A supply chain model for software components management

This paper investigates reuse-based software development with the assistance of a generic industrial process model, the supply chain, to demonstrate how software components may be systematically manufactured and consumed. The main role of software component manufacturer is to deliver application-specific products in a cost-effective and quality assured way to the consumers. One of the key factors for the success of software reuse depends on the effective management of software components along the supply chain. This leads to the several technical issues in relation to software engineering, knowledge management, and data mining of how the reusable software assets should be accumulated and used.