Courses:

The Software Business >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Note: Readings are "front-loaded" in this course so that we can establish a common base for understanding the software business. In some later sessions when there are mainly student presentations, there will be minimal or no assigned readings for the class.



Required Reading


Amazon logo Cusumano, Michael A. The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know in Good Times and Bad. New York, NY: Free Press, 2004. ISBN: 074321580X.

Amazon logo Cusumano, Michael A., and Richard W. Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. New York, NY: Free Press, 1998. ISBN: 0684855313.

Amazon logo Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Revised ed. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 1999. ISBN: 0887307175.

Selected articles and excerpts.



Recommended Supplementary Readings


Amazon logo Campbell-Kelly, Martin. A History of the Software Industry: From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 0262033038.

Amazon logo McConnell, Steve. Rapid Development. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1996. ISBN: 1556159005.

Amazon logo Moody, Glyn. Rebel Code: Inside Linux® and the Open Source Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publication, 2001. ISBN: 0738203335.

Amazon logo Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up. New York, NY: Free Press, 2000. ISBN: 068487170X.


Lec #TopicsReadings
1Course Overview and Organization
2Strategy for Software Companies: What to Think AboutRequired Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-85.

Shapiro, Carl, and Hal Varian. "The Art of the Standards Wars." California Management Review, Winter 1999, pp. 8-32.
3How Software Became a BusinessRequired Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 3, pp. 86-127.

NetNumina case study, pp. 236-242.

Recommended Reading

Campbell-Kelly. A History of the Software Industry.
4Microsoft® Case Study: Strategy, Management, OrganizationRequired Reading

Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Preface, pp. v-xvi; chapters 1-3, 6.

Amazon logo Gawer, Annabelle, and Michael Cusumano. Platform Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002, pp. 134-162. ISBN: 1578515149.

Recommended Reading

Greene, Jay. "Microsoft's Midlife Crisis." Business Week, April 19, 2004.
5Managing Software Development: Basic Issues and Best PracticesRequired Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 128-185.

Brooks, Frederick. "No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering." IEEE Computer, April 1987.

Recommended Reading

Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Chapters 4-5, pp. 187-326.

Reference Articles

Cusumano, M. et al. "Software Development Worldwide: The State of the Practice." IEEE Software 20, no. 6 (November-December 2003): 28-34.

MacCormack, Alan, et al. "Trade-offs between Productivity and Quality in Selecting Software Development Practices." IEEE Software 20, no. 5 (September/October 2003): 78-85.
6Software Sales

Guest Presentation: Brian Halligan, former MIT student and former VP of Sales, Groove Networks
Required Reading

Deighton, John, and Das Narayandas. "Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Parts 1-3." Harvard Business School Cases. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Cases: 9-503-021, 9-503-022, 9-503-023. August 26, 2002.

Moore. Crossing the Chasm. Pp. 163-188.

McMurry, R. "The Mystique of Super Salesmanship." Harvard Business Review, March 1961, Reprint #61208.
7Part 1: Software Marketing

Guest Presentations: Steve Kahl (MIT PhD student, former VP of Goldman Sachs; and Charles DeWitt, former MIT LFM student, former VP of Strategy and Planning, i2, current Director of Enterprise Marketing, Kronos Software)

Part 2: Software Entrepreneurship
Part 1: Required Reading

Moore. Crossing the Chasm. pp. 1-59.

Amazon logo Hoch, Detlev J. et al. Secrets of Software Success. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1999, chapter 6, pp. 121-158. ISBN: 1578511054.

Part 2: Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 5, pp. 195-214.

Part2: Recommended Reading

Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up.

"The Truth About Software Startups." Sloan Management Review (Winter 2004): 7.
8Open Source

Guest Lecturer: Professor Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School
Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Pp. 120-125.

Raymond, Eric. "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." (Original article.)

Fuggetta, Alfonso. "Open Source and Free Software: A New Model for Software Development?" Unpublished paper, Politecnico di Milano, July 2004.

Recommended Reading

Moody. Rebel Code.
9Software Business Overseas: Outsourcing and Innovation

Guest Presentation -- Izhar Armoney, Charles River Ventures. Specialist on Israeli software industry. MBA Wharton, currently a director of iPhrase, July Systems, Optaros, Proficiency, ThinkFire and Virtusa
Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 185-194.

Kapur, Devesh, and Ravi Ramamurti. "India's Emerging Competitive Advantage in Services." Academy of Management Executive 15, no. 2 (2001).
10"Emerging" Software Technologies/Companies - Paper Presentations 1
11Wrap-UpRequired Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 7, pp. 272-281.

 








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