Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/56896 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Jena Economic Research Papers No. 2010,049
Publisher: 
Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
We analyze the characteristics of new businesses in the German ICT industry, distinguishing them based on their choice between two IPR regimes: open source software (OSS) or closed source software (CSS). The share of new firms with an OSS-based business model has increased considerably over the last several years. OSS-based firms tend to be smaller (in terms of staff and capital) and experience less shortages of capital. Only older cohorts of OSS-intensive start-ups had more difficulty than their CSS counterparts in convincing potential financiers of their viability, indicating that OSS business models are now well established. We find no evidence that the lower entry barriers for OSS firms are particularly attractive to start-ups with low human capital endowment or to necessity-motivated entrepreneurs.
Subjects: 
new business formation
institutions
open source intellectual property rights
software industry
JEL: 
D02
L17
L26
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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