Marketing, a lifelong interest
Marketing has always interested me. From me selling newspaper in the age of twelve, through role-playing conventions and student radio, to being a marketing manager of a company. This is also an area that is constantly evolving, thus making it interesting to follow.
Research on business models for commercial open source
I studied commercial open source companies and how their business models worked. I looked at, for example, the Swedish MySQL (now part of Oracle) and American Red Hat, part of IBM.
Results
I found three main business models, Initiator, perhaps the most common business model, the one that MySQL used (and MariaDB still does today), where the company has a software and then opens the source code, but retains control, and charges via subscription. Another common business model is Integrator, Red Hat's model, where different software is packaged together and paid for by subscription. I also found a slightly unusual variant, which I call Inserter, where a company takes care of an open source project. The research is a decade old, but all indications indicate that it is the same even today. I would like to confirm that.
Brand’s significance for relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises
It is more interesting to explore the brand's importance to small and medium-sized companies working between companies Business-to-Business (B2B). I want to find out how much does minor corporate brands affect customers and suppliers.