1. Key Partners Key partners describes the network of partners that make the business model work. There are four different types of partnerships; strategic alliances between non-competitors, strategic partnerships between competitors (coopetition), joint ventures to develop new businesses, and buyer-supplier relationships to assure reliable supplies. (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010) Within open design the relationship between participants and the initiating company forms a community that is the essential key to make the business model work. This partnership is then supported by a platform that provides infrastructure that contributes to the following; optimization and economy, reduction of risk and uncertainty, and acquisition of particular resources and activities. Optimization and economy of both resources and activities is the most basic form of partnership. It is usually formed to reduce cost, and often involves outsourcing or sharing infrastructure. An example of this is that open design companies outsource
their product development (or a great part thereof) to the community, in addition to the platform providing a sharable infrastructure to create a solution that fits customer needs. When it comes to the reduction of risk and uncertainty certain operations can be outsourced, while the company places focus on their core competence. An example of this is the case of Arduino where they have outsourced manufacturing and distribution allowing them to focus on their core competence of knowledge creation. When it comes to acquisition it is mostly about acquiring the knowledge and workforce that resides within the community. This can be seen in the case of Architecture for Humanity where thousands architects and designers have joined the network and are willing to contribute and give input based on their extensive expertise and experience. Other potential key partners include suppliers, manufacturers and distributors, depending on the activities that the company is involved with and how it is placed in the supply chain. For instance Adafruit is dependent on suppliers while distributing the products itself. Arduino on the other hand relies on manufacturers and independent distributors. See Table 3.
Table 3: Key Partners for the four cases
The 9 Building Blocks
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