The Emergence of On-Demand Software Aggregators: Implications for Developers, Customers, and Software Companies

摘要

A growing segment of the software market is On-Demand Software Aggregators (ODSAs): firms that provide a platform for many developers to provide preconfigured, pre-integrated functionality over the internet. These aggregators act as electronic marketplaces for software, intermediating between developers and customers, and they supplement their own development efforts with those of other Independent Software Vendors. This paper applies Transaction Cost Economics to the ODSA phenomena, identifies the risks and costs associated with this model, and makes recommendations to customers, developers and ODSA providers to help manage the relationships.