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ICSOFT 2015: Software Technologies pp 210–227Cite as

Protection of Customers’ and Suppliers’ Knowledge in Software Development Projects with Fixed-Price Contract: Using Property Rights Theory

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 586))

Abstract

In software development projects (SDP), both the supplier and the customer must share their business knowledge for reaching the project success. However, this business knowledge is an essential intellectual property, and thus needs protection from misuse. In this paper, we present an analysis of knowledge difficult to protect. We enact a strategy to achieve SDPs success despite these barriers. Our theoretical and empirical analysis also found that SDP success is largely an uncertainty problem between the contractual parties on the management level, and thus technical-organizational approaches alone are inadequate for achieving success. Based on property rights theory, we introduce two models for protecting knowledge depending on uncertainties. Our findings offer managers important insights how they can design and enact especially fixed-price contracts. Moreover, we show how the economic theories can enhance understanding of SDP dynamics and advance the development of a theory of effective control of SDP success.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group on Strategic Information Management, European Research Center for Information Systems, University of Muenster, Leonardo Campus 11, 48149, Muenster, Germany

    Cornelia Gaebert

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  1. Cornelia Gaebert
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Correspondence to Cornelia Gaebert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Haute Alsace, Mulhouse, France

    Pascal Lorenz

  2. Universidade da Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Jorge Cardoso

  3. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Leszek A. Maciaszek

  4. Information Systems Group, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Marten van Sinderen

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Gaebert, C. (2016). Protection of Customers’ and Suppliers’ Knowledge in Software Development Projects with Fixed-Price Contract: Using Property Rights Theory. In: Lorenz, P., Cardoso, J., Maciaszek, L., van Sinderen, M. (eds) Software Technologies. ICSOFT 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 586. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30142-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30142-6_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30141-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30142-6

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