Abstract
Organizations have predominantly utilized reuse in Engineering Departments for the purposes of reducing the cost and improving the quality of the software they develop. While these strategies have been successful, we believe that the full potential of reuse can only be tapped when reuse is brought to the Executive Boardroom as well. We propose that organizations tap reuse not only for cutting costs, but also for strategic and wide-;ranging business initiatives such as entering new markets, increasing agility in response to a dynamic marketplace, and competitive positioning and advantage. In order to do so effectively, organizations must harness the potential of reuse by migrating reuse into the company's business and product-;line planning processes. We present a framework for analyzing and changing reuse business practices. Such practices include cost-;reduction reuse, when the organization utilizes reuse for cost savings purposes; reuse-;enabled business, when the organization uses reuse to create new business opportunities; and strategy-;driven reuse, when the organization incorporates reuse in the formulation of its business and product-;line strategy for the purposes of obtaining competitive positioning and advantage. To determine whether or not reuse is the proper software development strategy to pursue, we utilize concepts in competitive software engineering, an integrated approach to software development that is attuned to the competitive demands of the marketplace. First, a framework is established by identifying and analyzing the organization's goals, strengths, and limitations, its market and its competitive environment. Based on these analyses, possible business or product strategies are formulated and one or more are chosen that help achieve the organization's goals. Finally, a development strategy is chosen. Following this choice, each step of the decision cycle should be re-;evaluated to ensure that it is consistent with the chosen development strategy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biggerstaff, T. and C. Richter (1989), “Reusability Framework, Assessment and Directions,” in Tutorial: Software Reuse: Emerging Technology, W. Tracz, Ed., IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 3–11.
Freeman, P., Ed., (1987), Tutorial: Software Reusability, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA.
Hout, T., M. Porter and E. Rudden (1982), “How Global Companies Win Out,” Harvard Business Review 60, 5, 98–108.
Lanergan, R. and B. Poynton (1979) “Reusable Code – The Application Development Technique of the Future”, In IBM Guide/Share Application Symposium Proceedings, IBM, Armonk, NY, pp. 127–136.
McIlroy, D. (1969), “Mass Produced Software Components,” In Proceedings of NATO Conference on Software Engineering, P. Naur, B. Randell and J.N. Buxton, Eds. Petrocelli/Charter, New York, pp. 88–98.
Pine II, B.J., B. Victor and A.C. Boynton (1993), “Making Mass Customization Work,” Harvard Business Review 71, 5, 108–111.
Porter, M.E. (1980), Competitive Strategy, The Free Press, New York.
Prahalad, C.K. and G. Hamel (1990), “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” Harvard Business Review 68, 3, 79–91.
Robin, M. (1996), “The Medium is the Web,” MicroTimes 150, 160–210.
Vincent, J., A. Waters and J. Sinclair (1988), Software Quality Assurance, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Wong, W. (1988), Management Guide to Software Reuse, NBS Special Publication 500-155, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lim, W.C. Strategy-;driven reuse: Bringing reuse from the Engineering Department to the Executive Boardroom. Annals of Software Engineering 5, 85–103 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018916206023
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018916206023