Resilience of Professional Open Source Ecosystems

This paper discusses the ability of an open source firm and its surrounding ecosystem to adapt to changing conditions in an effort to survive. Using an explanatory case study methodology, we examine a series of stresses that occurred over the life of a single professional open source ecosystem as its members attempted to adjust to the resultant impacts upon the available capital portfolios and flows. We propose that the resilience of an ecosystem is largely dependent on the ability of its members to enact available mechanisms to redirect or adjust to these changing capital flows in order to satisfy their individual needs. We also propose that the existence of a central stakeholder, such as the professional open source firm itself, to manage a portion of these capital flows.