Faculty Publications Copyright (c) 2013 San Jose State University All rights reserved. http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub Recent documents in Faculty Publications en-us Tue, 14 May 2013 16:05:26 PDT 3600 How open is open enough?: Melding proprietary and open source platform strategies http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/4 http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/4 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:16:13 PST Computer platforms provide an integrated architecture of hardware and software standards as a basis for developing complementary assets. The most successful platforms were owned by proprietary sponsors that controlled platform evolution and appropriated associated rewards.

Responding to the Internet and open source systems, three traditional vendors of proprietary platforms experimented with hybrid strategies which attempted to combine the advantages of open source software while retaining control and differentiation. Such hybrid standards strategies reflect the competing imperatives for adoption and appropriability, and suggest the conditions under which such strategies may be preferable to either the purely open or purely proprietary alternatives.

]]> Joel West Challenges of open innovation: the paradox of firm investment in open-source software http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/3 http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/3 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:41:33 PST Open innovation is a powerful framework encompassing the generation, capture, and employment of intellectual property at the firm level. We identify three fundamental challenges for firms in applying the concept of open innovation: finding creative ways to exploit internal innovation, incorporating external innovation into internal development, and motivating outsiders to supply an ongoing stream of external innovations. This latter challenge involves a paradox, why would firms spend money on R&D efforts if the results of these efforts are available to rival firms? To explore these challenges, we examine the activity of firms in opensource software to support their innovation strategies. Firms involved in open-source software often make investments that will be shared with real and potential rivals. We identify four strategies firms employ – pooled R&D/product development, spinouts, selling complements and attracting donated complements – and discuss how they address the three key challenges of open innovation. We conclude with suggestions for how similar strategies may apply in other industries and offer some possible avenues for future research on open innovation.

]]> Joel West et al. Contrasting Community Building in Sponsored and Community Founded Open Source Projects http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/2 http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/2 Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:20:01 PST Prior characterizations of open source projects have been based on the model of a community-founded project. More recently, a second model has emerged, where organizations spinout internally developed code to a public forum. Based on field work on open source projects, we compare the lifecycle differences between these two models. We identify problems unique to spinout projects, particularly in attracting and building an external community. We illustrate these issues with a feasibility analysis of a proposed open source project based on VistA, the primary healthcare information system of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This example illuminates the complexities of building a community after a code base has been developed and suggests that open source software can be used to transfer technology to the private sector.

]]> Joel West et al. An Exploratory Study into Open Source Platform Adoption http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/1 http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/org_mgmt_pub/1 Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:55:34 PST Research on open source software has focused mainly on the motivations of open source programmers and the organization of open source projects [17] [19]. Some researchers portray open source as an extension of the earlier open systems movement [36]. While there has been some research on open-systems software adoption by corporate MIS organizations [4] the issue of open source adoption has received little attention.

We use a series of interviews with MIS managers to develop a grounded theory of open source platform adoption. We contrast this to prior academic and popular reports about the adoption of open source.

]]> Jason Dedrick et al.