• Selected
• Entire List

Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to focus on the emerging situation in which open source software is nowadays produced not only by individual developers but in a growing proportion by firms that hire programmers for their own objectives of development in open source or for contributing to open source projects in the context of dedicated communities. As commercial firms it is important to analyze how and why they are capable of drawing benefits from such involvement and their connected activities. Moreover, we want to stress the different types of business model these firms rely on and the possible evolution they are likely to follow in the near future. We shown how Open Source principles provide an alternative way of thinking and managing intellectual property that do not come up against the same problems but needs a radical change in the way of drawing commercial benefits from knowledge development tasks. Then we analyze the growing involvement of commercial actors by setting up a typology of the different business models that can be observed in the OS landscape, how they correspond to the different strategies of industrial firms according to the main characteristics of their technical skills and market position. Finally, in a conclusive section we will draw the main lessons of the FLOSS experience for a possible enlargement of those principles of IPR management and business to other knowledge based commercial activities.

Open Source Software , intellectual property rights , GPL , knowledge sharing , entreprise strategy, business model, users, competition

Abstract:
Over the last few years, FLOSS ("Free Libre Open Source Software") has become a commercially viable reality of the first order. It is viewed as an extreme case of open innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), and thus of a laboratory for analysing innovation production in Internet based/knowledge based industries.

It the FLOSS field an increasing number of companies are getting involved in the communities of development (Lakhani & Wolf 2005). Scholars (see, for instance Dahlander & Wallin 2006) have analysed this as a way to control a complementary asset, without owning it (as defined by Teece 1986, Teece & al. 1997). In this article, we defend the idea that involvement can be of different intensity, from complementary to specific asset, and that this intensity depends of the market of the firm.

To do so, we surveyed francophone companies (France, Belgium, Switzerland) affirming an utilization of FLOSS in their commercial activity. Based on roughly 500 companies concerned, we obtained 141 usable responses and, via an ascendant hierarchical clustering (AHC) we statistically verified a link between FLOSS commercial strategies and degree of involvement into communities. We propose a typology of commercial strategies explaining this differences in involvement.

IT industry, FLOSS, Market strategy, core competencies, Survey, Ascendant Hierarchical Clustering

Abstract:
Free, libre or open source software (FLOSS) is nowadays produced not only by individual benevolent developers but, in a growing proportion, by firms that hire programmers for their own objectives of development in open source or for contributing to open source projects in the context of dedicated communities. A recent literature has focused on the question of the business models explaining how and why firms may draw benefits from such involvement and their connected activities. They can be considered as the building blocks of a new modus operandi of an industry, built on an alternative approach to intellectual property management. Its prospects will depend on both the firms' willingness to rally and its ability to compete with the traditional 'proprietary' approach. As a matter of fact firms' involvement in FLOSS, while growing, remains very contrasted, depending on the nature of the products and the characteristics of the markets. The paper asks why do for-profit firms contribute to FLOSS development and why some firms contribute more than the others. The common explanation is that FLOSS is often a complement to proprietary software (or hardware or services) that the for-profit firm sells at a positive price. We present an alternative explanation based the users' skill level. When users are skilled, opening the software is likely to result in a better product because the user base will contribute improvements (find bugs, write fixes and produce new features). We introduce the concept of the dominant user's skill and we set up a theoretical model to better understand how it may condition the nature and outcome of the competition between a FLOSS firm and a proprietary firm. We discuss these results in the light of empirical stylized facts drawn from the recent trends in the software industry.

'Free'/'libre' or 'open source' software, Industrial economics, dominant user's skill

Abstract:
We analyze the question of the incitations for a developer to participate to FLOSS (Free-Libre-Open Source Software) development. We have interviewed some French developers and personalities advocating this form of development (FLOSS "figures"). Our goal was to determine their motivations, the relative importance of these motivation, and the characteristics of people involved in such projects.

FLOSS, incentives, developers, production organization.

Abstract:
This paper presents the results of a survey addressed to Breton craft firms about their equipment and their use of ICT, in May and June 2006 (phone calls, 2500 answers). In it, we study the factors explaining the fact that these very small firms are (or not) equipped. First we propose a typological presentation of these firms, typology based on the characteristics of their ICT equipment and uses. Then, via a logit model, we show that individual factors (skills of the craftsman...) determine more the equipment that economics factors (like the industry).

Information and Communication Technologies, Very Small Firms (handcraft), industry, statistical analysis.

Abstract:
Over the last few years, FLOSS (“Free Libre Open Source Software”) has become a commercially viable reality of the first order. It is viewed as an extreme case of open innovation, and thus of a laboratory for analysing innovation production in Internet based/knowledge based industries. A increasing number of companies are getting involved in the communities of development and scholars have analysed FLOSS communities and product as a complementary asset for firms. The question is thus to understand how firms right tune their level of investment in FLOSS production and communities to support their business, but without over give back its intellectual production to potential competitors. In this article, we debate this question, defending the idea that this involvement can be of different intensity, from complementary to specific asset, and that this intensity depends of the market of the firm. To do so, we surveyed francophone companies (France, Belgium, Switzerland) affirming a utilization of FLOSS in their commercial activity. Based on roughly 500 companies concerned, we obtained 141 usable responses and, via a cluster analysis (hierarchical ascendant classification, HAC) we statistically verified a link between FLOSS commercial strategies and degree of involvement into communities. This AHC produces a typology of commercial strategies, with differences in involvement, we explain.

IT industry, FLOSS, Market strategy, Survey, Ascendant Hierarchical Classification

Abstract:
The participation of firms in Free/Libre/Open Source (FLOSS) communities is growing and is increasingly debated amongst scholars. As Ousterhout (1999) explained, FLOSS needs profit and we do not know successfull floss products without firms in their ecosystem, either being via the financial support of foundations (Eclipse, Linux) or the commercial offering of products or services based on specific FLOSS products (SQL, RedHat). Various points of view have been proposed, but most of the time, scholars studied either the implication of firms within a community or the integration of floss into their market strategy, but not both. In this article, we plead for a more structured and global analysis, based on industrial economics tools, and thus starting from the basic conditions of the computer market and of the buyers' competence in software development (the dominant user's skill). This conceptual framework helps to distinguish the different roles (understood as 'social roles') firms may play in the FLOSS ecosystem and, specifically the variation in their involvement. The article is organized as follow: in section 2 we discuss the literature regarding relationships between firms and Floss. In section 3 we present the industrial economics framework and how it is pertinent to segment company strategies. In section 4, we show how FLOSS is a tools used by firms to improve their performance on their market, but also a fondamental trend which reshape the structure of the industry. In section 5, with reference to these FLOSS industrial models, we discuss the different 'social roles' firms may play in the floss ecosystem, and in a conclusive section 6, the management issues these roles may present for the stability of the communities.

’Free’/’libre’ or ’open source’ software, Industrial economics, dominant user’s skill, firms’ roles

Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to focus on the emerging situation in which open source software is nowadays produced not only by individual developers, but in a growing proportion by firms that hire programmers for their own objectives of development in open source, or for contributing to open source projects in the context of dedicated communities. It is important for commercial firms to analyze how and why they are capable of drawing benefits from such involvement and their connected activities. Moreover, the paper stresses the different types of business models these firms rely on and the possible evolution they are likely to follow in the near future. The paper shows how Open Source principles provide an alternative way of thinking and managing intellectual property that do not come up against the same problems but need a radical change in drawing commercial benefits from knowledge-development tasks. The paper then analyzes the growing involvement of commercial actors by setting up a typology of the different business models that can be observed in the OS landscape; how they correspond to the different strategies of industrial firms according to the main characteristics of their technical skills and market position. The paper concludes by drawing the main lessons of the FLOSS experience for a possible enlargement of those principles of IPR management and business to other knowledge-based commercial activities.