Product details

In 2004, MySQL was a small, $10 million Scandinavian software company that seriously challenged the big three IT companies IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle in their high margin, $10 billion database business. The reason for this was a new phenomenon in the software industry called open source that opened opportunities for new entrants to challenge the incumbents and gain a foothold in a lowcost segment of the market. This case provides the opportunity to study the forces that would determine whether MySQL could change the database software category in the way Linux did for server operating system space. As MySQL relied on a lowcost business model with a global, virtual organization, the case also frames the question whether this innovative, Internet-based business model could be scaled into a large, profitable growth company.