A Theory of Resource Openness
The Researchgate website posted a research paper which noted that many firms have opened once proprietary information resources (e.g., digital content, code, and APIs) to public use via the Internet. Such open strategies challenge traditional resource-level theories that suggest protecting such resources rather than giving them away for free. We provide a theoretical explanation based on combining insights in the literature on openness, value creation, and resource level theories. We develop (1) the concept of “resources openness” in its two dimensions, access and control, and (2) a theoretical model to explain the impacts of these two openness dimensions on firms’ value creation and value appropriation.
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