Research Interest

My research focuses on search, collaboration and innovation in a world of distributed knowledge. My primary interest is management of innovation, and Internet-based innovation activities in particular. I have examined distributed innovation processes and their impact on organizations. Core questions of this research are how organizations gain access to distributed sources of innovation and why and when it may make sense for them to do so.

Specifically I have studied how organizations collaborate with innovative individuals and communities via online technologies and how they become able to access to distributed sources of innovation. In a number of articles I have looked at how firms establish and maintain fruitful relations with innovative users located in user communities and how they can adjust their business models to deal effectively with users as a source of innovation.

Presently, I am developing a new agenda within the theme of distributed innovation. It examines the processes involved in solving hard scientific and technical problems by posting them as innovation contests to potential solvers via the Internet. This method of scientific and technical problem solving is defined as "broadcast search". The findings suggest the existence of an abundance of tucked-away solutions “looking” for problems to solve.

My teaching on innovation management deals with the collaborative element of innovation, methods that firm can adopt to work more effectively with their external sources of innovation.

CV - Lars Bo Jeppesen
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Director, Danish User-Centered Innovation Lab

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Jeppesen, L.B. and Lakhani, K.R., (2010) Marginality and Problem Solving Effectiveness in Broadcast Search, Organization Science, 21 (5) 1016-1033

Jeppesen, L.B. and Laursen K., (2009) The Role of Lead users in Knowledge Sharing, Research Policy, Vol 38 (10), 1582-1589

Lakhani, Karim R., and Lars Bo Jeppesen. Getting Unusual Suspects to Solve R&D Puzzles. Forethought. Harvard Business Review 85, no. 5 (May 2007).

Jeppesen, L.B. and Frederiksen, L., (2006) Why do users contribute to firm-hosted user communities? The case of computer-controlled music instruments. Organization Science. Vol 17 (1), 45-64.

Jeppesen, L.B. (2005) User Toolkits for Innovation: Consumers Support Each Other. Journal of Product Innovation Management. (22): 347–362.

Jeppesen, L.B. and Molin, M.J., (2003) Consumers as Co-developers: Learning and Innovation Outside the Firm. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management15 (3) 363-84.

ARTICLES IN BOOKS

Nishiyama, K. and L.B. Jeppesen; Creating Market Place for User Innovation: In (eds) Sunagawa K., Heung-wah Wong, D. and Sugiura M.; Consumer-driven Urban Marketplaces and Communities on Move. Reinvention of Urban Bazaars and its Place Bound Dynamics, University of Hong Kong Press, Hong Kong. (forthcoming)

Jeppesen, L.B. and Molin, M.J., (2004) Learning in Innovative Consumer Communities: In (eds) Herstatt, C., and Sander, J., Produktentwicklung mit Virtuellen Communities. Gabler Publishing, Wiesbaden.

PHD. DISSERTATION

Jeppesen, L.B., (2004) Organizing Consumer Innovation - a product development strategy that is based on online communities and allows some firms to benefit from a distributed process of innovation by consumers. Ph.d.serie, nr.2004-4, Samfundslitteratur, København, 2004 , 175 s.

REPORTS

Nature of New Innovation (2009), OECD - Structural Policy Division, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. Case contributions.

WORKING PAPERS AND PAPERS UNDER REVIEW (SELECTED)

Rullani and Jeppesen, Dragging developers toward the core An investigation of the dynamics and context of Free/Libre/Open Source Software developers’ motivations.

Jeppesen L.B. (with Karim R. Lakhani, Peter A. Lohse Jill A. Panetta), (2006) The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving. http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-050.pdf