0The Hidden Benefit of Giving Back to Open Source Software (Working Knowledge)	null/LWN/0000764321		70
i  [Briefs] Sep 6, 2018 16:56 UTC (Thu) (corbet)
i
i    The  Harvard  Business School's "Working Knowledge" site has an
i    article  arguing  that  it can pay for companies to allow their
i    developers  to  contribute  back to the projects whose software
i    they  use.  "And that presents an interesting dilemma for firms
i    that  rely  heavily on open source. Should they allow employees
i    on  company  time to make updates and edits to the software for
i    community  use  that could be used by competitors? New research
i    by  Assistant  Professor  Frank Nagle, a member of the Strategy
i    Unit  at  Harvard  Business School, shows that paying employees
i    to   contribute   to   such   software   boosts  the  company’s
i    productivity  from  using  the  software  by  as  much  as  100
i    percent, when compared with free-riding competitors."
i