Examining the Constructs and Component Dimensions
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EXAMINING THE CONSTRUCTS AND COMPONENT DIMENSIONS OF THE OPENACCESS PROJECT by Yijun Xu A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Telecommunications Technology Management Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University Ottawa, Canada, K1S 5B6 August 2007 ©Copyright 2007 Yijun Xu Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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ABSTRACT The OpenAccess Coalition develops the OpenAccess standard and its reference database implementation for the purpose of providing interoperability among electronic design automation tools. This research answers three questions: (i) what multidimensional constructs can be identified by examining the development of the OpenAccess standard, (ii) What are the differences between the characteristics of the OA reference database implementation and the characteristics common to open source assets, (iii) what is the relationship between the constructs identified and the literature. A multi-level single case study method was used to examine information about the development of the standard over seven years, answer the three research questions, and generate insights. Five multilevel constructs and their constituent dimensions were identified and linked to the existing literature. The results suggest that using open development processes for the reference database implementation of the OpenAccess standard resulted in the production of assets that do not comply with the definition of open source. Top management teams may benefit from this research by better understanding the characteristics of the projects that develop open standards. This may help them interact with this type of projects more effectively. Academics may use the insights generated from this research to define and test hypotheses. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I greatly acknowledge my thesis supervisor Professor Stoyan Tanev for his tireless guidance, encouragement and support throughout this study. I have also greatly appreciated Professor Tony Bailetti’s help and invaluable support throughout the time of my Graduate studies and in the final stages of this study. I express my appreciation to Professor John Callahan and the rest of the Faculty team of the Technology Innovation Management (TIM) program at Carleton University for their generous comments and constructive suggestions at various stages of my work. I thank my parents, Liying Shan and Senmu Xu, and my husband, Wen Lin, for their unconditional love and continuous encouragement throughout this study, for supporting me to pursue my interests and believing in me when I doubted myself. The completion of this research would have been impossible without the support and close cooperation of the management team of the Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), especially: Steve Schulz, President and CEO, Sumit DasGupta, Sr. Vice President of Engineering, and Donald R. Cottrell, Fellow: Emerging Technologies. This thesis was developed as part of the Competing in Open Environments research program led by Tony Bailetti, Carleton University, and Peter Carbone, Nortel. The support received from Nortel for this research and the Technology Innovation Management program is gratefully acknowledged. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................ IV 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 1.1 Objective.................................................................................................................2 1.2 Deliverables........................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Contributions ......................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Relevance ................................................................................................................3 1.5 Organization .......................................................................................................... 4 2 LITERATURE R E V IE W .......................................................................................... 5 2.1 Case study and longitudinal field research methodologies ...............................5 2.1.1 Single case studies....................................................................................5 2.1.2 Multi-level longitudinal research on organizational change ............... 7 2.2 Research on open source projects ........................................................................9 2.2.1 The definition of open source .................................................................9 2.2.2 User innovation network characteristics of open source .................10 2.2.3 Open source projects’ success measures ..............................................13 2.2.4 Motives for contributing to open source projects ...............................15 2.2.5 Type of market offers enabled by open source software ...................17 2.3 Open standards ..................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Diffusion of innovations and technology adoption .........................................21 2.4.1 Diffusion of innovation ..........................................................................21 2.4.2 Technology adoption life cycle .............................................................23 2.5 Lessons Learned ..................................................................................................24 3 RESEARCH M ETH O D ........................................................................................... 27 3.1 Unit of analysis ....................................................................................................27 3.2 Study period ..........................................................................................................27 3.3 Research method..................................................................................................27 3.4 Research steps...................................................................................................... 28 3.5 Collecting data and preparing a case study .......................................................29 3.6 Identify research questions .................................................................................31 3.7 Identification of four layers ................................................................................31 3.8 Identification of variables ...................................................................................33 3.9 Identification of linkages between events and variables ................................ 36 3.10 Identification of constructs .................................................................................37 3.11 Differences between the OA RDBI and open source assets ...........................37 3.12 Relate the answers to the research questions to existing literature ...............