Readings

Note: Readings are "front-loaded" in this course so that we can establish a common base for understanding the software business. In some later sessions when there are mainly student presentations, there will be minimal or no assigned readings for the class.

Required Reading

Buy at Amazon Cusumano, Michael A. The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know in Good Times and Bad. New York, NY: Free Press, 2004. ISBN: 074321580X.

Buy at Amazon Cusumano, Michael A., and Richard W. Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. New York, NY: Free Press, 1998. ISBN: 0684855313.

Buy at Amazon Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Revised ed. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 1999. ISBN: 0887307175.

Selected articles and excerpts.

Recommended Supplementary Readings

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Campbell-Kelly, Martin. A History of the Software Industry: From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 0262033038.

Buy at Amazon McConnell, Steve. Rapid Development. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 1996. ISBN: 1556159005.

Buy at Amazon Moody, Glyn. Rebel Code: Inside Linux® and the Open Source Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publication, 2001. ISBN: 0738203335.

Buy at Amazon Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up. New York, NY: Free Press, 2000. ISBN: 068487170X.

Lec # Topics Readings
1 Course Overview and Organization  
2 Strategy for Software Companies: What to Think About Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-85.

Shapiro, Carl, and Hal Varian. "The Art of the Standards Wars." California Management Review, Winter 1999, pp. 8-32.
3 How Software Became a Business Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 3, pp. 86-127.

NetNumina case study, pp. 236-242.

Recommended Reading

Campbell-Kelly. A History of the Software Industry.
4 Microsoft® Case Study: Strategy, Management, Organization Required Reading

Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Preface, pp. v-xvi; chapters 1-3, 6.

Buy at Amazon Gawer, Annabelle, and Michael Cusumano. Platform Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002, pp. 134-162. ISBN: 1578515149.

Recommended Reading

Greene, Jay. "Microsoft's Midlife Crisis." Business Week, April 19, 2004.
5 Managing Software Development: Basic Issues and Best Practices Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 128-185.

Brooks, Frederick. "No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering." IEEE Computer, April 1987.

Recommended Reading

Cusumano and Selby. Microsoft® Secrets. Chapters 4-5, pp. 187-326.

Reference Articles

Cusumano, M. et al. "Software Development Worldwide: The State of the Practice." IEEE Software 20, no. 6 (November-December 2003): 28-34.

MacCormack, Alan, et al. "Trade-offs between Productivity and Quality in Selecting Software Development Practices." IEEE Software 20, no. 5 (September/October 2003): 78-85.
6 Software Sales

Guest Presentation: Brian Halligan, former MIT student and former VP of Sales, Groove Networks
Required Reading

Deighton, John, and Das Narayandas. "Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Parts 1-3." Harvard Business School Cases. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Cases: 9-503-021, 9-503-022, 9-503-023. August 26, 2002.

Moore. Crossing the Chasm. Pp. 163-188.

McMurry, R. "The Mystique of Super Salesmanship." Harvard Business Review, March 1961, Reprint #61208.
7 Part 1: Software Marketing

Guest Presentations: Steve Kahl (MIT PhD student, former VP of Goldman Sachs; and Charles DeWitt, former MIT LFM student, former VP of Strategy and Planning, i2, current Director of Enterprise Marketing, Kronos Software)

Part 2: Software Entrepreneurship
Part 1: Required Reading

Moore. Crossing the Chasm. pp. 1-59.

Buy at Amazon Hoch, Detlev J. et al. Secrets of Software Success. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1999, chapter 6, pp. 121-158. ISBN: 1578511054.

Part 2: Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 5, pp. 195-214.

Part2: Recommended Reading

Nesheim, John. High-Tech Start Up.

"The Truth About Software Startups." Sloan Management Review (Winter 2004): 7.
8 Open Source

Guest Lecturer: Professor Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School
Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Pp. 120-125.

Raymond, Eric. "The Cathedral and the Bazaar." (Original article.)

Fuggetta, Alfonso. "Open Source and Free Software: A New Model for Software Development?" Unpublished paper, Politecnico di Milano, July 2004.

Recommended Reading

Moody. Rebel Code.
9 Software Business Overseas: Outsourcing and Innovation

Guest Presentation -- Izhar Armoney, Charles River Ventures. Specialist on Israeli software industry. MBA Wharton, currently a director of iPhrase, July Systems, Optaros, Proficiency, ThinkFire and Virtusa
Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 4, pp. 185-194.

Kapur, Devesh, and Ravi Ramamurti. "India's Emerging Competitive Advantage in Services." Academy of Management Executive 15, no. 2 (2001).
10 "Emerging" Software Technologies/Companies - Paper Presentations 1  
11 Wrap-Up Required Reading

Cusumano. The Business of Software. Chapter 7, pp. 272-281.