[Air-l] CFP: Management Science Special Issue On Open Source

[Karim R. Lakhani]

Hi All,

FYI,

CALL FOR PAPERS

Management Science
Special Issue on Open Source Software

Guest Editors
Eric von Hippel
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and
Georg von Krogh
Institute of Management
University of St. Gallen

Submission deadline:
September 1, 2004


Free and open-source software (OSS) and the processes used to develop it 
are very unusual in a number of ways. Such software is developed by 
individuals and firms that freely reveal the code that they write, 
releasing it under licenses that allow others to use it, to modify it as 
they wish, and distribute their modifications to others.  Project 
management methods used in open source software projects have proven 
capable of converting the volunteer efforts of users and programmers who 
come and go as they please into high quality software products - some 
very large and complex.  The efforts of these volunteers are coordinated 
with the aid of only very simple but powerful collaborative tools. 
Thousands of such projects exist today, and the code they develop and 
freely reveal can offer value to many.  (Well-known examples are the 
GNU/Linux computer operating system, Apache server software and the Perl 
programming language.)

Researchers in the social sciences have become aware of the very 
interesting characteristics of F/OSS and its development system, and a 
lively, interdisciplinary research community has sprung up to explore 
the phenomenon and its implications for management.   The aim of this 
special issue is to provide an appropriate forum for some of the very 
exciting and high quality research now being done on OSS.  The 
outstanding quality and interdisciplinary scope of Management Science 
makes it an ideal journal for this purpose.

We wish to encourage authors rooted in multiple disciplines, such as 
sociology, economics, social psychology, organization behavior, 
information systems, innovation process research and strategic 
management to consider submitting  their work to this special issue.  We 
welcome both theoretical research and empirical research using 
quantitative or qualitative methods.  All articles should, in line with 
the editorial policy of Management Science, have clear relevance to 
management practice.

Below we offer a sample listing of the broad range of OSS-related topics 
that are appropriate for this special issue.

·	How do OSS development projects originate and how do they “work?” What 
are the incentives to contribute to OSS projects?  How do volunteers 
find, join and leave projects?  How are the activities distributed among 
contributors and how is the work of many volunteer contributors 
coordinated or interlinked?  How are resources provided and allocated? 
What is the nature of leadership in OSS projects?

·	How do OSS practices compare with conventional product development 
practices with respect to both processes used and outcomes attained - 
such as relative development cost, performance and quality of software 
developed.

·	Intellectual property-related issues: What factor impact on the choice 
of OSS licenses? How effective are the various OSS licensing 
arrangements? What are lessons from OSS for the protection of digital 
intellectual property and the intellectual commons more generally?

·	Why do some OSS projects succeed and some fail?  What characterizes 
the competition for talent and expertise between OSS projects, and 
between OSS projects and proprietary software projects?

·	What are the competitive dynamics introduced to markets by OSS? What 
are the strategic implications:  How do firms compete with or 
collaborate with the outputs of OSS projects? Do these lessons apply 
generally across other fields of technological innovation?

Authors should prepare their manuscripts according to Management 
Science’s guidelines for authors. Every submission will be reviewed 
according to the single-blind review process of Management Science. The 
anticipated publication date of the special issue will be early 2006.

Papers should be submitted electronically at 
informs.manuscriptcentral.com.  On the first screen of the submission 
process, authors should select “Special Issue” as their manuscript type 
and designate Georg von Krogh as the Department Editor.  Questions 
should be directed to:

Professor Georg von Krogh
University of St.Gallen
Institute of Management
Dufourstrasse 48
CH-9010 St.Gallen
Switzerland
georg.vonkrogh at unisg.ch

-- 
===============================================
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan School of Management
&
The Boston Consulting Group, Strategy Practice Initiative
e-mail: karim.lakhani at sloan.mit.edu | lakhani.karim at bcg.com
voice:  617-851-1224
fax:    617-344-0403
http://spoudaiospaizen.net/
http://opensource.mit.edu | http://freesoftware.mit.edu
http://userinnovation.mit.edu