Experiences and expectations regarding the introduction of systematic reuse in small-and medium-sized companies

Though systematic reuse promises several large business benefits, it is not optimally leveraged in the industry. Small-and medium-sized organizations especially often face big hurdles in adopting systematic reuse practices. The literature on systematic reuse tends to focus on large sized organizations and lacks case studies dealing with small-and medium-sized organizations. It does not help these companies decide whether systematic reuse would be an adequate approach for them. In order to ease the decision making for adopting systematic reuse by small-and medium-sized companies, the European Software Institute (ESI) performed a study of the risks and opportunities of reuse within a group of software development organizations in the Basque Country. This chapter provides an overview of the most relevant findings in the study, which will enable small-and medium-sized organizations foresee issues that have to be adequately addressed when adopting systematic reuse.