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- Faculty Publications (308)
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Value of Open Source Software
By: Manuel Hoffmann, Frank Nagle and Yanuo Zhou
The value of a non-pecuniary (free) product is inherently difficult to assess. A pervasive
example is open source software (OSS), a global public good that plays a vital role in the economy
and is foundational for most technology we use today. However, it is... View Details
- November 2023
- Article
Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship
By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle and Shane Greenstein
This is the first study to consider the relationship between open source software (OSS) and
entrepreneurship around the globe. This study measures whether country-level participation on
the GitHub OSS platform affects the founding of innovative ventures, and where it... View Details
- 02 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Managing the Open Source vs. Proprietary Decision
Editor's note: In their new book, The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development, HBS professor Josh Lerner and London School of Economics professor Mark Schankerman look at the impact of View Details
- March 2019
- Article
Open Source Software and Firm Productivity
By: Frank Nagle
As open source software (OSS) is increasingly used as a key input by firms, understanding its impact on productivity becomes critical. This study measures the firm-level productivity impact of nonpecuniary (free) OSS and finds a positive and significant value-added... View Details
- 09 Feb 2021
- News
Open Source Developers Could be Worth Billions
Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software
What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software... View Details
The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development
Discussions of the economic impact of open source software often generate more heat than light. Advocates passionately assert the benefits of open source while critics decry its effects. Missing from the debate is rigorous economic analysis and systematic economic... View Details
- 11 Jan 2010
- Research & Ideas
Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies
Adopting a new business model can be a strategic, game-changing play in any industry. But knowing when and how to try something new can be tricky, particularly in the constantly evolving software industry. The open View Details
- 2010
- Book
The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development
By: Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman
Discussions of the economic impact of open source software often generate more heat than light. Advocates passionately assert the benefits of open source, while critics decry its effects. Missing from the debate is rigorous economic analysis and systematic... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform
The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details
- 20 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
Open Source Science: A New Model for Innovation
scientific problem solving? Yes, and it comes from an unexpected and unrelated corner of the universe: open source software development. That's the view of Karim R. Lakhani, an assistant professor at Harvard... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- 22 Jun 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Proprietary vs. Open Two-Sided Platforms and Social Efficiency
- 05 Sep 2018
- Research & Ideas
The Hidden Benefit of Giving Back to Open Source Software
pixelfit Companies that contribute to open source software and use it in their own IT systems and applications can gain a competitive advantage—even though they may be helping their competitors in the short... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Open Source Software Policy in Industry Equilibrium
Open source software (OSS) is a form of public knowledge widely provided and relied on by the private sector. To study the effects of growing government involvement in this critical public good, I build a new empirical model where high-tech firms choose software inputs... View Details
- 17 Jun 2008
- Keynote Speech
Self-Organization in Open Source Development: Discussion
- June 2002
- Article
Some Simple Economics of Open Source
By: Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole
Keywords: Economics
- 2009
- Working Paper
Industry Equilibrium with Open Source and Proprietary Firms
By: Gaston Llanes and Ramiro de Elejalde
We present a model of industry equilibrium to study the coexistence of Open Source (OS) and Proprietary (P) firms. Two novel aspects of the model are: (1) participation in OS arises as the optimal decision of profit-maximizing firms, and (2) OS and P firms may (or may... View Details
- 23 Apr 2016
- News
Tipping His Cap to Open Source
model isn’t about gouging IP but adding value around it,” Whitehurst told The Business Times of Singapore. “It seemed [in 2008] like being a great way to be part of painting a new canvas.” Whitehurst sees big shifts in the business landscape over the coming years, as... View Details
- 02 Mar 2022
- News