The OpenBusiness Guide v1.0 is online!

OpenBusiness.cc, an international initiative with partners in Brazil, South Africa and the UK, supported by the Open Society Institute, International Development Research Centre Canada, Ford Foundation and Arts Council England, has collected examples of new business models and processes that focus on:

* lowering the costs of market entry for individuals by providing tools or services, that ‘open’ up traditional business boundaries using the Internet

* sharing information for free using alternative ‘open copyright models’ while exploring new revenue models

* giving substantial parts of content away for free while creating derivative revenue streams

* operate organizationally like Open Source software production, but translate the model to services (finance, or film or music production)

The guide represents a first attempt to summarize a trend towards more ‘open’ ways to run a business touching upon concepts, mechanisms and principles such as web 2.0, peer to peer economics, social networking, crowd sourcing, open innovation, peer production, non-monetary incentives, free culture, Creative Commons and Free and Open Source Software.

The first version of the Guide combines theoretical background with practical recommendations. Near the end of the Guide readers can find strategic advise and some selected case studies. In the spirit of the project the Guide is available as a Wiki so it can be improved and become a growing resource for ‘open entrepreneurship’.

It can be found at http://wiki.icommons.org/index.php/The_OpenBusiness_Guide