- Microsoft:
Microsoft is the market leader in the software industry. Microsoft Dynamics is a suite of business applications in Microsoft’s portfolio. MiBuSo – short for Microsoft Business Solutions – is a completely autonomous and self-governing online community. The place provides a platform for users and developers of products from the Microsoft Dynamics family to exchange ideas, tools and to find business partners and products.
MiBuSo has grown into a knowledge center and a highly specialized support function of no cost. MiBuSo is like the bumblebee – it is not supposed to fly, but it does so anyway. One reason is that the community is intrinsically motivated and contributes tremendous amounts of time and value supporting Microsoft products for free. - Outcome:
A pertinent challenge was achieving the balance of being involved in the external community, but still not interfering with its autonomy. Another was enforcing intrinsic motivation by creating of symbolic capital such as the MVP- Most Valuable Professional – program, where the most active users are given perks, with a much higher symbolic value than real value.
