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Manufacturing Practices in Information Technology Industries: Semiconductors, Hard Disk Drives, and Software

James W. Cortada

in The Digital Hand, Vol 1: How Computers Changed the Work of American Manufacturing, Transportation, and Retail Industries

This chapter describes how computers came into three information technology industries: semiconductors, hard disk drives, and software, for doing the work of each. It describes applications, how work ... More

This chapter describes how computers came into three information technology industries: semiconductors, hard disk drives, and software, for doing the work of each. It describes applications, how work changed, and how products were developed, manufactured, and deployed. The extent of use of computers in these modern industries is also discussed.Less

Facing In, Facing Out: Information Technology Production Policy in India from the 1960s to the 1990s

Richard Heeks

in Information Technology Policy: An International History

India was a Third World Information Technology colossus by the year 2000. In 1998/99, it exported an estimated US$2.2 billion-worth of software and produced more than 700,000 computers for the home ... More

India was a Third World Information Technology colossus by the year 2000. In 1998/99, it exported an estimated US$2.2 billion-worth of software and produced more than 700,000 computers for the home market, worth over US$1 billion. Such success has encouraged many other developing and transitional nations to see India as an IT model that must be understood and imitated. This chapter explores IT production policies in India and their impact from the 1960s to the 1990s, and draws some policy lessons from that understanding. It sets out an IT policy framework that will be used to analyse the Indian experiences.Less

The Software Cluster in Bangalore

V. N. Balasubramanyam and Ahalya Balasubramanyam

in Regions, Globalization, and the Knowledge-Based Economy

The software cluster in Bangalore, South India, represents in a microcosm several of the developments associated with globalization identified in Ch. 1. It is a knowledge‐oriented or ... More

The software cluster in Bangalore, South India, represents in a microcosm several of the developments associated with globalization identified in Ch. 1. It is a knowledge‐oriented or human‐capital‐intensive industry that has attracted multinational firms to Bangalore, both as producers and consumers of software, turning the city into an international gateway for trained labour. The state has actively assisted the growth of the industry. This chapter addresses the reasons for the success of the software cluster. The main sections provide a brief description of the size and structure of the software cluster in Bangalore, discuss the Bangalore cluster in the light of received explanations of clusters from geographers and regional economists, and analyse the cluster in the context of the economics of agglomeration and developments associated with globalization.Less

Private Investment in Human Capital and Industrial Development: The Case of the Indian Software Industry *

Ashish Arora and Surendrakumar Bagde

in Dimensions of Economic Theory and Policy: Essays for Anjan Mukherji

This chapter explores the role of human capital in the regional location of the software industry, focusing on private investment in the software exports industry of India during 1990–2003. The data ... More

This chapter explores the role of human capital in the regional location of the software industry, focusing on private investment in the software exports industry of India during 1990–2003. The data support the significant effect of human capital on the growth of software exports even when other relevant factors are controlled. Pronounced differences in stocks of relevant human capital (that is, engineers) across Indian states have driven software exports from these states. The bulk of inter-state variations cannot be explained by the willingness of states to invest in engineering colleges. Instead, states which allowed private engineering colleges to enter early gained an early advantage that has persisted for almost fifteen years. In addition, the regional growth of the software exports industry is associated with the initial as well as current size of the electronics hardware industry.Less

Between Cities and Districts: Local Software Systems in Italy

Andrea Biagiotti and Luigi Burroni

in Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

This chapter examines the Italian software industry, highlighting its unique features. It argues that high-tech activity tends to concentrate in certain locations due to the presence of specific ... More

This chapter examines the Italian software industry, highlighting its unique features. It argues that high-tech activity tends to concentrate in certain locations due to the presence of specific local external economies. It outlines the differences between local systems of software production and other local product systems.Less

Bangalore: The Silicon Valley of Asia?

AnnaLee Saxenian (ed.)

in Economic Policy Reforms and the Indian Economy

This chapter addresses the growth of the Indian software industry, and provides some contrasts between Bangalore—the center of software in India—and Silicon Valley. India's software industry has ... More

This chapter addresses the growth of the Indian software industry, and provides some contrasts between Bangalore—the center of software in India—and Silicon Valley. India's software industry has grown so rapidly that it evokes frequent comparisons between Bangalore and Silicon Valley. The policy reforms of the 1980s facilitated the emergence of an export-oriented software industry in India. The industry of Indian software as a whole remains significantly less productive than its global competitors. Information technology (IT) presents possible efficiencies in a wide range of private-sector activities, from distribution and marketing to banking to agriculture. The industry association, National Association of Software and Service Companies, has accelerated the policy reform process through its aggressive lobbying while helping to define a minimally interventionist model of industrial promotion. It is noted that Bangalore is not Silicon Valley, and IT is not going to solve all of India's problems.Less

Software and Growth

Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman

in The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development

This chapter examines the importance of computer software, particularly open source software, in economic development. It analyzes how open source software fit into the framework of growth theory and ... More

This chapter examines the importance of computer software, particularly open source software, in economic development. It analyzes how open source software fit into the framework of growth theory and explains that software’s reach extends far beyond the software industry. It also mentions that much of the innovation in software sprang from firms in other industries that have embodied software into products and processes and discusses the potential of open source model of software development to solve the conundrum of the new growth theory as it applies to software.Less

Introduction

Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman

in The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the potential impact of open source software on economic development. This volume examines whether certain types of ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is about the potential impact of open source software on economic development. This volume examines whether certain types of computer software promote the growth of a software industry or the growth of a nation leads it turn to a given set of software. It also addresses several relevant questions. These include the differences between software and other technologies when it comes to promoting economic development, motivations for contributing to open source projects, management of the trade-offs between proprietary and open source projects and government policies required to ensure fair competition between proprietary and open source software.Less

Parts of the Elephant: How Industry Perspective Drives Patent Theory

in The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It

This chapter argues that the disagreements about how the patent system promotes innovation can be traced to the industry-specific character of the patent system. The prospect vision of patents maps ... More

This chapter argues that the disagreements about how the patent system promotes innovation can be traced to the industry-specific character of the patent system. The prospect vision of patents maps most closely onto invention in the pharmaceutical industry. Patents map well onto products in the pharmaceutical industry. Patents in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were more likely to be licensed ex ante than patents in any other field. Competitive innovation theory fits business methods, arguably fits the Internet, and fit software. Cumulative innovation theory, which balances rights given to initial inventors with rights given to improvers, makes sense for the modern software industry. The structure of the biotechnology industry appears likely to run high anticommons risks. The semiconductor industry may be characterized by anticommons problems since integration of many different inputs is necessary to produce a commercial semiconductor product.Less

Levers at Work—the IT Industry

in The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It

This chapter discusses how policy levers can and do apply in information technology (IT) industries. It concentrates on the software industry, though it also offers some more preliminary thoughts on ... More

This chapter discusses how policy levers can and do apply in information technology (IT) industries. It concentrates on the software industry, though it also offers some more preliminary thoughts on similar problems in the semiconductor industry. Implementing a rational software policy obviously requires some significant changes to existing case law. A number of policy levers might be brought to bear on this problem. Patents in the semiconductor industry ought to be narrow. Application of the eBay policy lever is likely to find more hardship and less need for an injunction in semiconductor cases than in any other industry. Optimal patent policy depends on assessments of industry characteristics that will always be preliminary and subject to revision. Only courts have the institutional competence and doctrinal flexibility to adapt to those revised assessments and apply them to the industries that drive innovation not just today but in the future.Less

The Structure of Software Design

Harold Salzman and Stephen R. Rosenthal

in Software by Design: Shaping Technology and the Workplace

The software industry really came of age in the 1970s and 1980s. This was a time of technological transformation in the workplace. The computer expanded from the backroom to the front office and ... More

The software industry really came of age in the 1970s and 1980s. This was a time of technological transformation in the workplace. The computer expanded from the backroom to the front office and evolved from simple data processing to integrated information systems. The growth of the independent software vendor led to an important change in software design. User firms began to purchase large, standard or semicustom systems from thirdparty vendors rather than purchasing software with hardware and having most applications software custom designed by an in-house programming staff. This added another dimension to the software design process: Software became the product of at least two organizations (the vendor and one or more user firms) and its design and production became mediated by the market. The organizational simplicity of software design occurring within one organization, as difficult a process as that may be, became relatively more complex organizationally. This chapter examines one part of the process of technology design and use: the activities internal to the software design firm. It concentrates on the structure and dynamics of the design process rather than on specific design decisions. The findings presented in this chapter are based on a survey of vendor firms and may represent a different perspective than findings on software developed within a user firm. By focusing on dynamics that transcend choices of particular individuals, we show how decisions are shaped and constrained by the structure of the design process itself. The three chapters following this one present case studies that describe specific choices of software features and functions and analyze the impacts of those choices on software users and customers. Taken together, this chapter and the case studies present the dual perspective necessary to appreciate how software is a socially constructed technology. The business applications software industry for mainframes and minicomputers is composed of hardware manufacturers such as IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation, several large vendors, and numbers of small specialty firms. Less

Codes of Class

Carol Upadhya

in Reengineering India: Work, Capital, and Class in an Offshore Economy

Chapter 6 focuses on the connections between IT and the middle class, exploring processes of class consolidation and reshuffling that have been set in motion by the advent of the software outsourcing ... More

Chapter 6 focuses on the connections between IT and the middle class, exploring processes of class consolidation and reshuffling that have been set in motion by the advent of the software outsourcing industry. Viewing ‘middle-classness’ as a meaningful social identity, it explores several dimensions of class restructuring in post-liberalization India, especially the reworking of the intersections between class, caste, gender, and work. The fracturing of the middle class has produced diverse dissonances and disjunctures, which frame the mobility strategies of actors and contestations over social value. After describing the social composition of the IT workforce, the chapter examines the strategies of class distinction deployed by IT professionals, who form a visible fraction of the ‘new middle class’. It also traces the diverse lives of ‘Indian culture’ and middle class identity as mobile IT professionals pursue their projects of self-development and social mobility in a transnational social field.Less

Introduction

Carol Upadhya

in Reengineering India: Work, Capital, and Class in an Offshore Economy

The Introduction outlines the main themes of the book within the context of larger social transformations in India after economic reforms. After a brief introduction to the city of Bangalore, the ... More

The Introduction outlines the main themes of the book within the context of larger social transformations in India after economic reforms. After a brief introduction to the city of Bangalore, the Indian software industry, the IT workforce, and the sociological literature on post-liberalization India, the chapter sketches the larger theoretical questions addressed in the book. Reviewing key debates on capitalism and the question of value, and drawing on anthropological literature on globalization, labour, and class, it outlines the conceptual approach employed to understand the intersections of work, culture, and subjectivity in IT workspaces. Finally, the chapter details the scope of the study, discusses the research methods employed, and provides an overview of the following chapters.Less

Economic Turbulence and Middle-Income Jobs

Clair Brown

in Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America?

This chapter describes the effect of economic turbulence on the earnings distribution. Economic turbulence affects the quality and quantity of middle-income jobs. Jobs at the bottom end of the ... More

This chapter describes the effect of economic turbulence on the earnings distribution. Economic turbulence affects the quality and quantity of middle-income jobs. Jobs at the bottom end of the earnings distribution and in low-skilled industries are much less likely to be stable than jobs at the top end and in high-skilled industries. Software and semiconductor industries have the lowest retention rates for workers in the top income category. There is evidence which suggests that firms share their success with their workers; thus, the more productive entering firms share some of that higher productivity with their workers. The positive effects for high-income workers are outweighed by the negative effects for low-income workers. Worker entry and exit has had very little impact on changes in the earnings distributions. Firm entry and exit tended to reduce dramatically the percentage of low-income workers.Less

Firms, Their Workers, and Their Survival

Clair Brown

in Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America?

This chapter explores the link between worker turnover, workforce quality, and worker pay, as well as success as measured by firm performance. More productive firms pay above-average wages to their ... More

This chapter explores the link between worker turnover, workforce quality, and worker pay, as well as success as measured by firm performance. More productive firms pay above-average wages to their workers, have a higher-quality workforce and lower turnover, and have more skilled workers, although these relationships vary substantially across industries. Average productivity in the software industry rises substantially as low-productivity exiting firms are replaced by higher-productivity entering firms. Industry productivity dynamics are closely associated to firm entry and exit and restructuring. Establishments that exit are less productive and have higher turnover and lower workforce quality than firms that enter. Businesses with higher-quality workforces and lower churning are more likely survive. Firm performance is tightly linked with workforce quality and churning. Firm survival is a function of businesses with high productivity, low churning, and high human capital.Less

Legal Mechanisms for Mitigating the Effect of Restrictive Licensing Provisions

Noam Shemtov

in Beyond the Code: Protection of Non-Textual Features of Software

This chapter examines the legal mechanisms for mitigating the effect of restrictive licensing provisions used by right holders to regulate the use of functional elements of software, focusing on both ... More

This chapter examines the legal mechanisms for mitigating the effect of restrictive licensing provisions used by right holders to regulate the use of functional elements of software, focusing on both negotiable and non-negotiable licences. In particular, it considers the extent to which existing judicial and statutory tools are effective in regulating restrictive licensing provisions in the software industry. The chapter first discusses contract law-based mechanisms, giving emphasis to the implications of whether a transaction is classified as a sale or a licence for the publishers’ ability to restrict third parties from reproducing or appropriating functional features in their software product. It then analyses pre-emption-based mechanisms, as well as competition law-based mechanisms, citing the EU competition law and the US antitrust law.Less

Trade Secrets and the Software Industry

Noam Shemtov

in Beyond the Code: Protection of Non-Textual Features of Software

This chapter examines the trade secrets regimes in the European Union and the United States, with particular emphasis on how they affect the software industry. Almost every intellectual property ... More

This chapter examines the trade secrets regimes in the European Union and the United States, with particular emphasis on how they affect the software industry. Almost every intellectual property right originates in a secret. For example, an inventor keeps his inventive concept secret until he files for a patent. The same may apply to a designer in relation to a new product design until a registered design application or a design patent application is filed. These early stages of conception often require protection against misappropriation. The chapter considers the legal basis for granting trade secrets protection and the relevant conditions for such protection. Next, it discusses the EU and the US legal frameworks governing the misappropriation of trade secrets in relation to software products, with particular emphasis on the treatment of reverse engineering under trade secrets law.Less