Investigating and Evaluating Software Ecosystem Modelling in Practice in a Tier-2 Vehicle Telematics Company

Abstract

Although different ecosystem modelling techniques exist, it is difficult to assess how used these are in practice among software companies. In this design science study, software ecosystem practices of a software company in the automotive domain were analysed; according to the findings, there are different perceptions of an ecosystem among management and developers, and there are no formalised modelling techniques being used in the company. The study was conducted in three iterations; in the following two iterations, two modelling techniques were analysed, identifying three different points of improvement for one of them. The technique for which the changes were proposed was the technique favoured by the participants of the study. The findings indicated that, while participants did not have a consistent view of which changes would provide more benefit to the modelling technique, many of them saw possible use cases for ecosystem modelling using the presented modelling technique. These use cases were consistent with the perceptions that the individuals had about software ecosystems and showed that they believed modelling techniques to be potentially useful for the company, even if they were not currently using them.