Resumen de Software Process Improvement Adoption and Benefits in Canadian and English-Speaking Caribbean Software Development Firms
The free-trade agreements between developed and developing countries have created more opportunities for firms to sell high quality software products in the global market. Unfortunately, for decades the information systems (IS) community has been plagued with the delivery of low quality software products. It is widely accepted that software development firms need to adopt software process improvement (SPI) initiatives in an effort to produce these high quality software products. This outcome can increase the competiveness of such firms, which by extension can increase the likelihood of winning global contracts. However, the uptake of these SPI initiatives in developing countries is low vis-à-vis developed countries. In addition, most studies on SPI are conducted in developed countries, with many being case studies, and a few exploring its application in a developed versus developing environment. This study seeks to compare the awareness, adoption and benefits of SPI programs in Canadian and English-speaking Caribbean (ESC) software development firms. It was found that the awareness and adoption of SPI are higher in Canadian firms in comparison to the ESC, while the main benefit of SPI adoption in both environments was improved software product quality.
