Open Source Ecosystem

Peer Production, in particular Open Source Software production, is often a combination of an open Commons and an ecology of business making use of it.

Example

This is a description of the ecosystem around Carrier Grade Linux and has a typology that can be used more generally to describe different corporate roles in the ecosystem:

Tammy Juan: [1]

"According to previous research, companies in an ecosystem can take on one of three roles: keystone, dominator, or niche player.

Keystones are companies that actively improve the overall health of the ecosystem while maintaining a low physical presence. Keystones adopt strategies that create platforms and share the value with other players.

Dominators are companies that have physical presence and control a large part of their networks. Dominators take most of the value for themselves and leave little for other companies in the ecosystem.

Niche players are companies that specialize in capabilities differentiating themselves from others in the ecosystem. Niche players collectively create much of the value in a niche and capture the value they create." (http://www.osbr.ca/archive.php?issue=7&section=Ar#A5)