This thesis describes the development of a body of theory explaining why the principals of Australian software firms have difficulty in changing the organizational structures of their businesses. The need for change is predicated on the view that availability of capital is an essential prerequisite for sustainable growth in Australian software firms and that firm principals, in the main, have not implemented organizational structures preferred by Australian investors. A grounded theory approach is used, drawing upon personal knowledge of the software industry using sense making and self ethnography research methods. Personal knowledge is complemented with data from semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. Concepts developed from the data are related to theoretical and empirical work under the rubric of organization studies. What emerges from the data and the literature is: firstly, the Australian software industry is likely to consist of multiple organizational fields each one of which encompasses a small number of software firms servicing customers in specific vertical markets; secondly, to attract capital the principals of Australian software firms will need to change the structure of their organizations and thirdly, change will be radical and revolutionary in nature and may be difficult to achieve. This thesis contributes to the organizational studies literature by extending existing work to include an analysis of issues use of institutional theory addresses a gap in the present understanding of the manner in which the principals of Australian software firms approach the establishment of structures required of sustainable growing businesses. A future research agenda is presented building upon the findings of this study. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/230022 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Rankine, Tim, University of Western Sydney, College of Business, School of Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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