Community-based business models: insights from an emerging maker economy

Community-based business models are an emerging phenomenon in business reality, particularly in new economic developments such as making. They are a form of commons-based peer production. This paper contributes to advancing research through a multiple case study of eleven community-based maker businesses. The study elaborates on altruism and hedonism as emerging design themes, it addresses aspects of fairness and reciprocity in the interactions with the community, it looks into what values are created, and it reflects on the maker context where businesses strive not purely for profit maximization