商业公司为何投身开源软件：驱动因素解析
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商业公司为何积极参与开源软件项目是一个引人关注的研究课题，尤其是在经济学理论难以充分解释这一现象的背景下。本文《为什么商业公司贡献开源软件？》由Morten Andersen-Gott、Gheorghita Ghinea和Bendik Bygstad合作撰写，发表于2011年的《国际信息管理》期刊，DOI:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2011.10.003。文章探讨了这一现象背后的原因，并试图打破传统经济模型的局限。
首先，研究者指出，开源软件运动不仅是一个创新的源泉，更是商业模式的转变。商业公司参与其中，不仅仅是因为技术层面的需求，而是看到了其在以下几个方面的潜在价值：
1. **成本节约**：开源软件通常提供免费的基础代码，企业可以通过利用这些代码节省开发成本，尤其是对于重复或基础功能的需求，如数据库管理系统或操作系统。
2. **社区支持**：开源社区的强大是吸引商业公司的重要因素。参与开源项目可以让企业获得广泛的技术支持，解决问题的速度更快，同时也能增强产品的市场接受度。
3. **创新驱动**：通过与众多开发者协作，企业可以从开源项目中汲取创新思维，推动产品和服务的持续改进。这种众包式的创新有助于企业在竞争激烈的市场环境中保持领先。
4. **品牌建设**：支持开源项目可以提升企业的社会责任形象，表明其致力于技术进步和社会共享，有助于塑造良好的企业形象和口碑。
5. **生态系统构建**：商业公司通过贡献开源项目，可以构建和维护一个健康的软件生态系统，这有助于确保自家产品的兼容性和未来的发展空间。
6. **法律风险降低**：由于源代码公开，企业可以更好地审查潜在的安全漏洞，减少法律纠纷，提高产品质量的可控性。
7. **锁定客户**：对于依赖特定技术栈的客户，采用开源软件的公司可以建立一种忠诚度，因为客户知道供应商将长期支持和维护该技术。
商业公司参与开源软件不仅是出于降低成本和增加效率的考虑，更是战略性的决策，旨在通过开放合作的方式推动自身业务发展和行业的创新生态。尽管传统的经济模型可能无法完全解释这一行为，但实践中，开源精神与商业利益之间的融合正在日益显现。
Please
cite
this
article
in
press
as:
Andersen-Gott,
M.,
et
al.
Why
do
commercial
companies
contribute
to
open
source
software?
International
Journal
of
Information
Management
(2011),
doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2011.10.003
ARTICLE IN PRESS
G
Model
JJIM-1097;
No.
of
Pages
12
M.
Andersen-Gott
et
al.
/
International
Journal
of
Information
Management
xxx (2011) xxx–
xxx 3
Table
1
Motivational
factors
for
companies
contributing
to
FOSS.
Motivational
factor
References
Competitive
advantage
Building
greater
innovative
capability
von
Krogh
(2003),
Dahlander
and
Wallin
(2006),
von
Hippel
and
von
Krogh
(2003);
Bonaccorsi
and
Rossi
(2006),
Chesbrough
(2003),
Kline
(2003),
von
Hippel
(2001)
and
Ebert
(2007)
Being
able
to
offer
new
products,
better
or
faster
than
competitors
Selling
complimentary
services
Watson
et
al.
(2005),
Dahlander
(2005),
Dahlander
and
Magnusson
(2005),
Dahlander
and
Magnusson
(2008),
Pykäläinen
(2007),
Watson
et
al.
(2008)
and
Lerner
and
Tirole
(2002)
Specializing
in
a
market
niche,
to
sell
services
to
companies
that
use
FOSS
products
Cost
reduction Ågerfalk
and
Fitzgerald
(2008),
Hawkins
(2004),
Cook
(2008),
Pisano
and
Verganti
(2008),
Tapscott
and
Williams
(2008)
and
Howe
(2008)
Using
FOSS
to
lower
development
and
maintenance
costs
2.2.
Building
greater
innovative
capability
One
advantage
that
many
argue
open
source
software
has
over
proprietary
software
is
greater
ability
to
innovate
(von
Hippel,
2001).
While
many
used
to
view
FOSS
as
merely
an
imitation
of
proprietary
offerings,
people
today
are
acknowledging
the
FOSS
movement
as
a
major
source
of
innovation
(Bonaccorsi
&
Rossi,
2006;
Ebert,
2007).
The
innovative
capability
of
FOSS
may
be
explained
by
FOSS’
position
somewhere
between
the
worlds
of
the
gift
and
commodity
economy.
The
two
different
economies
are
associated
with
two
different
innovation
models.
In
the
col-
lective
action
innovation
model,
associated
with
the
principles
of
gift
economy,
innovations
are
freely
revealed
in
order
to
benefit
the
common
good,
with
the
risk
of
motivating
free
riding.
Another
inno-
vation
model
known
as
the
private
investment
model,
more
closely
associated
with
the
commodity
economy,
does
not
have
this
prob-
lem
with
free
riding.
In
the
private
investment
model,
innovations
are
protected
by
intellectual
property
laws
allowing
the
innovators
to
benefit
from
their
innovations.
However
it
makes
it
impossible
for
others
to
improve
on
the
innovative
design,
as
it
is
kept
secret
by
the
inventor
and
protected
by
law.
von
Hippel
and
von
Krogh
(2003)
argue
that
the
innovation
process
observed
in
the
free
and
open
source
software
community
is
best
explained
by
a
new
the-
ory
of
innovation,
the
“private
collective
innovation
model”,
a
best
of
breed
of
the
two
previously
mentioned
models.
The
argument
is
that
even
though
code
is
revealed
for
free,
the
people
contribut-
ing
are
getting
rewards
that
are
not
available
to
free
riders,
such
as
the
joy
of
learning.
Other
rewards
such
as
corrections
and
critiques
from
the
community
are
only
possible
if
the
code
is
freely
revealed.
By
opening
up
the
source
code,
the
developers
are
also
making
it
possible
for
others
to
improve
and
develop
the
code
further,
enabling
a
cumulative
innovation
process
(Henkel,
2004).
Develop-
ers
are
allowed
to
“stand
on
the
shoulders
of
giants”,
an
important
concept
in
technological
innovation
and
scientific
research
(Baird,
1997;
Hauge,
Ayala,
&
Conradi,
2010;
Scotchmer,
1991).
By
participating
in
the
development
of
free
and
open
source
software,
companies
are
in
fact
applying
an
extreme
form
of
open
innovation
(Dahlander
&
Wallin,
2006).
Adopting
open
innovation
is
a
strategic
choice,
where
the
company
acknowledges
that
not
all
smart
people
are
working
for
the
same
company,
and
that
one
does
not
have
to
originate
all
research
to
be
able
to
profit
from
it.
Adopters
of
open
innovation
favour
building
the
best
business
model
over
being
first
to
market
(Chesbrough,
2003).
von
Hippel
(2001),
a
strong
advocate
of
open
innovation,
argues
that
software
innovation
through
open
source
makes
sense
as
the
manufacturers
will
never
know
what
the
users
want
as
well
as
they
do
themselves.
By
tapping
in
on
the
innovative
capability
of
the
open
source
com-
munity,
companies
that
are
releasing
products
as
open
source
or
in
other
ways
contributing
to
the
development
of
FOSS
are
speed-
ing
up
the
innovative
process
beyond
what
they
would
be
capable
of
doing
by
themselves
(Tapscott
&
Williams,
2008).
The
theory
of
open
innovation
has
also
lead
to
the
rethinking
of
the
definition
of
competitive
advantage,
with
some
arguing
that
when
an
innovation
is
shared
the
market
for
that
innovation
grows
faster,
benefiting
everyone
(Kline,
2003).
Bonaccorsi
and
Rossi
(2006)
have
found
that
smaller
firms
with
limited
or
no
R&D
funds
are
able
to
take
advan-
tage
of
the
R&D
spillover
present
in
open
source.
Suggesting
that
the
innovative
capability
of
open
source
is
an
important
consider-
ation
for
both
small/medium
sized
companies
as
well
as
large.
It
is
however
important
to
note
that
according
to
the
“private-collective
innovation
model”
(von
Hippel
&
von
Krogh,
2003),
small
firms
will
not
benefit
from
free
riding
of
the
community
innovations.
They
should
instead
contribute
themselves
to
harvest
the
fruit
of
the
open
innovation
model
(Bonaccorsi,
Giannangeli,
&
Rossi,
2006;
Henkel,
2009).
While
one
can
certainly
argue
that
the
open
innovation
seen
in
open
source
development
is
a
new
form
of
outsourcing
(Quinn,
1999,
2000),
there
is
a
vital
difference
between
open
innovation
and
innovation
outsourcing.
In
open
innovation
the
companies
are
not
reducing
the
amount
of
R&D
done
internally,
instead
they
are
using
the
community
to
increase
their
R&D
resources
(George,
Works,
&
Watson-Hemphill,
2005).
This
increase
in
R&D
resources
makes
it
feasible
that
the
products
will
be
developed
faster
and
become
bet-
ter
than
if
all
the
ideas
and
solutions
originated
inside
the
company.
By
employing
an
open
innovation
strategy
through
open
source,
the
company
is
actively
pursuing
a
differentiation
strategy
with
better
products
than
the
competition.
Lerner
and
Tirole
(2002)
have
argued
that
open
source
soft-
ware
is
created
for
“smarter”
and
more
technically
savvy
users.
The
inherit
innovative
capability
of
open
source
software
means
that
the
product
will
add
new
features
faster,
and
makes
it
a
good
fit
for
users
that
are
looking
for
the
latest
innovative
solutions
to
their
problems.
One
can
thus
argue
that
by
contributing
to
open
source
commercial
companies
are
adopting
a
niche
strategy
(Mintzberg
&
Quinn,
1996)
aimed
at
the
technically
savvy
users.
Hence,
it
stands
to
reason
that
the
community
innovation
present
in
open
source
may
motivate
a
commercial
company
either
as
part
of
a
differenti-
ation
or
a
differentiation
focus
strategy,
depending
on
the
market
being
targeted
(Porter,
1985).
Dahlander’s
(2005)
research
has
also
shown
that
companies
relying
on
innovations
from
the
community
are
proactive
in
releas-
ing
code.
This
is
a
viable
strategy,
as
it
has
been
shown
that
the
innovation
process
in
the
software
community
is
cumulative
(Henkel,
2004),
therefore
the
sooner
code
is
released
the
sooner
it
will
serve
as
a
foundation
for
new
innovations.
Hence,
it
is
expected
that
companies
motivated
by
innovation
are
frequently
commu-
nicating
with
the
community
through
bug
trackers
and
messages
boards/forums,
and
that
they
are
quick
to
contribute
their
own
innovations
to
the
community.
The
strategic
importance
of
the
product
is
likely
to
be
high
in
the
case
of
the
innovation
motiva-
tional
factor.
If
the
decision
to
open
source
was
taken
by
someone
with
an
important
position
within
the
company,
it
is
an
indication
that
the
importance
of
the
product
is
also
high.
Companies
motivated
by
the
innovation
factor
will
to
some
extent
expect
the
community
to
suggest
new
features
and
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