Open business uses the internet to create open content and open source projects, allowing companies to tap into a vast pool of knowledge and creative potential. Google and Goldcorp have successfully used this model to launch new products and make positive discoveries. Traditional companies are starting to adopt this model to enhance their resources and partner with other companies.
Open business is a concept that uses the Internet to create open content and open source projects, sometimes called “crowdsourcing”. The idea is for a company to tap into the vast pool of knowledge and human creative potential that can be found on the Internet. Access to this wealth of inputs can increase a company’s ability to improve its products and services, as well as create new ones. The model operates on the principle of transparency. Anyone can join an open source project, and anyone participating can see what everyone is doing in the project and comment on it.
An example of how the open business concept works is Google’s use of an open source platform to launch a new mobile phone. Anyone in the world could contribute ideas for innovations, styles and special features. Using “peer production”, those involved share and comment on each other’s ideas. Everything happens in a central Internet location that anyone interested in the project can access.
As proof of the economic potential of open source projects, many observers point to one of Goldcorp’s projects. Goldcorp published maps of geological surveys and invited Internet users to participate in the selection of possible locations where gold could be found. The company has resulted in more than 100 positive discoveries and the extraction of more than three billion US Dollars (USD) in gold.
With the concept of open content, Internet users provide, edit and add content. Wikipedia is an example of the potential of open content. The OpenStreetMap map service has developed a project for a world map using open content.
Most open business enterprises are associated with information technologies and the Internet. Traditional companies have been cautious about these innovations. However, some are starting to adopt as a research and development strategy a key concept of the open business model, which is to leverage the knowledge available outside the company to enhance the resources it already has.
This is true, for example, in the area of intellectual property. Some large companies are licensing their patents to small and medium-sized companies for further research and development. Ownership innovations and ideas allow the larger company with greater marketing assets to put the innovations to use. Companies are also experimenting with partnering with other companies of different sizes and specialties to carry out a single company. Each company brings its own knowledge, experience and approach to the task.
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