Business models active service companies in the Open Source sector

Abstract

The Open Source Software industry has been submitted to important changes during the last decade, moving from the initial “libertarian ideology” to a “market economy” in which companies develop a genuine commercial orientation. Based on case studies – six OSS companies –, our exploratory research emphasizes three main business models those enterprises can bring out to provide their products and services and to generate profit from their activities: complexity, closed system, intermediation. Such business models express different positions in relation to the OSS philosophy and highlight the main distinctive resources (Barney, 1991) the companies may mobilise in order to make their clients dependent and to consolidate their competitive advantage.