• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.61-81
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• 2015

Investment in research and development (R&D) is critical in the information technology (IT) firms, where newer and better technology is a quintessential goal that directly affects innovation and competitive advantage. This study investigates how R&D investment influences firm performance and value, and how the effect of R&D investment differs between IT hardware and software firms. We also analyze the relationship between firm age and R&D investment in order to identify learning effects on continuous R&D investment. The empirical investigation in this study, based on longitudinal archival data from 2001 to 2010, found a significant effect of R&D investment on firm performance in IT firms. Further, this study demonstrates causal relationship between firm age, and verifies that learning effects are present in R&D investment. Moreover, the results are found to differ between IT hardware and IT software firms.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.123-138
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• 2016

This study investigates intents of acquisitions in information technology industries. Mergers and acquisitions are a strategic decision at corporate-level and have been an important tool for a firm to grow. Plenty of firms in information technology industries have acquired startups to increase production efficiency, expand customer base, or improve quality over the last decades. For example, Google has made about 200 acquisitions since 2001, Cisco has acquired about 210 firms since 1993, Oracle has made about 125 acquisitions since 1994, and Microsoft has acquired about 200 firms since 1987. Although there have been many existing papers that theoretically study intents or motivations of acquisitions, there are limited papers that empirically investigate them mainly because it is challenging to measure and quantify intents of M&As. This study examines the intent of acquisitions by measuring specific intents for M&A transactions. Using our measures of acquisition intents, we compare the intents by four acquisition types: (1) the acquisition where a hardware firm acquires a hardware firm, (2) the acquisition where a hardware firm acquires a software/IT service firm, (3) the acquisition where a software/IT service firm acquires a hardware firm, and (4) the acquisition where a software /IT service firm acquires a software/IT service firm. We presume that there are difference in reasons why a hardware firm acquires another hardware firm, why a hardware firm acquires a software firm, why a software/IT service firm acquires a hardware firm, and why a software/IT service firm acquires another software/IT service firm. Using data of the M&As in US IT industries, we identified major intents of the M&As. The acquisition intents are identified based on the press release of M&A announcements and measured with four categories. First, an acquirer may have intents of cost saving in operations by sharing common resources between the acquirer and the target. The cost saving can accrue from economies of scope and scale. Second, an acquirer may have intents of product enhancement/development. Knowledge and skills transferred from the target may enable the acquirer to enhance the product quality or to expand product lines. Third, an acquirer may have intents of gain additional customer base to expand the market, to penetrate the market, or to enter a foreign market. Fourth, a firm may acquire a target with intents of expanding customer channels. By complementing existing channel to the customer, the firm can increase its revenue. Our results show that acquirers have had intents of cost saving more in acquisitions between hardware companies than in acquisitions between software companies. Hardware firms are more likely to acquire with intents of product enhancement or development than software firms. Overall, the intent of product enhancement/development is the most frequent intent in all of the four acquisition types, and the intent of customer base expansion is the second. We also analyze our data with the classification of production-side intents and customer-side intents, which is based on activities of the value chain of a firm. Intents of cost saving operations and those of product enhancement/development can be viewed as production-side intents and intents of customer base expansion and those of expanding customer channels can be viewed as customer-side intents. Our analysis shows that the ratio between the number of customer-side intents and that of production-side intents is higher in acquisitions where a software firm is an acquirer than in the acquisitions where a hardware firm is an acquirer. This study can contribute to IS literature. First, this study provides insights in understanding M&As in IT industries by answering for question of why an IT firm intends to another IT firm. Second, this study also provides distribution of acquisition intents for acquisition types.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.98-121
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• 2018

This article analyzes the survival of Korean software firms from 1995 to 2015 by Cox regression model and product-limit method. The results show that survival rates are different for each sector: IT service, package software, game software and internet service. In addition, firm growth and investment in research and development positively affect software firm's survival, while slack resources negatively affect the software firm's survival. The implication of this study is that characteristics of the software industry and technologies should be taken into consideration in survival strategy of software firms and government policy. Previous research on survival analysis has been mainly conducted in the manufacturing industry or at the special circumstance such as the foreign exchange crisis of Korea in the late 1990s. The contribution of this study is that expanding the survival analysis to software firms in Korea which are becoming more important recently.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.153-164
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• 1998

This study attempts to provide policy makers and other interested parties with policy implications throughout an economic analysis of software sector. Chapter 2 is designed to provide an overview of market characteristics in the software sector. Chapter 3 reviews an overview of the evolution stage of the software industry and the effects these trends have on firm strategies. Chapter 4 reviews the relationships between software economic characteristics and intellectual property rights. Some suggestions are offered in the conclusion, with special attention given to an examination of market characteristics, firm strategies, government policies, and some economic factors.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.91-112
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• 2011

Most of enterprises use various applications for serving their routine business. One of most widespread applications is the enterprise resource planning (ERP). This paper focuses on open source ERP software and aims to find out what benefits it can bring to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) comparing to proprietary ERP. To serve the purpose, this paper introduces the successful adoption of open source ERP software through the case study of small Vietnamese firm. The results of this paper show the advantage of open source ERP software and the possibility of adoption for SME.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.615-630
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify the factors effecting on the software firm performance through RBV(Resource-Based View) perspective. Methods: The data have been analyzed via the multiple regressions between 3 performance indexes, which are revenue, operational income rate and employment, and 7 independent variables. Results: The results show that company age, capital intensity, training expense, marketing expense, and export revenue effect on the firm performance, whereas R&D expense and debt ratio do not so. Conclusion: This study can contribute the decision process of the investment priority of resources and competencies at the software firms to maximize the return on investment.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.9-16
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• 2022

Purpose: This research investigates the differences in knowledge exchange activities and performances between startups and large companies in software industry clusters. Research design, data, and methodology: Six independent factors of human resource information, R&D and technology, marketing knowledge, government support information, strategic knowledge, and cooperation information were extracted to test the firm size effect in the relationships with two performance factors such as satisfaction with industry cluster location and satisfaction with financial performances. Data were collected through a survey of entrepreneurs, managers, and employees and tested by statistical analysis methodologies. Results: Three independent factors of human resource information, R&D and technology, and cooperation information were particularly significant in the relationship with both dependent factors. Strategic knowledge significantly affected financial performance. Knowledge exchange activities were more important in startups than in large companies for all eight factors. Conclusion: Policies for software industry clusters need a different approach for startups and large companies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.145-151
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• 2012

In this paper, we study the relationships between organization characteristics and desired software quality attributes of enterprise systems. We collected data from three client organizations in three different domains (auto manufacturer, insurance services firm, and government agency) that adopted enterprise software of the same software vendor. Our analysis discovers that capability is a more important attribute to the manufacturing and insurance firms than the government agency. Usability is ranked the highest among other attributes for the government agency and reliability for the manufacturing firm. The relationships identified in this study will help enterprise systems vendors predict their customer needs and, ultimately, increase effectiveness and efficiency in their software development processes. Such findings will be specially useful when software vendors develop enterprise software for a venture firm by enabling them to meet the customer needs customized by the organization haracteristics while staying within the incubating firm's limited budget.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.41-57
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• 2008

The development of service-based software and web-based application aims for providing user-demand service. On-demand software is emerging for same reason. Software delivery models like on-demand software is expected to change the software industry as an important technical revolution with the firm's strategy. Few research, however, has been done on the on-demand software. While much research on ASP and SaaS focused on firm' use, this study intends to examine the intention of using on-demand software targeting personal user. The intention to use of on-demand software was empirically examined in terms of quality, user characteristics, usefulness, easy of use, and security. Results shows that usefulness and easy of use are most significantly related to the intention of using on-demand software. Other factors are also found to affect the intention to use of on-demand software. This study contributes to improve the understanding and interest in on-demand software and it is expected to spread widely for individual user.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.109-139
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• 2013

The objective of this study attempt to examine the prospect whether conventional catch-up theory is also applicable to knowledge intensive industry like Open Source Software(OSS), and the implication from this study can be working as a stepping stone for followers. To do this, we conducted Korean SW firm's interview, and examined U.S. firm's archivings and second source of informations by means of empirical study. We use the inflection point of paradigm shift and difference of technology regime as a framework for empirical study of catch-up process between U.S. and Korean OSS firms. We find that conventional catch-up theory is no more applicable to explain OSS firm's catch-up processes. We also identified the elements that will accelerate the catch-up processes more effectively from the comparison of technology regime between U.S. and Korean OSS firms. As a result, we diagnose the limitation of conventional catch-up theory and discuss the new technology regime which will, ironically, promote the catch-up processes from the condition of low appropriation.