Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
On the Economic Return of a Software Investment – Managing Cost, Benefit and Uncertainty
Responsible organisation
2010 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how the economic return of a software investment can be assessed and managed. This topic has been studied in research and has been a concern for firms making software investments. In order to study this we need a model of the underlying factors affecting the economic return. Assessing and managing the return of a software investment is been argued to be difficult due to specific economic characteristics of a software investment, i.e. high degree of intangible consequences and uncertainty about the total investment cost. Given these characteristics it is has been concluded that it is difficult to derive a return function. In this dissertation we question this conclusion and propose a comprehensive model to assess and manage the intangibles and the underlying uncertainty. The model is deduced from general assumptions of the economic behavior of the firm. To develop the model we analyze the relevance of intangibles in relation to the economic purpose of making a software investment. Based on this a new way of deriving a cash flow function for a software investments is defined. Further it is analyzed how the underlying uncertainty of a software investment can be managed. The analysis uses a quantitative approach and methods from financial economics. It includes how the application of a real option and portfolio approach can reduce the uncertainty in a software investment and the role of efficient software platforms. The relation between software platforms and the opportunity to create different types of real options for future development is inferred from empirical studies. The studies in this dissertation show how a managerial view on a software investment corresponds with the overall economic goal of the firm. They also show how a strategic value of a software investment can be created, assessed and managed.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Karlskrona: Blekinge Institute of Technology , 2010.
Series
Blekinge Institute of Technology Doctoral Dissertation Series, ISSN 1653-2090 ; 13
Keywords [en]
Economic Return, Managerial Decisions, Real Option, Software Investment, Uncertainty
National Category
Computer and Information Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-00480Local ID: oai:bth.se:forskinfo6E224D667C2752ECC12577CE0058531DISBN: 978-91-7295-194-5 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-00480DiVA, id: diva2:835365
Available from: 2012-09-18 Created: 2010-11-01 Last updated: 2023-01-18Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(2560 kB)1838 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2560 kBChecksum SHA-512
4ea697681ff1d1fac5170699466c03226820953aa07fbd61c1c96b6e514507d3f96571d83e744de5ea191be0ff92d6c12033f95e943177f380f46b55e15cd0bb
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Authority records

Numminen, Emil

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Numminen, Emil
Computer and Information Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 1839 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

isbn
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

isbn
urn-nbn
Total: 880 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf