A multiple case study of small free software businesses as social entrepreneurships

Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Open Collaboration Pub Date : 2015-08-19 DOI:10.1145/2788993.2789830

A. Barcomb

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Free/libre and open source software are frequently described as a single community or movement. The difference between free software and open source ideology may influence founders, resulting in different types of companies being created. Specifically, the relationship between free/libre software ideology and social entrepreneurships is investigated. This paper presents seven case studies of businesses, five of which were founded by people who identify with the free/libre software movement. The result is a theory that small businesses founded by free/libre software advocates have three characteristics of social entrepreneurships. First, social benefit is prioritized over wealth creation. Second, the business's social mission is not incidental but is furthered through its for-profit activities, rather than supported by the company's profits. Third, the company's success is defined in part by the success of its social mission. Free/libre software entrepreneurs who recognize their activities as social entrepreneurships can benefit from the existing literature on the unique challenges faced by socially-oriented businesses.

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小型免费软件企业作为社会企业家精神的多个案例研究

自由/自由和开源软件经常被描述为一个单一的社区或运动。自由软件和开源意识形态之间的差异可能会影响创始人，导致不同类型的公司被创建。具体而言，研究了自由/自由软件意识形态与社会企业家精神之间的关系。本文提出了七个商业案例研究，其中五个是由认同自由/自由软件运动的人创建的。其结果是一个理论，即由自由/自由软件倡导者创立的小型企业具有社会企业家精神的三个特征。第一，社会效益优先于财富创造。其次，企业的社会使命不是偶然的，而是通过其营利性活动来推动的，而不是由公司的利润来支持的。第三，公司的成功在一定程度上取决于其社会使命的成功。认识到他们的活动是社会企业家精神的自由/自由软件企业家可以从现有的关于面向社会的企业所面临的独特挑战的文献中受益。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Open Collaboration

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