Three case-studies on common software process problems in software company acquisitions

  • Authors:

  • Jarmo J. Ahonen;Anne-Maria Aho;Hanna-Miina Sihvonen

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland;School of Information and Communication Technology, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Seinäjoki, Finland;Department of Computer Science, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland

  • Venue:
  • EuroSPI'06 Proceedings of the 13th European conference on Software Process Improvement
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

In this article three cases of small or medium sized software companies acquiring companies of the same or smaller size are analyzed from the software process point of view. The analysis shows that the problems in those acquisitions are fairly common and the types of those problems are fairly similar in different cases. Although those acquisitions have the potential to satisfy their goals of complementing or improving the product portfolio or the customer base of the companies, the actual success of the acquisitions may not be as good as expected. The main reasons for the relative unsuccessfulness of the analyzed cases seem to be the lack of proper planning for the merger and communication problems which hinder effective and high-quality work in the new post-acquisition organization.