Print Print

Consumers as Co-Developers: Learning and innovation outside the firm

Consumers as Co-Developers: Learning and innovation outside the firm

Lars Bo Jeppesen

&

Måns J. Molin *

CopenhagenBusinessSchool,

Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy,

Howitzvej 60, DK-2000 Frederiksberg,

Denmark.

Centre for Economic and Business Research,

The Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs,

Langelinie Allé 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø,

Denmark.

Abstract: This study describes a process in which a firm relies on an external consumer community for innovation. While it has been recognized that users may sometimes innovate, little is known about what commercial firms can do to motivate and capture such innovations and their related benefits. We contribute to strategy literature by suggesting that learning and innovation efforts from which a firm may benefit need not necessarily be located within the organization, but may well reside in the consumer environment. We also contribute to the existing theory on “user-driven innovation” by showing what firms purposively can do to generate consumer innovation efforts. An explorative case study shows that consumer innovation can be structured, motivated, and partly organized by a commercial firm that organizes the infrastructure for consumers’ interactive learning in a public online domain.

Keywords:Product Development, Consumer-to-Consumer Interaction, Learning, Consumer Innovation, Community, Toolkits.


Jeppesen and Molin - 2003 - Consumers as Co-developers.pdf

Sidst opdateret af lars_bo_jeppesen 07.05.2008