Dissertation Research: Encoded Hierarchies: Globalization and Governance of the Software Commodity Chain

论文研究：编码层次结构：软件商品链的全球化和治理

• 批准号: 0422084
• 负责人: Patrick Heller
• 金额: $ 0.8万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0422084&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Encoded; Hierarchies; Globalization

This Research on Science and Technology Disssertation Improvement Grant addresses research on globalization and industrial development by exploring an understudied case of globalizing industry: software production. While state-led and local/regional agglomeration explanations of industrial development focus on the localized construction of competitive advantage, this study emphasizes the importance of linkage to lead firms in the global production system as the key arbiter of global opportunity. Using the Global Commodity Chains framework and the literature on social networks and inter-organizational ties, a theory is developed of hybrid governance in the software industry, characterized by a technology-driven segment and a buyer-driven segment. In the technology-driven segment, owners of .infrastructural. technologies and standards exercise control over technological aspects of production for the rest of the software industry. In the buyer-driven segment, influential software customers transfer their environmental uncertainty onto software service firms and specialized software product firms, who are, in turn, induced to structure their organizations around ever-changing customer needs. The hybrid governance regime in software has implications for follower countries, which tend to operate in areas of software production that are subject to the greatest competition and that are squeezed between lead firms from both the technology-driven side and the buyer-driven side of the commodity chain. Evidence of the hybrid governance structure in software will be based on three sources: (1) a database of inter-firm partnerships and alliances; (2) secondary sources that identify the nature and content of inter-firm linkages; (3) and semi-structured interviews that probe into the mechanisms that underlie the formation of partnership ties in the software industry. Methodologically, this research involves the collection of new and novel data and applies mixed methods to the study of processes of industrial globalization. The database under construction for this project is an opportunity to expand knowledge of an important global industry by taking a firm-level approach that considers inter-firm networks as well as national context. Importantly, the database incorporates a larger sample of software firms than in previous research, includes measures of context and network ties in software production, and pools data on firms from emerging and advanced industrial economies. This larger sample will lend itself to the application of quantitative methods, including the construction of statistical models of how network ties, firm characteristics, and contextual factors influence firm performance. Fieldwork in India and the U.S. is an opportunity to build links within academia and between academia and industry across geographic boundaries. This fieldwork will pull together information from software professionals, industry and academic experts, and state and industry representatives from the U.S., India, and other countries, integrating emerging and industrialized economy perspectives into the study of an increasingly important industry. Moreover, this research will cut across many academic disciplines, bringing a sociological focus to existing research from strategic management, economics, and computer science. This research is significant for informing the industrial policies of follower countries and software firms. For states with aspirations of building a software export sector, evidence of the mixed success of prior state intervention in software production may guide policymakers towards better high-tech industrial policies. At the firm-level, an association between successful outcomes and the structure of partnerships and alliances suggests that firms should allocate resources to building key ties with industry leaders. For follower country firms, the theory indicates that creating linkages with U.S. customers and creating ties with U.S. software firms is of primary importance.

这项科学和技术论文改进补助金的研究通过探索全球化产业的一个未充分研究的案例：软件生产，解决了全球化和工业发展的研究。 虽然国家主导的和地方/区域集聚的产业发展的解释集中在竞争优势的本地化建设，本研究强调的重要性，在全球生产系统中的领先企业的联系，作为全球机会的关键仲裁者。 使用全球商品链框架和文献的社交网络和组织间的联系，在软件行业的混合治理的理论，其特点是由技术驱动的部分和买方驱动的部分。 在技术驱动的领域，. infrastructural的所有者。技术和标准对软件行业的其他产品的技术方面进行控制。 在买方驱动的细分市场中，有影响力的软件客户将其环境的不确定性转移到软件服务公司和专门的软件产品公司，这些公司反过来又被诱导围绕不断变化的客户需求构建其组织。 软件领域的混合治理制度对追随者国家产生了影响，这些国家往往在软件生产领域开展业务，这些领域面临着最激烈的竞争，并且受到来自技术驱动方和买方驱动方的领先公司之间的挤压商品链。 软件业混合治理结构的证据将基于三个来源：（1）公司间伙伴关系和联盟的数据库;（2）确定公司间联系的性质和内容的第二手来源;（3）半结构化访谈，探讨软件业伙伴关系形成的机制。在方法上，这项研究涉及收集新的和新颖的数据，并采用混合方法来研究工业全球化的进程。 正在为该项目建立的数据库是一个机会，通过采取考虑到公司间网络和国情的公司一级办法，扩大对一个重要的全球性行业的了解。 重要的是，该数据库包含了比以往研究更大的软件公司样本，包括软件生产的背景和网络联系的措施，并汇集了来自新兴和发达工业经济体的公司数据。 这个较大的样本将有助于定量方法的应用，包括网络关系，企业特征和环境因素如何影响企业绩效的统计模型的构建。在印度和美国的实地考察是在学术界内部以及学术界和工业界之间跨越地理界限建立联系的机会。 这项实地调查将汇集来自美国软件专业人士、行业和学术专家以及州和行业代表的信息，印度和其他国家，将新兴和工业化经济体的观点纳入对一个日益重要的行业的研究。 此外，这项研究将跨越许多学科，从战略管理，经济学和计算机科学的现有研究带来了社会学的重点。本文的研究对于后续国和软件企业的产业政策制定具有重要意义。 对于希望建立软件出口部门的国家来说，先前国家干预软件生产的成败参半的证据可能会指导政策制定者制定更好的高科技产业政策。 在公司一级，成功的结果与伙伴关系和联盟的结构之间的联系表明，公司应分配资源与行业领导者建立关键联系。 对于跟随国公司来说，该理论表明，与美国客户建立联系并与美国软件公司建立联系是最重要的。