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The Business of Software
Book

The Business of Software

What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad

Free Press, 2004 más...


Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Even after the dot-com boom and bust, software remains the business world’s glamour industry. In this insightful study, professor and industry expert Michael A. Cusumano skips the glitz and goes straight for the nuts and bolts. The result is a clear rendering of exactly what makes one software firm hit it big while dozens of others go broke. Despite a slight, occasional tendency to sound academic, Cusumano really explains why a well-run software company can be a gold mine. He carefully covers the best practices in the software development industry in depth and offers plenty of real-world case histories to add juice to what could have been a dry recitation. He even explains why you have to hold on so long when you call a mass-market software firm’s toll-free number. getAbstract recommends this detailed book to software pros seeking insight into their industry, as well as to investors and to those who like inside stories about entrepreneurial adventures.

Take-Aways

  • Software is one of the few industries whose players believe they can change the world - and sometimes they can.
  • In Europe, software is a science. In Japan, it’s a process. In the U.S., it’s a business.
  • Software companies must decide whether to focus on products or services.

About the Author

Author Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. A leading expert on the software industry, he wrote the bestsellers Microsoft Secrets and Competing on Internet Time. His other titles include Japan’s Software Factories and Platform Leadership.


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