Operations Strategy of Small Software Firms Using Open Source Software

Abstract

Open Source software is becoming very common in many business activities. In particular, the software development sector can take advantage from this development model and modifying the way software is produced and commercialized. The worldwide rising interest in Open Source is pushing companies to use and produce it. Some companies have to use it because the market requires it; others invest in this sector because they perceive it as a potential profitable area. Therefore, even with a free exchange of source code and/or the free availability of a program on the web, a company has the possibility to compete in the market and make money. With the growth of Open Source, market niches came up, new strategic areas have been found and new business models are emerging. Such models are creating new possibilities to offer products and services to customers, thus to generate revenue. We conducted an empirical study to investigate the current situation related to Open Source in 14 small software companies. The main research question was how much the Open Source model has been applied inside a company and how they behave in their market.