mode of production exist that is based on the contributions of many software programmerswithout providing any direct monetary incentives for them? And how can these programmerscoordinate their actions without relying on either the guidance of the price mechanism or thedirection through a...

In this paper, I describe and analyze the phenomenon of informal development collaborationbetween firms in the field of embedded Linux, a type of open source software. Toexplain the observed phenomenon of voluntary revealing, I develop a duopoly model ofquality competition. The central...

This paper provides a quantitative study (N = 268) of patterns of free revealing offirm-developed innovations within embedded Linux, a type of open source software (OSS). Ifind that firms, without being obliged to do so, contribute many of their own developmentsback to public embedded Linux...

Software platforms are a critical component of the computer systems underpinning leading? edge products ranging from third? generation mobile phones to video games. After describing some key economic features of computer systems and software platforms, the paper presents case studies of personal...

We study firm-level adoption of packaged software products of almost 4,000 UK sites between 2000 and 2003. We consider all software used in a firm as its software product and categorize it into related, but distinct subsystems: the core subsystem (Operating Systems), and Desktop and Enterprise...

Es wird vielfach vermutet, daß die Software-Industrie von starken Netzwerkeffekten geprägt ist. Doch wie hoch sind die Netzwerkeffekte wirklich? Für die Messung der Netzwerkeffekte bietet sich der hedonische Preisansatz an. Zwei Anwendungen des hedonischen Preisansatzes in der...

Der Begriff des Wachstumsunternehmens steht für eine der wichtigsten industriepolitischen Weichenstellungen im Deutschland der 90er Jahre. Um die Innovations- und Wachstumseffekte des typischen Hightech-Unternehmens des Silicon Valleys erschließen zu können, wurde versucht, institutionelle...

One of the more prominent recent failures in institutional innovation in Germany was the Neuer Markt (1997-2003), a special segment of the Frankfurt stock exchange designed for high-growth companies. Based in part on insights from the law and economics approach to agency theory, which emphasizes...

This paper aims to analyze the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the development of the software industry in these countries. The study is centred on software production and IT-related services - software development, chip design and electronic devices design, computer and Internet...