IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v52y2006i7p1085-1098.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Entry Strategies Under Competing Standards: Hybrid Business Models in the Open Source Software Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Bonaccorsi

    (Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, University of Pisa, Via Diotisalvi 2, 56126 Pisa, Italy)

  • Silvia Giannangeli

    (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Cristina Rossi

    (Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

The paper analyzes the strategies of software firms that have entered the open source (OS) field. The notion of the OS business model is discussed in the light of a substantial body of theoretical literature concerning strategic management and the economics of innovation, as well as specialized literature on OS. Empirical evidence based on a survey of 146 Italian software firms shows that firms have adapted to an environment dominated by incumbent standards by combining the offering of proprietary and OS software under different licensing schemes, thus choosing a hybrid business model. The paper examines the determinants of the degree of openness toward OS and discusses the stability of hybrid models in the evolution of the industry.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:52:y:2006:i:7:p:1085-1098
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1060.0547
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1060.0547
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.1060.0547?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Franke, Nikolaus & Hippel, Eric von, 2003. "Satisfying heterogeneous user needs via innovation toolkits: the case of Apache security software," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1199-1215, July.
    2. Arthur, W Brian, 1989. "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(394), pages 116-131, March.
    3. Neil Gandal, 1994. "Hedonic Price Indexes for Spreadsheets and an Empirical Test for Network Externalities," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(1), pages 160-170, Spring.
    4. Richard Hawkins, 2004. "The economics of open source software for a competitive firm," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 103-117, June.
    5. Eric von Hippel, 1994. ""Sticky Information" and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 429-439, April.
    6. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    7. Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Rossi, Cristina, 2003. "Why Open Source software can succeed," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1243-1258, July.
    8. Dalle, Jean-Michel & Jullien, Nicolas, 2003. "'Libre' software: turning fads into institutions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-11, January.
    9. Shane M. Greenstein, 1993. "Did Installed Base Given an Incumbent Any (Measurable) Advantages in Federal Computer Procurement?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(1), pages 19-39, Spring.
    10. 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.
    11. Church, Jeffrey & Gandal, Neil, 1992. "Network Effects, Software Provision, and Standardization," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 85-103, March.
    12. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    13. Aghion, Philippe & Bolton, Patrick, 1987. "Contracts as a Barrier to Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 388-401, June.
    14. Dahlander, Linus & Magnusson, Mats G., 2005. "Relationships between open source software companies and communities: Observations from Nordic firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 481-493, May.
    15. Paul Klemperer, 1987. "The Competitiveness of Markets with Switching Costs," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(1), pages 138-150, Spring.
    16. Witt, Ulrich, 1997. ""Lock-in" vs. "critical masses" -- Industrial change under network externalities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 753-773, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ewald Scherm & Christian Maaß, 2006. "Zum Stellenwert der Netzwerkökonomik in der Strategie-/Marketingforschung —Eine Analyse empirischer Untersuchungen," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 27-46, March.
    2. Harison, Elad & Koski, Heli, 2006. "Innovative Software Business Strategies: Evidence from Finnish Firms," Discussion Papers 1042, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    3. Netsanet Haile & Jorn Altmann, 2013. "Estimating the Value Obtained from Using a Software Service Platform," TEMEP Discussion Papers 2013105, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Aug 2013.
    4. Karacuka, Mehmet & Çatık, A. Nazif & Haucap, Justus, 2013. "Consumer choice and local network effects in mobile telecommunications in Turkey," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 334-344.
    5. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro & Rysman, Marc, 2021. "Two-sided Markets, Pricing, and Network Effects," TSE Working Papers 21-1238, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    6. Nicolas Jullien & Jean-Benoît Zimmermann, 2011. "Floss firms, users and communities: a viable match?," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 31-53.
    7. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2004:i:1:p:1-9 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Georg von Krogh & Eric von Hippel, 2006. "The Promise of Research on Open Source Software," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(7), pages 975-983, July.
    9. De Noni, Ivan & Ganzaroli, Andrea & Orsi, Luigi, 2013. "The evolution of OSS governance: a dimensional comparative analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 247-263.
    10. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, September.
    11. Sillanpää, Antti & Laamanen, Tomi, 2009. "Positive and negative feedback effects in competition for dominance of network business systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 871-884, June.
    12. Roman Beck & Daniel Beimborn & Tim Weitzel & Wolfgang König, 2008. "Network effects as drivers of individual technology adoption: Analyzing adoption and diffusion of mobile communication services," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 415-429, September.
    13. Harison, Elad & Koski, Heli, 2010. "Applying open innovation in business strategies: Evidence from Finnish software firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 351-359, April.
    14. Nicolas Jullien & Klaas-Jan Stol & James D Herbsleb, 2019. "A Preliminary Theory for Open Source Ecosystem Micro-economics," Post-Print hal-02127185, HAL.
    15. 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.
    16. Nicolas Jullien & Jean-Benoît Zimmermann, 2011. "FLOSS in an industrial economics perspective," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(4), pages 39-64.
    17. Yi-Nung Yang, 1996. "Network Effects, Pricing Strategies, and Optimal Upgrade Time in Software Provision," Industrial Organization 9602001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. den Hartigh, E. & Langerak, F. & Commandeur, H.R., 2002. "The Effects of Self-Reinforcing Mechanisms on Firm Performance," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2002-46-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    19. Luís Cabral, 2011. "Dynamic Price Competition with Network Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(1), pages 83-111.
    20. Gaudeul, Alexia, 2008. "Open Source Licensing in Mixed Markets, or Why Open Source Software Does Not Succeed," MPRA Paper 19596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Tobias Kretschmer, 2005. "Competing technologies in the database management systems market," Working Papers 05-17, NET Institute, revised Oct 2005.

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:52:y:2006:i:7:p:1085-1098. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.