Requirement for Engineers in Embedded Software Development Outsourcing

Abstract

1. IntroductionThis study identifies the impact of hardware product characteristics on the embedded software development outsourcing.Software development separates modules and processes to a great degree, and codification is considered a simple matter. Therefore, software development outsourcing is a general phenomenon (Bruce, Leverick, Littler, & Wilson, 1995; Eppinger & Chitkara, 2006). Outsourced projects often end in failure due to delayed deliveries and budget overruns. It has been noted that the company that undertakes outsourced work must acquire knowledge of a customer's business processes and project management (Bruce et al., 1995). However, existing research implicitly assumes application software development, thereby overlooking the impact of hardware product characteristics on embedded software development (Rottman, 2006).Rottman (2006) highlighted that in the case of embedded software development, software development depends on hardware characteristics, and requires time to train engineers because they must acquire complex knowledge of business processes and products. He offered some suggestions for skillfully managing overseas outsourcing projects for embedded software, stating that the outsourcer should 1) utilize multiple companies and create a competitive environment that maintains low cost and high quality; 2) maintain a stable pool of personnel for knowledge retention and transfer; 3) increase opportunities for face-to-face communication; 4) internally communicate the purpose for the outsourcing strategy in a clear fashion; and 5) invite engineers of the company to which the work is outsourced and let them observe the development team as part of their training. While very few studies focus on embedded software development outsourcing, they suggest that for this type of software development, the type of knowledge required for engineers will vary according to the hardware characteristics.According to Umezawa (2007), Japanese companies have been slow to adopt software development outsourcing compared with their U.S. counterparts, with international outsourcing intensely beginning around 2001, primarily with China. There has thus been a gradual increase in literature depicting the development of regional software firms in China that focus on work with Japan and descriptions of development projects with Japanese companies (Kobayashi, 2014a, 2014b; Tanzawa, 2014; Umezawa, 2007). While some studies deal with embedded software development outsourcing among Japanese companies (Kobayashi, 2013), most of these focus on the impact of differences in local characteristics, and very few systematically examine hardware characteristics.1The product characteristics that are outsourced influence the selection of locations and partners (Graf & Mudambi, 2005; Hatonen, 2009). Traditional research has applied the characteristics of embedded software and explained that the creation of embedded software varies depending on the hardware, rather than the application software. However, it goes no further than to suggest that the time it requires to train engineers is longer due to the acquisition of knowledge regarding hardware (Rottman, 2006). In other words, the most critical point-the impact of hardware characteristics in embedded software development on companies to which the work is outsourced-remains unclear.This study is organized as follows: Section 2 explains the research design; Section 3 employs the data from an interview-based survey to primarily explain the theme of the study; Section 4 presents the conclusion.2. Research DesignThis study is based on interviews conducted in July and August 2013 among three Japanese companies in Dalian and Fuzhou, China, and two Chinese companies in Dalian (Table 1).The Japanese companies specialize in information systems (J1), automobile components (J2), and office automation equipment (J3) industries, whereas the local companies (C2 and C3)2 specialize in software development. …