Abstract: Significant usage costs may be incurred when customers adopt software. Customers pay full rates under perpetual licensing mode while part of the usage cost can be shared by the software vendor under Software-as-a-Service mode. Due to her expertise, the vendor is usually able to further reduce the usage cost she pays. This paper investigates the effect of the usage cost, cost sharing and cost reduction on software licensing mode choice by examining consumers’ choice and the vendor’s pricing strategy through two-stage models under each licensing mode. The results indicate that Software-as-a-Service mode is usually superior to perpetual licensing mode with higher usage costs, larger proportion of the usage cost shared by the vendor, and greater cost reduction achieved by the vendor, and vice versa.

Key words: software usage cost, cost sharing, cost reduction, perpetual licensing, Software-as-a-Service

摘要： 用户使用软件过程中往往需要支付数额不菲的各种成本。永久授权交易方式下,软件使用成本完全由用户负担;软件即服务交易方式下,部分使用成本(如软硬件维护成本)转由软件供应商负担,且供应商借助专业优势通常能压缩其分担的使用成本。对于永久授权和软件即服务两种交易方式,本文分别建立垄断软件供应商的两阶段定价模型,分析用户选择和供应商定价策略,考察软件使用成本、供应商分担部分使用成本及供应商成本压缩在软件交易方式选择中的作用。研究发现,当软件使用成本较高、供应商分担使用成本的比例较大、供应商压缩成本幅度较大时,软件即服务交易方式通常占优;否则,永久授权交易方式通常占优。

关键词: 软件使用成本, 成本分担, 成本压缩, 永久授权, 软件即服务