Innovating with open-sourcing: governance concerns for managers

Abstract

Among various forms of innovation in industry structures and business models an increasing number of companies have shown interest in aligning themselves to an open source software model as a means to capture intellectual energy, productive software processes and relevant technical skills. This is evident both within small and niche businesses, but also within the largest companies – a phenomenon known as open-sourcing. This paper presents findings from a field study of open-sourcing of software development within two large, global technology companies. It reports on the ways in which open-sourcing is accommodated within the corporate context, and assesses the innovative strategies managers use as they engage with this phenomenon and seek to work co-operatively with open source communities. The analysis focuses on three primary areas that emerge from the data and which are seen to require particular attention in such organizations; license and IPR regime; community approach; and a modified development process.