Resource dependence of strategies of firms in software have mostly been studied from an internal perspective. However, because large manpower turnover takes place across most firms and because quality of resources is uncertain, firms value the functioning of the market of software personnel. Signals based on which transactions in such a market take place appear through advertisements for jobs. This paper has studied 1,615 advertisements for software jobs in India and abroad. It is observed that signals that appear in advertisements are vague. It appears that firms benefit by concealing from competitors information about its resources, although vagueness of information raises fixed cost.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Akerlof, G.A.1984. An Economic Theorist's Book of Tales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
Arora, A., V.S. Arunanchalam, J. Asundi and R. Fernandes.1999. The Indian Software Services Industry: Structure and Prospects. http://www.heinz.cmu. edu/wpapers/active/wp00205.html.
3.
Arrow, K.J.1996. 'Technical Information and Industrial Structure' , Industrial and Corporate Change, 5(2): 645-52.
4.
Benerjee, P.2001. Resource Dependence and Core Competence: Insights from Indian Software Firms (mimeo), forthcoming in Technovation.
5.
Banerjee, P. and F.J. Richter (eds). 2001. Intangibles in Competition and Cooperation: Euro-Asian Perspectives. London: Palgrave.
6.
Baron, J.N., M.D. Burton and M.T. Hannan.1996. 'The Road Taken: Origins and Evolution of Employment Systems in Emerging Companies', Industrial and Corporate Change, 5(2): 239-75.
7.
Barr, A. and S. Tessler.1997. Notes on Human Resource Issues in the Software Industry and Their Implications for Business and Government, SCIP Paper, Stanford University. http://www.scip.stanford.edu/scip/.
8.
Brown, C. and B. Campbell.Undated. Technological change, training, and job-tasks in a high-tech industry. Berkeley: University of California. http://istsocrates.berkeley.edu/∼iir/worktech/.
9.
Cohen, S. and G. Fields.1998. Social Capital and Capital Gains, or Virtual Bowling in Silicon Valley. http:// brie.berkeley.edu/∼briewww/pubs/wp/ wp132.htm.
10.
Cohen, Y. and J. Pfeffer.1986. 'Organizational Hiring Standards', Administrative Science Quarterly, 31:1-24.
11.
Foss, N.1997. Resources and Strategy: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12.
Hannan, M.T., M.D. Burton and J.N. Baron.1996. 'Inertia and Change in Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms', Industrial and Corporate Change, 5(2): 503-36.
13.
Kinder, T.2000. 'The Use of the Internet in Recruitment—Case Studies from West Lothian, Scotland', Technovation, 20(9): 461-75.
14.
Kirzner, I.1997. 'Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach', Journal of Economic Literature , 35: 60-85.
15.
Krafft, J. and J.L. Ravix.2000. 'Competition and Industrial Coordination ', in J. Krafft (ed.), The Process of Competition. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
16.
Kreps, D.M.1996. 'Markets and Hierarchies and (mathematical) Economic Theory' , Industrial and Corporate Change, 5(2): 561-95.
17.
Lateef, A.1997. Linking up with the Global Economy: A Case. Geneva: International Institute for Labour Studies, New Industrial Organization Programme, DP/96/1997 .
18.
Mitchell, G.R., K.H. Carnes and C. Mendonsa.1997. America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers. Washington: OTP, US Department of Commerce.
19.
Pfeffer, J.1994. Competitive Advantage Through People: Problems and Prospects for Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
20.
Richardson, G.B.1960. Information and Investment. London : Oxford University Press.
21.
—. 1997. 'Economic analysis, public policy and the software industry ', DRUID, Working Paper No. 97-4.
22.
Rumelt, R., D. Schendel andD. Teece (eds). 1994 . Fundamental Issues in Strategy: A Research Agenda. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
23.
Simon, H.A.1983. Models of Bounded Rationality, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
24.
Sengupta, J.2001. Facing Hypercompetition in World Software Markets: Global Strategies for India (mimeo)Santa Barbara: University of California.
25.
Tessler, S. and A. Barr.1996. A Pilot Survey of Software Product Management. SCIP Software Industry Study Paper. Stanford : Stanford University. http://www. scip.stanford.edu/scip/.
26.
Venkata Ratnam, C.S.2001. Globalization and Labour-Management Relations. New Delhi: Response Books, Sage Publications .
27.
Vickers, J.1995. 'Concepts of Competition', Oxford Economic Papers, 47(1): 1-23.
28.
Walwei, U.1996. 'Improving Job-matching through Placement Services ', in G. Schimd, J. O'Reilly and K. Schomann (eds), International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation . Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
29.
Wernerfelt, B.1984. 'A resource-based view of the firm', Strategic Management Journal, 5: 171-80.
30.
Williamson, O.1975. Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications . New York: Free Press .
