Abstract

When many people think of software companies, they think of the large organizations that have become so well known in the marketplace. However, a flow of offerings are also coming from smaller organizations, including very small entities (VSEs), which have 25 or fewer employees. Moreover, most products and services from big software vendors depend on third-party components and other forms of collaboration involving VSEs or small units within large organizations. Thus, small and very small organizations—which include most software startups [1] —are the global software industry’s dominant force [2] and are crucial to its competitiveness and innovation.