Catalyst Strategy of Non-Profit Web 2.0 Services: The Case of Wikimedia Foundation and its Wikipedia Project

• Main Authors: Chia-Hui Chu, 朱家慧
• Other Authors: 江炯聰
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/37745801163534241357

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 企業管理碩士專班 === 97 === For over a decade now, the Internet has become an important tool for the products/services providers as well as the advertisers to reach the customers/viewers. Websites built with the Web 2.0 concept, utilizing mass collaboration and collective work by the users, are attracting more and more attention in the recent years. Many non-profit organizations are following this trend and setting up Websites or blogs to draw public attention to or stimulate discussion over their concerned issues or the organizations themselves. However, by simply getting attention does not guarantee the organizations will be able to receive sufficient funding, acquire capable and willing volunteers, and advocate their values in order to achieve their missions in the long run. Wikipedia, a free online open-source multilingual encyclopedia, is among the most successful not-for-profit Websites that fully utilize the Web 2.0 spirit. It has designed a well functioned yet simple-to-use platform, formed policies along its evolving process, and activated interactions within the site in order to encourage more site-improving contributions. On the other hand, it also shows the public their progress towards the organization’s mission and provides quality free services to the users, thereby encourages more monetary contributions. This study seeks to pinpoint the key success factors of Wikipedia’s platform strategy as well as to understand its impact to the industry. Using the Six-step Analysis of Catalyst Framework, proposed by Evans and Schmalensee, this study aims to provide a piece of advice to the other nonprofits so that they could learn from Wikipedia’s unique case and some of the original strategic thoughts of its platform designs. In this thesis, an abstract view of the related concepts and essential information of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation (WmF) is illustrated at first, which serves as the foundation for later discussion. Then in analyzing Wikipedia’s catalyst strategy through the framework, this study explores how Wikipedia locates its platform communities, designs its Web 2.0 service that increases user participation, and how it mobilizes the global intellectual volunteers and makes appropriate allocation of resources to achieve their goals in the most cost-effective way. This study further discusses how Wikipedia presents its work achieved to the benefactors and aligns it with their mission in order to fire up ongoing donations, and how it keeps evolving and competes with similar organizations or businesses. The other projects of WmF and their competitive statuses will also be talked over as an extended discussion. As conclusions, this thesis presents the key success factors of Wikipedia’s platform strategy and provides suggestions, which might help raise attention for future discussion.