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The influence of SPI on business success in software SMEs: An empirical study

Clarke, Paul ORCID: 0000-0002-4487-627X and O'Connor, Rory ORCID: 0000-0001-9253-0313 (2012) The influence of SPI on business success in software SMEs: An empirical study. Journal of Systems and Software, 85 (10). pp. 2356-2367. ISSN 0164-1212

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Abstract

In this paper, we present the findings of a study into the relationship between software process improvement (SPI) and business success in software development small- to medium- sized companies (software SMEs). A number of earlier related studies investigated the benefits of SPI in software SMEs, particularly in terms of improvements in product quality and adherence to budgetary and schedule constraints. However, only limited or indirect research has examined the relationship between SPI and business success. In this study, we adopt the Holistic Scorecard (HSC) (Sureshchandar and Leisten, 2005) as a business success reference framework, thus examining both the financial and the non-financial aspects of business success. In addition, we utilise ISO/IEC 12207 (ISO/IEC, 2008) as a comprehensive reference framework for the investigation of SPI activity in software SMEs. Through the use of new metrics introduced in this paper, the study findings establish that there is a positive association between SPI and business success in software SMEs, highlighting the importance of SPI in successful software SMEs. This is the first time that this relationship has been demonstrated using empirical data, and therefore, the findings represent a valuable new addition to the body of knowledge.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Software process improvement; Business success; SPI; software SMEs
Subjects:Computer Science > Software engineering
DCU Faculties and Centres:Research Initiatives and Centres > Lero: The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Engineering and Computing > School of Computing
Publisher:Elsevier
Official URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2012.05.024
Copyright Information:©2012 Elsevier
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:17120
Deposited On:09 Jul 2012 13:07 by Rory O'connor . Last Modified 18 Oct 2018 10:52

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