THE U.S. COMPUTER PROGRAMMING SERVICES AND COMPUTER INTEGRATED SYSTEMS DESIGN INDUSTRIES: NATIONAL TRENDS AND CHARACTERISTICS An Initial Report of the Center for Competitive Analysis

This report, prepared by the Center for Competitive Analysis (CCA) of the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension (UO/E), provides an overview of important aspects of the U.S. Computer Programming Services and Computer Integrated Systems Design industries. These two industries are assigned Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 7371 and 7373, respectively. The primary intended audiences for this report are trade organizations and individual firms in the industry, who will find the information useful in day-to-day as well as strategic planning activities; UO/E, which may consider educational programming designed to assist business owners and workers in the industry; and economic development policy makers, who can use the information contained herein to learn more about the industry and develop programs designed to attract or retain businesses in this industry. It is not an exhaustive survey of all aspects of the industry. The final section of the report identifies issues that will have to be studied in greater depth before educational or developmental programming can be designed. Information sources for this report include government publications and various trade journal articles. Although each past CCA industry report has covered only a single SIC 4-digit industry, the two industries that are the topic of this report have sufficient complementarities and similarities to warrant discussing them jointly. Indeed, some publications discuss the “Computer Software and Networking” industry which includes SIC 7372 (prepackaged software) and SIC 3577 (computer peripheral equipment) in addition to the two industries considered in this report. When information is reported here for either of the two industries individually, they will be referred to by their SIC names or code numbers as given above, and they will be called the “computer services industry” (or “CS industry”) when treated jointly.