Open Source Software Communities and Industrial Districts: a Useful Comparison?

The phenomenon of open-source software development has already stimulated a wide debate within different academic communities (economists, information scientists, business strategists, operational researchers, etc.) and research approaches. Aim of this paper is to add a new and complementary perspective on the existing economic analysis of open-source software by comparing the structure and evolution of open-source software communities and of industrial districts, a peculiar organisational form of production based on a large number of interacting small and medium sized enterprises. The comparison between open-source software communities and industrial districts, in spite of some major differences (such as the role of geographical proximity) allows the recognition of the role played by agglomeration economies, an explicit analysis of the incentives structure governing the private provision of complex public goods-, and an in depth study of the governance structure and evolution of these phenomena. The paper presents some simple simulations which show the dependence of the governance structure’s evolution on transaction costs dynamics. * Financial support from CNR Strategic Project “New Economy, istituzioni e crescita in Europa” is gratefully acknowledged. I would like to thank M.T. Martini for technical assistance in the simulation exercise. A. Bramanti, F. Gambarotto and S. Beretta provided helpful comments. All remaining errors are my sole responsibility.