IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v46y2000i4p451-466.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Process Maturity on Quality, Cycle Time, and Effort in Software Product Development

Author

Listed:
  • Donald E. Harter

    (University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234)

  • Mayuram S. Krishnan

    (University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234)

  • Sandra A. Slaughter

    (Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

The information technology (IT) industry is characterized by rapid innovation and intense competition. To survive, IT firms must develop high quality software products on time and at low cost. A key issue is whether high levels of quality can be achieved without adversely impacting cycle time and effort. Conventional beliefs hold that processes to improve software quality can be implemented only at the expense of longer cycle times and greater development effort. However, an alternate view is that quality improvement, faster cycle time, and effort reduction can be simultaneously attained by reducing defects and rework. In this study, we empirically investigate the relationship between process maturity, quality, cycle time, and effort for the development of 30 software products by a major IT firm. We find that higher levels of process maturity as assessed by the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model\trademark are associated with higher product quality, but also with increases in development effort. However, our findings indicate that the reductions in cycle time and effort due to improved quality outweigh the increases from achieving higher levels of process maturity. Thus, the net effect of process maturity is reduced cycle time and development effort.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald E. Harter & Mayuram S. Krishnan & Sandra A. Slaughter, 2000. "Effects of Process Maturity on Quality, Cycle Time, and Effort in Software Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 451-466, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:4:p:451-466
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.4.451.12056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.4.451.12056
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.46.4.451.12056?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George Tagaras & Hau L. Lee, 1996. "Economic Models for Vendor Evaluation with Quality Cost Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(11), pages 1531-1543, November.
    2. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    3. M. S. Krishnan & C. H. Kriebel & Sunder Kekre & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 2000. "An Empirical Analysis of Productivity and Quality in Software Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(6), pages 745-759, June.
    4. P. Nandakumar & S. M. Datar & R. Akella, 1993. "Models for Measuring and Accounting for Cost of Conformance Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Roger E. Bohn, 1995. "Noise and Learning in Semiconductor Manufacturing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 31-42, January.
    6. Rajiv D. Banker & Sandra A. Slaughter, 1997. "A Field Study of Scale Economies in Software Maintenance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(12), pages 1709-1725, December.
    7. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M. S. Krishnan & C. H. Kriebel & Sunder Kekre & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 2000. "An Empirical Analysis of Productivity and Quality in Software Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(6), pages 745-759, June.
    2. Donald E. Harter & Sandra A. Slaughter, 2003. "Quality Improvement and Infrastructure Activity Costs in Software Development: A Longitudinal Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 784-800, June.
    3. Paulson Gjerde, Kathy A. & Slotnick, Susan A., 2004. "Quality and reputation: The effects of external and internal factors over time," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Busse, Matthias & Hefeker, Carsten, 2007. "Political risk, institutions and foreign direct investment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 397-415, June.
    5. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Yannis Psycharis & Vassilis Tselios, 2012. "Public investment and regional growth and convergence: Evidence from Greece," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 543-568, August.
    6. González, Maximiliano & Guzmán, Alexander & Pombo, Carlos & Trujillo, María Andréa, 2012. "Family involvement and dividend policy in listed and non-listed firms," Galeras. Working Papers Series 034, Universidad de Los Andes. Facultad de Administración. School of Management.
    7. Craig Depken, 1999. "Free-Agency and the Competitiveness of Major League Baseball," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 14(3), pages 205-217, May.
    8. DELL'ANNO, Roberto & VILLA, Stefania, 2012. "Growth in Transition Countries: Big Bang versus Gradualism," CELPE Discussion Papers 122, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    9. Oded Palmon & Ben J. Sopranzetti, 2017. "On the relationship between the number of a broker’s real estate listings and transaction outcomes," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 65-89, July.
    10. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1989. "Testing for Consistency using Artificial Regressions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 363-384, December.
    11. Eleftherios Angelopoulos & Antonios Georgopoulos, 2015. "The Determinants of Shareholder Value in Retail Banking During Crisis Years: The Case of Greece," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 19(2), pages 109-147, June.
    12. Ali Uyar & Simone Pizzi & Fabio Caputo & Cemil Kuzey & Abdullah S. Karaman, 2022. "Do shareholders reward or punish risky firms due to CSR reporting and assurance?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1596-1620, July.
    13. Volonté, Christophe, 2015. "Boards: Independent and committed directors?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 25-37.
    14. Busse, Matthias, 2004. "On the determinants of core labour standards: the case of developing countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 211-217, May.
    15. Michael O'Connor Keefe & David Gallagher, 2014. "Does the effect of revealed private information on initial public offering (IPO) first trading day return differ by IPO market heat?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 921-964, September.
    16. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    17. Olivier Damette & Philippe Delacote, 2009. "The environmental resource curse hypothesis : the forest case [L'hypothèse de malédiction environnemental des ressources : le cas des forêts]," Working Papers hal-01189378, HAL.
    18. Krishna Dayal Pandey & Tarak Nath Sahu, 2019. "Debt Financing, Agency Cost and Firm Performance: Evidence from India," Vision, , vol. 23(3), pages 267-274, September.
    19. Robert L. Lippert & William T. Moore, 1994. "Compensation Contracts Of Chief Executive Officers: Determinants Of Pay-Performance Sensitivity," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 17(3), pages 321-332, September.
    20. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:4:p:451-466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.