Providing transparency in the business of software: A modelling technique for software supply networks

One of the most significant paradigm shifts of software business is that individual organizations no longer compete as single entities but as complex dynamic supply networks of interrelated participants that provide blends of software design, development, implementation, publication and services. Understanding these intricate software supply networks is a difficult task for decision makers in software businesses. This paper outlines a modeling technique for representing and reasoning about software supply networks. We show, by way of a worked case study, how modeling software supply networks might allow managers to identify new business opportunities, visualize liability and responsibilities in a supply network, and how it can be used as a planning tool for product software distribution. 1 SOFTWARE BUSINESSES ARE BLENDS Individual businesses no longer compete as single entities but as supply chains (Lambert, 2002). This holds for the software industry as well, where software products and services are no longer monolithical systems developed in-house, bu