Three Strategies for Open Source Deployment: Substitution, Innovation, and Knowledge Reuse

As open source software adoption becomes mainstream, the question shifts from whether organizations should use open source, to how organizations can best deploy and use open source. Based on three distinct types of organizational outcomes for open source use, we propose three different strategies for deploying open source: a substitution strategy, an innovation strategy, and a knowledge reuse strategy. Limiting the deployment of open source to a substitution strategy can lead organizations to underestimate the strategic benefits of open source use.