This book assesses the achievements of the software engineering discipline as represented by IT
vendors in Japan in order to deepen understanding of the mechanisms of how software engineering
capabilities relate to IT vendors' business performance and business environment from the
perspective of innovation and engineering management. Based on the concepts of service science
and science for society the volume suggests how to improve the sophistication of services
between the demand side i.e. IT user companies and the supply side i.e. IT vendors
simultaneously.The author and his colleagues developed a structural model including
innovational paths such as service innovation product innovation and process innovation and
a measurement model including the seven software engineering capabilities: deliverables
project management quality assurance process improvement research and development human
resource development and customer contact. Then they designed research on software engineering
excellence and administered it with the Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry and
Information-Technology Promotion Agency. Through statistical analyses of the results they
found that human resource development and R&D are significant fundamental conditions to improve
the quality of the deliverables and that IT firms with high levels of deliverables derived
from high levels of human resource development quality assurance project management and
process improvement tend to sustain high profitability. In addition they developed a
measurement model based on Porter's five forces and Barney's resource-based view. A regression
tree analysis suggested that manufacturer spin-off vendors tend to expand business with
well-resourced R&D whereas user spin-off vendors tend to depend heavily on parent company
demand.
