What has Mozilla Corporation’s chief contribution been? The Firefox browser? Or the email client Thunderbird? I would say neither. It has been its model of developer participation—of managing innovation outside corporate borders and passing on decision making to its community of developers. 40 percent of its code is not from employees—a staggering statistic if you consider that the company’s revenue-sharing arrangement with Google for searches that originate in Firefox delivered revenues three times greater than Mozilla’s expenses (a little over $50 million in 2006)!

Mozilla’s model proved that Open Source not only works but works extremely well when managed properly.

McKinsey Quarterly recently interviewed Mitchell Baker, CEO, Mozilla Corporation. A must read, despite the compulsory registration. She sums it up the best when she says

Turning people loose is really valuable. You have to figure out what space and what range, but you get a lot more than you would expect out of them, because they’re not you.

PS: A discussion on the same theme spawned a large number of really, really, huge comments some time back. Remember?