(Photo: Colorful Carousel Ponies by C. P. Ewing)
Many firms today actively collaborate with online communities, specifically for producing complex goods and services such as software. Such a collaboration is different from alliances because members of online communities can stop collaborating at any time, often no contracts regulate the interaction and volunteers play a key role. We look at the topic of motivation in the example of Open Source software developers and the logic by which communities sustain in order to understand how this can, if it does, fit into a business model. For the business model, I build on the businessmodelzoo.com
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Stefan Haefliger is Professor in Strategic Management and Innovation at Cass Business School, City University London. In his research and teaching Stefan focuses on co-creation strategies as well as knowledge reuse, creation, and design in innovation processes. Most recent projects include studies in new product development in pharma, exploring categories of business models in technology firms, and the creation of compliance in large banks. His research has appeared in journals such as Management Science, Research Policy, and MIS Quarterly. The current research agenda focuses on collaborative innovation as a strategy and a social practice centered around technology as material and immaterial artifacts that determine how members in organizations seek and share information, follow or break rules, communicate and build on each others’ work, and cultivate motivation to strive for excellence in their work.
