Deriving Financial Gains Through Open Source Engagement
Advisor Information
Matt Germonprez
Location
MBSC 224
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
6-3-2020 9:00 AM
End Date
6-3-2020 10:15 AM
Abstract
In open source software development, individuals voluntarily contribute to the development of software. Recently, corporations like Microsoft, IBM, and others invest in open source by making their proprietary software freely available, by providing funding, and by dedicating their full-time employees to work in open source projects. This raises questions such as: Why do corporations dedicate money and resources to open source? What do they gain from it? How does this add value for their business? In sum, how do they make money engaging in open source? Literature provides various strategies that companies adopted for their engagement in open source, for example, by focusing on one either hardware or software and let the complement be developed by open source projects, or by selling value-added services for open source software. All of these suggest a hybrid business model with a mix of proprietary and open source software. While insightful, these various ways of engagement with open source do not provide a complete picture of all business models adopted by companies engaged in open source. A business model explains the three aspects of business i.e. how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. To understand the financial incentive of corporate engagement with open source in each area of the business model, this study survey firms already engaged in open source to get insights into how their engagement creates, delivers, and captures value for their business. This understanding will help companies to devise their business strategies to leverage value from open source engagement.
Creative Commons License
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Deriving Financial Gains Through Open Source Engagement
MBSC 224
In open source software development, individuals voluntarily contribute to the development of software. Recently, corporations like Microsoft, IBM, and others invest in open source by making their proprietary software freely available, by providing funding, and by dedicating their full-time employees to work in open source projects. This raises questions such as: Why do corporations dedicate money and resources to open source? What do they gain from it? How does this add value for their business? In sum, how do they make money engaging in open source? Literature provides various strategies that companies adopted for their engagement in open source, for example, by focusing on one either hardware or software and let the complement be developed by open source projects, or by selling value-added services for open source software. All of these suggest a hybrid business model with a mix of proprietary and open source software. While insightful, these various ways of engagement with open source do not provide a complete picture of all business models adopted by companies engaged in open source. A business model explains the three aspects of business i.e. how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. To understand the financial incentive of corporate engagement with open source in each area of the business model, this study survey firms already engaged in open source to get insights into how their engagement creates, delivers, and captures value for their business. This understanding will help companies to devise their business strategies to leverage value from open source engagement.