepreneurial journey that small firms should take to deliver high-quality software products. By utilizing practical examples and providing several recommended solutions to decrease the likelihood of producing low-quality software, the book outlines how mobilizing people, processes and technology are integral to the software development process and emphasizes why process maturity is the most influential factor in software development in small and medium enterprises.

Electronic business plays a central role in the economy, facilitating the exchange of information, goods, services, and payments. It propels productivity and competitiveness and is accessible to all enterprises, and as such, represents an opportunity also for SME competitiveness. E-Business Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for SMEs: Driving Competitiveness discusses the main issues, challenges, opportunities, and solutions related to electronic business adoption, with a special focus on SMEs. Addressing technological, organizational, and legal perspectives in a very comprehensive way, this text aims to disseminate current developments, case studies, new integrated approaches, and practical solutions and applications for SMEs.

The global market is constantly evolving and it has become essential for organizations to employ new methods of appealing to customers in order to stay abreast on current trends within the world economy. The Handbook of Research on Driving Competitive Advantage through Sustainable, Lean, and Disruptive Innovation features theoretical development and empirical research in social media platforms, internet usage, big data analytics, and smart computing, as well as other areas of organizational innovation. Highlighting implementation challenges facing innovative processes, this publication is a critical reference source for researchers, students, professionals, managers, and decision makers interested in novel strategies being employed by organizations in an effort to improve their standings on the global market.

The growth of new technologies, internet, virtualization, and the globalization of production and consumption has given focus on new marketing strategies in the cyber era. This has shaped a demand for an innovative conceptual framework for the marketing industry. Marketing in the Cyber Era: Strategies and Emerging Trends brings together best practices and innovative approaches for effective marketing in today’s economy. Stressing the importance of structure, strategy, leadership, and marketing in the Cyber Era; this book is a useful tool for upper-level students, researchers, academicians, professionals and practitioners, scientists, and executive managers of marketing in profit and non-profit organizations.

This book examines the changing business and economic environment for postal services in Lithuania and the upcoming challenges for this industry. Postal services continue to play a central part in the development of national economies. However, the economic and social role of postal services has changed rapidly and fundamentally over the last two decades. In most industrialized countries, paper-based communications are in serious decline, while the demand for parcel delivery services is rising steadily with the continuing development of e-commerce, just-in-time production techniques, and global supply chains. For the postal sector as a whole, the centre of gravity has shifted dramatically from letters and documents to parcels. The authors explain how the organizational paradigm has inexorably shifted from that of a national, government-owned postal administration providing the basic delivery services required by society, to a system of interdependent local and regional undertakings that both compete and cooperate with one another. The book argues that there are no indications that the postal sector has stopped changing, and that it seems most probable that the European Union’s postal sector will look quite different in 2035 than it does today. In closing, the book explains how the shareholders of postal services companies have recently confirmed that the time has come to rethink the strategy of creating and maintaining competitiveness in the postal services industry.

Industry and academia should capture significant value through adopting design-led innovation to improve opportunities for success. Skills and capabilities should serve as a basis for adopting new breakthroughs in design-driven innovation. The development of an infrastructure and centers of excellence with the capacity to respond to new market needs, combined with enhanced networking capabilities, will allow companies to be more innovative and competitive. The Handbook of Research on Driving Industrial Competitiveness With Innovative Design Principles is an essential publication that focuses on the relationship between innovation and competitiveness in business. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics including open innovation, business incubators, and competitiveness dynamics, this book is ideally designed for entrepreneurs, government officials, executives, managers, investors, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students interested in furthering their knowledge of pertinent topics on product design and commercialization, new models for academia-industry partnerships, and regional entrepreneurial ecosystems based on design principles.

Increasingly, information technology governance is being considered an integral part of corporate governance. There has been a rapid increase in awareness and adoption of IT governance as well as the desire to conform to national governance requirements to ensure that IT is aligned with the objectives of the organization. Information Technology Governance and Service Management: Frameworks and Adaptations provides an in-depth view into the critical contribution of IT service management to IT governance, and the strategic and tactical value provided by effective service management. A must-have resource for academics, students, and practitioners in fields affected by IT in organizations, this work gathers authoritative perspectives on the state of research on organizational challenges and benefits in current IT governance frameworks, adoption, and incorporation.