Exploring the Effect of Software Ecosystem Health on the Financial Performance of the Open Source Companies

Background. It is currently unknown how software ecosystem health affects the financial performance of open source companies. This is a problem, because open source is becoming increasingly popular and more knowledge is necessary for companies on how to capitalize on this phenomenon. Objectives. With this paper, insight is developed into the relation between software ecosystem health and financial performance of the open source company that nurtures it. Method. A case study on two open source companies, Cloudera and Hortonworks, is performed. The software ecosystem health and financial performance of both companies are assessed. Results. Cloudera is healthier in terms of robustness and niche creation, while Hortonworks is healthier in terms of productivity. Financially, Cloudera performs better than Hortonworks. Conclusion. The following hypotheses are formulated. Software ecosystem health has an expected positive relation with financial performance. Niche creation health is the main contributor to this relation, robustness health is a minor reason for this relation, and software ecosystem productivity health has little to no influence.