Mekki MacAulay

Winner of Best Student Paper Award, Strategy Division -- Despite firm use of open source strategies for more than twenty years, the strategy literature has few explanations for why strategic managers choose them over alternative strategies. I argue that firms use open source strategies primarily to reduce firm-environment uncertainty. Building on the classic typologies of strategies for addressing uncertainty of Courtney, Kirland, and Viguerie (1997) and Teisberg (1993), I expand the… Show more

Winner of Best Student Paper Award, Strategy Division -- Despite firm use of open source strategies for more than twenty years, the strategy literature has few explanations for why strategic managers choose them over alternative strategies. I argue that firms use open source strategies primarily to reduce firm-environment uncertainty. Building on the classic typologies of strategies for addressing uncertainty of Courtney, Kirland, and Viguerie (1997) and Teisberg (1993), I expand the typologies and propose that open source strategies are meta-strategies with the benefits of the traditional strategies without the downsides of high transaction costs, blind spots, susceptibility to discontinuous environmental change, distraction, strategic paralysis, limits to firm structure, resource allocation problems, or loss of strategic control. The arguments are illustrated with current examples of the use of open source strategies by major firms and propositions are developed to create a research agenda for empirical examination. Show less

The correspondence of individual and organizational identities leads to numerous outcomes at internal, inter-personal, and organizational levels. Modern organizations have increasingly porous boundaries and individuals are often involved in more than one organization, yet little is known about how membership in a secondary organization affects the identity outcomes with the primary organization. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by using an inductive, theory-building methodology… Show more

The correspondence of individual and organizational identities leads to numerous outcomes at internal, inter-personal, and organizational levels. Modern organizations have increasingly porous boundaries and individuals are often involved in more than one organization, yet little is known about how membership in a secondary organization affects the identity outcomes with the primary organization. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by using an inductive, theory-building methodology to unpack the effect of membership in a secondary organization on identity outcomes with a primary organization. I theorize that the identity comparison gap that an individual experiences with a secondary organization exerts a moderating effect on the outcomes that result from the identity comparison gap that the individual experiences with her primary organization. The moderating effect is contingent on the nature of the identity gaps with each organization—gaps of intensity or disparity. The secondary identity gap can intensify or ameliorate the outcome effects of the primary identity gap. In cases of significant disparity-based identity gaps with one or more organization, the interaction of second organization membership can lead to a powerful reconceptualization of the focal individual’s identity such that the primary identity gap becomes less salient. I develop propositions that emerge from the qualitative study and discuss the implications of the resulting extended conceptualization of the relationship of individual and organization identity for identity scholars, organization scholars, and practice. Show less

People who participate in FLOS communities bring with them their individual social identities. These identities interact with the identity of each FLOS community as a whole, with varied positive or negative effects such as increased productivity, satisfaction, motivation, lack of sense of belonging, stress, and emotional experiences. This presentation looks at the impact of the interaction of multiple community membership on the individuals that participate in those communities. In some… Show more

People who participate in FLOS communities bring with them their individual social identities. These identities interact with the identity of each FLOS community as a whole, with varied positive or negative effects such as increased productivity, satisfaction, motivation, lack of sense of belonging, stress, and emotional experiences. This presentation looks at the impact of the interaction of multiple community membership on the individuals that participate in those communities. In some cases, individuals join complementary communities, where different facets of their identities are confirmed in different ways by each community. In other cases, individuals who are bound to a particular community (such as a job, city, specialty) address identity-mismatches by seeking out communities that are a better identity match. This presentation contributes to FLOS by explaining some of the mechanisms that drive participation in FLOS communities and improve participation and well-being of members. It also bridges management and FLOS research to improve inter-disciplinary dialogs. Show less

Recent academic inquiry has questioned the traditional assumptions that successful market competition among profit-driven firms must be done in a closed manner to avoid competitors benefiting from knowledge spillovers by demonstrating that an open source strategy can be successful as well. Yet, it is still not well understood why firms choose an open source strategy when they have an array of more traditional strategies at their disposal. I argue that firms select an open source strategy to… Show more

Recent academic inquiry has questioned the traditional assumptions that successful market competition among profit-driven firms must be done in a closed manner to avoid competitors benefiting from knowledge spillovers by demonstrating that an open source strategy can be successful as well. Yet, it is still not well understood why firms choose an open source strategy when they have an array of more traditional strategies at their disposal. I argue that firms select an open source strategy to reduce the impact of different types of uncertainty that impede the clarity of their strategic options. An open source strategy allows firms to accept, disarm, share, compartmentalize, survive, and select uncertainty, reducing the negative impact of discontinuous change, transaction costs, loss of control, resource allocation problems, environmental selection, and poor fit. This choice means that firms are not stuck with strategies requiring high-stakes bets, hedging practices, or luck in order to reduce uncertainty. Instead, they can select an open source strategy that best reduces the types of uncertainty that they are facing. Show less

Using FLOSS tools and methods is a no-brainer for cash-strapped startup companies that are trying to create something of value for their customers while growing their business. Some of these businesses will follow traditional business models and use FLOSS only as internal cost-saving measures. Other businesses are "born-open" and choose to build their business models around the norms and values of the FLOSS movement. But what does the process of starting and growing a born-open business… Show more

Using FLOSS tools and methods is a no-brainer for cash-strapped startup companies that are trying to create something of value for their customers while growing their business. Some of these businesses will follow traditional business models and use FLOSS only as internal cost-saving measures. Other businesses are "born-open" and choose to build their business models around the norms and values of the FLOSS movement. But what does the process of starting and growing a born-open business actually look like? How do founders create a business model that promotes FLOSS values while generating revenue?

Using data gathered from research on entrepreneurs involved in FLOSS, this presentation offers a perspective on the process of starting and growing a born-open business. It provides accounts of how founders from radically different backgrounds engage in a community building process that leads to surprisingly similar business models. Some of the key factors in understanding what is different in born-open business models are discussed.

Historically, the business world has viewed FLOSS as counterproductive for competitive advantage as many of the shared values in FLOSS communities are thought to result in business models that are not sustainable. Yet many entrepreneurs have shown that born-open businesses can work. This presentation examines some of the conditions required for success when using a born-open business model. It highlights why some of the traditional apprehensions might be unfounded and revisits some of the assumptions about value creation and how successful businesses grow.
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The practices of free and open source communities impact the ability of their participants to contribute effectively. This presentation examines the role of recursive and adaptive practices in enabling and disabling participation in free and open source communities. Data gathered through in-depth interviews with participants is analyzed using a strategy as practice perspective. The results paint a picture of a constant tension between recursive and adaptive practices that pull toward the… Show more

The practices of free and open source communities impact the ability of their participants to contribute effectively. This presentation examines the role of recursive and adaptive practices in enabling and disabling participation in free and open source communities. Data gathered through in-depth interviews with participants is analyzed using a strategy as practice perspective. The results paint a picture of a constant tension between recursive and adaptive practices that pull toward the core or toward the periphery of communities. The presentation also attempts to provide a model of ideal practice patterns, derived from rich accounts of how successful communities thrive, while unsuccessful communities implode or drift apart. This model could help more effectively manage the practices of communities at the different stages in their life cycle and when dealing with different levels of project complexity. The practical implications for peer production communities and avenues for future research are discussed. Show less

The practices of peer production communities impact the ability of their participants to contribute effectively. This paper examines the role of recursive and adaptive practices in enabling participation in free/libre/open source communities. Data gathered through in-depth interviews with participants is analyzed using a strategy as practice perspective. The results paint a picture of a constant tension between recursive and adaptive practices that focus on the core or the periphery of… Show more

The practices of peer production communities impact the ability of their participants to contribute effectively. This paper examines the role of recursive and adaptive practices in enabling participation in free/libre/open source communities. Data gathered through in-depth interviews with participants is analyzed using a strategy as practice perspective. The results paint a picture of a constant tension between recursive and adaptive practices that focus on the core or the periphery of communities. This paper complements and extends the traditional notion in the extant literature that participation in free/libre/open source communities is primarily governed by incentive mechanisms by providing rich accounts of how successful communities thrive, while unsuccessful communities implode or drift apart based on the careful management of their practices at the different stages in their life cycle. The practical implications for peer production communities and avenues for future research are discussed. Show less

The ten most influential papers in strategic management are analyzed for their ontological, epistemological, and axiological assumptions. The analysis suggests that the resource-based view, the dynamic capabilities perspective and the knowledge-based view assume critical realism, are inductive, and value-laden. The implications are discussed and suggestions for novel approaches are provided.

This presentation discusses the importance of passive and non-code participants in FLOS projects, debunking the myth that the only way to contribute to FLOS projects is with code. In particular, I point out the importance of non-code contributions in mature projects such as Mozilla. I also highlight the major differences between the user perspective and the programmer perspective.

I discuss the challenges for the adoption of open source software from the perspective of the marginalized user. In particular, I summarize research on the barriers to adoption of the open source productivity suite OpenOffice.org from the user perspective, contrasting it to the more often reported and researched developer perspective.