<p>Global software development has been a phenomenon of growing interest for almost past decade or so; and its adoption trend continues to gain momentum. Globally distributed work istaken up as an alternative to single-site mainly because of the economic and strategic benefits itoffers. Software development at geographically distributed environment is not a straightforwardtask and entails numerous challenges which are unique to this form of development.</p><p>Requirements change management is considered challenging even in the best of conditions andit becomes even harder when performed at geographically distributed development locations.There is no existing model for managing requirements change in globally distributed softwaredevelopment context.</p><p>This study uses qualitative research method to explore requirements change managementprocess and investigates the underlying causes of requirements change in geographicallydistributed software development. The research work proposes a model for requirementschange management for global software development. This model tries to incorporate the roles,activities and artifacts identified in the change management models.</p>

Global software development has been a phenomenon of growing interest for almost past decade or so; and its adoption trend continues to gain momentum. Globally distributed work istaken up as an alternative to single-site mainly because of the economic and strategic benefits itoffers. Software development at geographically distributed environment is not a straightforwardtask and entails numerous challenges which are unique to this form of development. Requirements change management is considered challenging even in the best of conditions andit becomes even harder when performed at geographically distributed development locations.There is no existing model for managing requirements change in globally distributed softwaredevelopment context. This study uses qualitative research method to explore requirements change managementprocess and investigates the underlying causes of requirements change in geographicallydistributed software development. The research work proposes a model for requirementschange management for global software development. This model tries to incorporate the roles,activities and artifacts identified in the change management models.

Outsourcing has been a way for firms to reduce their cost of production and enabling them to focus on their core competencies for decades. As the total costs for manufacturing in China – the most prominent outsourcing location, are increasing due to unfavourable mar-ket changes, which in turn leads to loss of the competitive advantage, European companies are more and more often realizing and pursuing the benefits of ‘near-sourcing’ their manu-facturing operations to Eastern European countries. This paper is a study of outsourcing decisions related to specific products in the Swedish manufacturing industry, how the product characteristics identified through the Portfolio Model of Supplier Relationships, and how the dimensions of the CAGE Dimensions Framework affects such decisions. Primary data was collected through three qualitative, semi-structured interviews with re-spondents from Swedish manufacturers currently outsourcing to China and/or Eastern Europe. The data was analysed through categories obtained from thorough literature re-view, where theoretical models were found as a foundation for the research questions that were established. The research revealed that companies do follow the advised sourcing strategies for specific product characteristics. It serves as a good starting step, but can be developed into different directions. The leverage products were outsourced to China and Eastern Europe, while strategic items were also outsourced to Eastern Europe. However, some leverage items outsourced to both countries had some of the characteristics of a strategic item. The bene-fits from economic distance were the main advantage of production in China, whereas cul-tural and administrative distance had a negative impact. The economic distance for Eastern Europe provided benefits as well, even though these benefits were not as substantial as in China. The political distance served as both a positive and negative factor in Eastern Europe – positive due to its membership in European Union (for some of the countries) and negative due to high levels of corruption.

Den här uppsatsen behandlar ett problem som identifierats bland små till medelstora svenska modeföretag: det stora beroendet av outsourcade produktionsagenter och fullprisproducenter. Syftet med uppsatsen är att identifiera de förutsättningar och hinder dessa modeföretag kan stöta på när de försöker integrera dessa utlagda kompetenser till en intern lösning. Genom detta hoppas författarna kunna tillföra nya perspektiv för befattningshavare som är intresserade av att omstrukturera sin nuvarande inköpsmodell.De metoder som använts för att samla in det teoretiska och empiriska underlaget var skrivbordsstudier, såväl som strukturerade och ostrukturerade djupintervjuer med grundaren av ett svenskt jeansföretag, samt en anställd på en stor svensk modekedjas inköpsavdelning.Resultaten understryker den strategiska betydelsen för växande modeföretag att äga sin inköpsfunktion. Genom att äga kompetenserna för mönsterkonstruktion och inköp kan företag minska sitt beroende av externa organisationer och öka flexibiliteten i sin produktutvecklingsprocess. De hinder som identifierats utgörs bland annat av en ökad affärsrisk under övergången till en intern inköpsavdelning till följd av avsiktliga störningar i värdekedjan av producenterna, samt de extra kostnaderna för det ökade administrativa arbetet.This essay focuses on a problem identified among small to mid sized Swedish fashion companies: the large dependence on out sourced production agencies and full price producers. The purpose of the essay is to identify the prerequisites and obstacles these fashion companies might encounter whilst trying to incorporate the out sourced competencies into an in-house solution. By this, the authors hope to add new perspectives to executives interested in restructuring their current buying function.The methods used to gather theoretical and empirical material were desk studies as well as structured and unstructured in-depth interviews with the founder of a Swedish denim fashion company, and an employee at a large Swedish fashion retailer’s buying department.The findings stress the strategic importance of owning the competence of the buying function for growing fashion companies. By owning the competencies of pattern-making and a formalised buying function the companies can weaken their dependence on external organisations and add to their product development process flexibility. Among the obstacles identified are a increased business risk during the transition to an internal buying function caused by deliberate disruption of the supply chain by the producers and the extra costs of the increased administrative work. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

Orientador: Jose Roberto Montes Heloani / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T16:17:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SaGarcia_Odairde_M.pdf: 17536319 bytes, checksum: 73cf3f6b3e402c43911cc19f2963ed2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Mestrado / Politicas de Educação e Sistemas Educativos / Mestre em Educação