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The adoption of open source software in business models: a Red Hat and IBM case study

Published: 12 October 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Free / Libre open source software (FLOSS/OSS) has gained increasing popularity and utilisation in commercial and governmental organisations. Universities like Harvard and Stanford now offer courses on open source as a business and also on how businesses can compete with open source firms. However, very little research has been published in regards to the influence of OSS on business strategies; the use of OSS as a viable business or its value proposition within a commercial entity. The business model, a powerful tool for extracting economic value from the potential of technological innovation, clearly plays an important role in the success of a business. In this paper we investigate the role of open source in the business models of Red Hat and IBM and describe how OSS has contributed to their success. A framework recently developed by some of the authors is used to evaluate and identify the key factors important to the integration of OSS strategies into traditional business models.

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    SAICSIT '09: Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Research Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists
    October 2009
    225 pages
    ISBN:9781605586434
    DOI:10.1145/1632149
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 12 October 2009

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    1. business models
    2. case study
    3. open source software

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    • (2023)A resilience‐based framework for assessing the evolution of open source software projectsJournal of Software: Evolution and Process10.1002/smr.2597Online publication date: 19-Jul-2023
    • (2022)Canadian professors’ views on establishing open source endowed professorshipsCogent Education10.1080/2331186X.2022.21222559:1Online publication date: 26-Sep-2022
    • (2022)Professors want to share: preliminary survey results on establishing open-source-endowed professorshipsSN Social Sciences10.1007/s43545-022-00524-32:10Online publication date: 21-Sep-2022
    • (2022)Die Rolle von Open Source in der Silicon EconomySilicon Economy10.1007/978-3-662-63956-6_2(19-40)Online publication date: 28-Feb-2022
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