Abstract
In the paper we discuss the following research questions: How do start-ups provide themselves with software and what are the motivations behind deciding on a specific sourcing option? The questions are motivated from the fact that acquirement of software is a challenging question, and it is especially interesting to explore how start-ups do, since they do not have a legacy to deal with. The research was conducted as a mixed approach including a survey among start-ups followed by interviewing decision-makers in some start-ups. The research indicates that motivations for choosing a specific software application include ease of use, compatibility, reliability, flexibility, and previous familiarity. Right now, sourcing of paid software mostly occurs in a single license set-up, although interviewed start-ups showed to prefer Pay-Per-Use, as it is more flexible and because they feel more in control over how much money they spend. The start-ups said to consider free software options in case alternatives that fulfilled their requirements were available. In the cases where start-ups paid for software the motivation was either because there were no other options available, or they felt that this sourcing method secured support.
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Johansson, B., Deliallisi, B., Walraven, P. (2016). Exploring Choices of Software Sourcing Methods Among Start-Ups. In: Kotlarsky, J., Oshri, I., Willcocks, L. (eds) Shared Services and Outsourcing: A Contemporary Outlook. Global Sourcing 2016. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 266. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47009-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47009-2_11
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