Explore the vast range of titles available.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how knowledge sharing influences technological innovation capability (TIC) of the software small- and medium-sized enterprises (SSMEs). Design/methodology/approach Based on the theories regarding knowledge management, TIC, software engineering and open innovation, this paper constructed a research model comprising factors affecting knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing and TIC, and then tested the model quantitatively. The study focuses on SSMEs in China collecting 457 online questionnaires and uses a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. Findings The knowledge sharing culture, organizational structure, middle-level leadership and management system have significantly positive effects on tacit knowledge sharing; management system and IT support have significantly positive effects on explicit knowledge sharing; both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing have significantly positive effects on TIC. Research limitations/implications The study enriches the research on knowledge sharing and TIC. However, it does not consider factors affecting knowledge sharing at the non-organizational level or the interaction between explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. Practical implications The study offers several recommendations/suggestions for helping SSMEs to promote and implement explicit or tacit knowledge sharing and TIC. Originality/value This paper examines the impact of knowledge sharing on TIC from the perspective of knowledge management deconstructing knowledge sharing from the epistemological dimension and the TIC of software companies on the basis of software engineering theory. It provided a new theoretical perspective for the research of knowledge management and technological innovation management in SSMEs.

Software organizations are project-based organizations where both organizational Knowledge Management (KM) and KM within project teams are requisites. The organizational KM is considered as a long-term process and Project Knowledge Management (PKM) is regarded as a short-term practice. This approach has many flaws from an outcome perspective due to redundancy in practices. This empirical study explores the dimensions of organizational Knowledge Creation (OKC) in software industry and identifies the impact of these dimensions on Project Knowledge Management which can streamline the process from corporate to project level. A structural equation modelling was conducted in the study on a total sample size of 608 responses from 125 software companies listed under NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies). The study also identifies the differences in the relations between KC dimensions and PKM in MNCs and Indian Companies; a Multi-group Analysis method is adopted. Both employee engagement and organizational resources for knowledge creation have a significant impact on PKM. The MNCs need to focus more on employee engagement for knowledge creation to improve the contribution of software professional's contribution in project management as a generic solution to overcome PKM challenges compared to Indian companies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of human resource development (HRD) practices on perceived operational and market performances in the software companies in India, and also the mediating effect of operational performance in the relationship between HRD practices and market performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 516 professionals working in 37 software companies in India. Partial least square (PLS) was used to test the proposed structural equation model. Findings The findings reveal that the HRD practices significantly affect market performance. However, operational performance, as a mediator, was found to have a crucial role in transferring the effects of HRD practices to market performance. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study are in line with the theory of HRD which suggests a positive relationship between HRD and organizational performance. Practical implications The results suggest that to enhance the market performance, organizations need to enhance operational performance by meticulously designing and implementing the series of HRD practices. Originality/value This study is one of its kind to overcome the limitations of earlier studies to examine the effect of comprehensive dimensions of HRD on operational and market performance.

Software process improvement (SPI) is an indispensable phenomenon in the evolution of a software development company that adopts global software development (GSD) or in-house development. Several software development companies do not only adhere to in-house development but also go for the GSD paradigm. Both development approaches are of paramount significance because of their respective advantages. Many studies have been conducted to find the SPI success factors in the case of companies that opt for in-house development. Still, less attention has been paid to the SPI success factors in the case of the GSD environment for large-scale software companies. Factors that contribute to the SPI success of small as well as medium-sized companies have been identified, but large-scale companies have still been overlooked. The research aims to identify the success factors of SPI for both development approaches (GSD and in-house) in the case of large-scale software companies. Two systematic literature reviews have been performed. An industrial survey has been conducted to detect additional SPI success factors for both development environments. In the subsequent step, a comparison has been made to find similar SPI success factors in both development environments. Lastly, another industrial survey is conducted to compare the common SPI success factors of GSD and in-house software development, in the case of large-scale companies, to divulge which SPI success factor carries more value in which development environment. For this reason, parametric (Pearson correlation) and non-parametric (Kendall's Tau correlation and the Spearman correlation) tests have been performed. The 17 common SPI factors have been identified. The pinpointed common success factors expedite and contribute to SPI in both environments in the case of large-scale companies.

Agile methodologies are always tends to increase the quality of software and also handling the complex software projects. However, the software companies in Pakistan have recently felt the disparity of producing successful software. In this context, an extensive survey has been conducted in 52 prominent software development companies of Pakistan to identify this remedy and the motivation behind this production discrepancy. It is revealed from the survey that there is a lack of empirical evidence in the relationship of agile methodologies with the effective and progressive management of software project management factors including, schedule, scope, risk, budget, quality and resources. Therefore, the proposed study delivers an extensive statistical comparison to determine the effectiveness of agile methodologies in terms of their effects on the project management factors. The results suggest that in general all agile methodologies play a significant role towards the successful software development in the software company. However, Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban and Agile modeling are the main determinants of production disparity among software companies. Furthermore, it is determined that the quality factor has a positive correlation with the rest of the factors. It is also found that the budget factor has significantly correlated with other five factors, while rest of the factors has insignificant correlation. We have also compared agile methodologies in terms of project management factors, which specify that each agile methodology has its own importance and effect with respect to managing different factors of project management.

This study investigates how sales methods, service management, and resource allocation influence the operating profit margins of Japanese software companies, with a focus on marketing strategies and profitability improvement. While Japan’s software market continues to grow, domestic companies face challenges such as low profit margins, reliance on subcontracting, and declining international competitiveness. Using data from 124 software companies listed in the Nikkei industry-specific section between 2021 and 2023, this study employs multivariate regression analysis to identify actionable strategies for enhancing profitability.The results reveal that the selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expense ratio negatively affects operating profit margins, emphasizing the importance of cost control. Companies that adopt indirect sales channels achieve significant cost efficiency, improving profit margins (coefficient: -0.1363). Furthermore, while the ratio of sales growth to gross profit growth positively influences profitability (coefficient: 0.0084), its effect is relatively modest. In contrast, the revenue efficiency ratio emerges as the most influential factor, where a 1% improvement corresponds to a 0.72% increase in operating profit margins (coefficient: 0.7166). These findings underscore the critical role of optimizing resource allocation and aligning sales strategies with marketing objectives to achieve sustainable profit growth.This study contributes to the literature by integrating marketing-oriented strategies with operational efficiency, addressing the often-overlooked interplay between these factors. By offering practical insights into channel strategies, cost optimization, and resource allocation, this research provides a roadmap for Japanese software companies to strengthen their competitiveness in both domestic and international markets.

In order to adapt to the post-pandemic era, e-recruitment systems should change their requirements to search for a more competitive leader profile. These systems currently search for individual skills specific to leaders, taking into consideration whether a leader has the required skills and abilities for a certain job. The aim of this study is to improve e-recruitment searches for capable leaders in this new environment. In this regard, the study proposes to search for combinations of complementary skills. These skills, to be effective, should necessarily support each other in order to create successful management. The author’s proposal is to call this combination of skills: Leadership Complementary Skills (LCS). Understanding that some skills should be complementary in order to be viable, the LCS’ new insight into the hiring process was developed to comply with the aim of a performant organization. The idea was drawn from the author’s half a century of real-world experience and from several discussions with employers, employees, consultants and MBA students, debating cases along working and teaching. Statements are presented regarding proposals of appropriate combinations of skills to be implemented in the software of e-recruitment systems, their influence on employees’ behavior and the possible consequences on organizational outcomes. Consistent with the proposals, the author has also developed the Honeycomb Complementary Skills Model for Leadership as a first step in this endeavor, inviting future researchers to find other LCS to be added to the model and accomplish the actual ideal profile of a leader, opening as such a new field of research.

The management staff of software companies are constantly looking for ways to build market advantage and win business strategies. Introducing changes in companies is a costly process and carries the risk of poor allocation of resources. This article provides decision-makers with a tool that increases the chance of making the right business decisions and can also be a guide in the transformation of business models. The scientific aim of this article was to simultaneously cover three areas, innovation, business models, and sustainable development, to develop a scheme enabling the construction of rankings of the elements of these areas in a version dedicated to software producing companies. Rankings, which are built using the hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method, indicate to decision-makers the need for building strategic development plans, which aspects are the most important, and what the order of possible implementations should be. Based on a multi-criteria analysis, it was found that (i) in terms of innovation, companies should focus their attention first on implementing product, process, and technological innovations; (ii) within innovative business models, attempts should be made to produce IT systems using virtualization and dockerization, as well as efforts should be made to closely bind customers with the offered products and services and offer temporary rental of IT systems instead of classic licenses; and (iii) in the context of the classic three levels of sustainable development, companies should focus primarily on economic and financial issues.

Intellectual capital is the total value of all entity’s intangible resources (organizational, human, and customer). Effective management of intellectual capital in high-tech industries needs determination of its role in ensuring profitability and clarifying the direction of managerial and investment policy in intangible resources. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital on the profitability of Slovak software development companies. Panel data regression analysis was used as the main research method to analyze the data of 16 Slovak software development companies for 2015–2019. The study designed and analyzed four panel data regression models with different dependent variables (Return on Assets, Net Profit Margin, Gross Profit Margin, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes Margin) and similar independent variables (Capitalized Development Costs, Software, Acquired Intangible Fixed Assets, Personnel Costs, Social Security Costs, Social Costs, and Total Costs of Economic Activity). The analysis of these models was carried out based on the fixed effects method. It was found that intellectual capital reflected in the financial statements of software development companies does not meet the information needs of stakeholders and does not have a significant direct impact on profitability. Only Acquired Intangible Fixed Assets had a direct positive impact on the profitability of software development companies in all four analyzed models, and some independent variables had a negative impact. It is proposed to expand the structure of financial reporting items that characterize the intellectual capital and improve the method of recognizing costs of various types as intangibles.

This study aims to investigate a model that applies team support for innovation as a mediating mechanism for the association of team identification (TI) with task performance (TP) and proactive work behavior (PWB) in the software companies. The sample encompasses 92 teams working in software companies in Pakistan. Data were collected from two sources: team identification, team support for innovation (TSI), and task performance data were collected from employees, while PWB data were collected from the team supervisor. Multi-level data was analyzed using structural equation modelling technique through Mplus, AMOS and SPSS software. Findings of the study revealed that team support for innovation plays an intervening role between team identification and its outcomes (PWB and TP). This study proposes that team support for innovation can effectively encourage PWB and TP. Therefore, managers and leaders of software companies who aim to achieve PWB and TP need to encourage team identification among the team members. The present paper links a gap relating to factors and antecedents that impact proactive work behavior and task performance in a multi-level research design.