Commercialization Strategies of Large-Scale and Distributed Open Innovation: The Case of Open-Source Hardware

California Management Review

innovation

Commercialization Strategies of Large-Scale and Distributed Open Innovation: The Case of Open-Source Hardware

by Thierry Rayna, Ludmila Striukova, and Emmanuelle Fauchart

The commercialization open-source hardware is not studied as often as the commercialization of open-source software, despite being more complex.

Article 01 Feb 2023 PDF

Abstract

The ability to commercialise products based on distributed innovation is one of the critical challenges of large-scale open innovation. While this issue has been largely investigated in relation to open-source software (OSS), the literature on strategies of commercialisation of open-source hardware (OSHW) is comparatively scarce, despite OSHW commercialisation being more complex. Based on a multi-method exploratory study, combining interviews and a netnography within the RepRap project, this research shows that in the case of OSHW firms may strategically leverage a ‘grey area’ between closeness and openness to take advantage of OSWH community innovations.

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