IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijimxx/v09y2005i03ns1363919605001265.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Appropriation And Appropriability In Open Source Software

Author

Listed:
  • LINUS DAHLANDER

    (Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Vera Sandbergs Allé 8, Gothenburg, 41296, Sweden)

Abstract

Firms in open source software (OSS) are active in a field encompassing all the characteristics of a public good, given the non-excludability and non-rivalry nature of OSS. The fact that many important inputs to the innovative process are public should not be taken to mean that innovators are prevented from capturing private returns. The objective of this paper is to explore how firms appropriate returns from innovations that are created outside the boundaries of firms and in the public domain, using the case of OSS. To do so, the paper draws upon an explorative multiple case study of five small firms that attempt to appropriate returns from OSS, with rich empirical evidence from various data sources. The cases illustrate how firms try a variety of approaches to appropriate adequate returns, and suggest that selling services is the dominant trend. Firms also balance the relative inefficiency of traditional means of intellectual property rights such as patents by putting greater emphasis on first-mover advantages and creating network externalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Linus Dahlander, 2005. "Appropriation And Appropriability In Open Source Software," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(03), pages 259-285.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:09:y:2005:i:03:n:s1363919605001265
    DOI: 10.1142/S1363919605001265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919605001265
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S1363919605001265?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Josh Lerner, 2005. "The Scope of Open Source Licensing," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 20-56, April.
    2. Josh Lerner & Jean Triole, 2000. "The Simple Economics of Open Source," NBER Working Papers 7600, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-337, May.
    4. Ove Granstrand, 1999. "The Economics and Management of Intellectual Property," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1651.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. G. Parmentier & Vincent Mangematin, 2014. "Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries," Post-Print halshs-00848861, HAL.
    2. Omar Carrasco-Carvajal & Mauricio Castillo-Vergara & Domingo García-Pérez-de-Lema, 2023. "Measuring open innovation in SMEs: an overview of current research," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 397-442, February.
    3. G. Parmentier & Vincent Mangematin, 2014. "Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) halshs-00848861, HAL.
    4. David M. Waguespack & Lee Fleming, 2009. "Scanning the Commons? Evidence on the Benefits to Startups Participating in Open Standards Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 210-223, February.
    5. Eilhard, Jan, 2008. "Firms on SourceForge," MPRA Paper 7809, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Krishnamurthy, Sandeep & Tripathi, Arvind K., 2009. "Monetary donations to an open source software platform," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 404-414, March.
    7. Balka, Kerstin & Raasch, Christina & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2009. "How open is open source: Software and beyond," Working Papers 58, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.
    8. Nordine Benkeltoum, 2017. "Open source software adoption for safety-critical information systems design: the Thales case study [Adoption de l’open source pour la conception de systèmes d’information critiques : le cas Thales," Post-Print hal-04191308, HAL.
    9. German Lambardi, 2009. "Software Innovation and the Open Source threat," Working Papers 09-15, NET Institute, revised Sep 2009.
    10. Andersen-Gott, Morten & Ghinea, Gheorghita & Bygstad, Bendik, 2012. "Why do commercial companies contribute to open source software?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 106-117.
    11. Parmentier, Guy & Mangematin, Vincent, 2014. "Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 40-53.
    12. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Silvia Giannangeli & Cristina Rossi, 2006. "Entry Strategies Under Competing Standards: Hybrid Business Models in the Open Source Software Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 1085-1098, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson, 2013. "The Evolution of Technologies: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 3-46, June.
    2. Alex Gaudeul, 2004. "The LaTeX project: A case study of open source software," Industrial Organization 0409010, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Apr 2005.
    3. Campbell-Kelly, Martin & Garcia-Swartz, Daniel D., 2009. "Pragmatism, not ideology: Historical perspectives on IBM's adoption of open-source software," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 229-244, August.
    4. Powell, J.P., 2010. "The limits of economic self-interest : The case of open source software," Other publications TiSEM fc6d2aa1-8b29-40be-b888-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Dalle, Jean-Michel & Jullien, Nicolas, 2003. "'Libre' software: turning fads into institutions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-11, January.
    6. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    7. Binenbaum, Eran, 2003. "The Intellectual Property Strategy of International Agricultural Research Centres," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57835, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    8. Cowan, Robin & Harison, Elad, 2001. "Protecting the digital endeavour: prospects for intellectual property rights in the information society," Research Memorandum 027, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Loet Leydesdorff, 2003. "The mutual information of university-industry-government relations: An indicator of the Triple Helix dynamics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 58(2), pages 445-467, October.
    10. von Krogh, Georg & von Hippel, Eric, 2003. "Special issue on open source software development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1149-1157, July.
    11. Granstrand, Ove, 2000. "The shift towards intellectual capitalism -- the role of infocom technologies1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1061-1080, December.
    12. Wiebke Roß & Jens Weghake, 2018. "Wa(h)re Liebe: Was Online-Dating-Plattformen über zweiseitige Märkte lehren," TUC Working Papers in Economics 0017, Abteilung für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Technische Universität Clausthal (Department of Economics, Technical University Clausthal).
    13. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    14. Marta Gancarczyk, 2010. "Model schyłku i odrodzenia klastrów," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 1-21.
    15. Narduzzo, Alessandro & Warglien, Massimo, 1996. "Learning from the Experience of Others: An Experiment on Information Contagion," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 5(1), pages 113-126.
    16. John S. Earle & Klara Z. Sabirianova, 2002. "How Late to Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears in Russia," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 661-707, July.
    17. Rehák Štefan & Buček Milan & Hudec Oto, 2013. "Path dependency and path plasticity in emerging industries," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 57(1-2), pages 52-66, October.
    18. Josh Lerner & Parag A. Pathak & Jean Tirole, 2006. "The Dynamics of Open-Source Contributors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 114-118, May.
    19. Beomjin Choi & T. S. Raghu & Ajay Vinzé & Kevin J. Dooley, 2019. "Effectiveness of standards consortia: Social network perspectives," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 405-416, April.
    20. Mahzouni, Arian, 2019. "The role of institutional entrepreneurship in emerging energy communities: The town of St. Peter in Germany," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 297-308.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:09:y:2005:i:03:n:s1363919605001265. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijim/ijim.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.