Community of firms: a new collaborative paradigm for open innovation and an analysis of Blade.org

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework of a collaborative community of firms and to analyse Blade.org as an example. As a collaborative community, Blade.org focuses on the development and adoption of open blade server platforms (a computer server technology) through the participation of more than 100 member firms. We assert that this new community-based organisation design enables numerous firms with a common interest, but different resources and capabilities, to collaborate with one another to achieve open innovation. In this sense, Blade.org has been creatively designed to emulate the characteristics and processes of a community of individuals. We argue that the community of firms organisational model increasingly will be found in situations where continuous innovation is a strategic objective. The implications of this new organisational form are discussed for further research and practice.