The Open Source Business?

Ted wonders: "Being an advocate of the open source software movement for some time, I'm wondering how and if the principles of open source software could be applied to a new type of open source business. In a world where people slave away for the sole profit of a board of directors and merciless shareholders, is there room for a new type of organization that throws away the archaic and monolithic organizational structure of today and from there form a company that has its direction dictated by all of the members that run it. An organization where everyone has an equal say in what goes on. There isn't any limit on how many people can be involved (the more the better, in fact) as long as they can be useful. Could this be the way of the future?"

Comments

Leadership by committee? Doubtful.

[XorNand]

One of my network support customers is a tiny township of a few square miles, it's about the smallest form of government in modern-day America. Almost every single decision has to be approved by their board of trustees of about six-seven people. It takes absolutely *forever* to get anything done and is frustrating beyond belief. Yes, it's even worse than corporate America. I can't possibly imagine to run even a small company like that and still remain competitive.

Cooperative

[John Hasler]

This is called a "cooperative". These have been common in the US for over a hundred years.