 Section "Data sources used". The method for analysing a vertical software industry which has been elaborated and used in this book is described shortly below; this method can be applied for the analysis of other vertical software markets as well as for the creation and expansion of manager's toolboxes similar to the one in Chapter 15. The vertical software industry analysis method used has the following main phases: Baseline creation Indicator calculation Analysis Scenario creation Scenario evaluation Figure 1 visualizes the first three phases related to data collection and analysis while the two latter phases are related to formalizing the results as scenarios. The five main phases are described next. 1 Baseline Creation This phase includes identifying data sources available. Typically any vertical market is analyzed by some commercial market analysis companies, which collect quantitative market and purchase data, as well as qualitative data describing P. Tyrväinen Department of Computer Science & IS, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Finland e-mail: Pasi.Tyrvainen@jyu.fr P. Tyrväinen and O. Mazhelis (eds.), Vertical Software Industry Evolution, Contributions to Management Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-7908-2352-3_16 C Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 P. Tyrväinen BASELINE Information collected from Literature, Industry Bodies, Databases, Interviews Processes, Market Data Segments Technologies Process maps % -of internal -Segmentsize € Process indicators, -Technologies used Software -# of companies -Interfaces Time, Result, Quality development -C4, HHI, SSI Cost, Innovation -Complexity -% of products vs -% of services Furtheriterviews Analysis of the of verticalindustry processes/ enterprises Indicators the market segmentation Process Techn. areas areas Indicatorvaluesvs. Industry thresholds Interconnectivity and analysis: synchronization => implications, interface complezity lifecycle and and scaling analysis market critical indicators concentration Fig. 1 Identifying available data sources and i