TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumer co-creation and new product development: a case study in the food industry
AU - Filieri, Raffaele
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Purpose – The ever changing needs of customers require companies to speed up the new product development process. Thus, the web and social media enable companies to interact and to share knowledge with customers, and to cocreate new products with them. The purpose of this study is to analyze the innovation outputs companies can achieve by involving customers at the “fuzzy front end” of the new product development (NPD) process.
Design/methodology/approach – A case study method has been adopted because the phenomenon under investigation is new, it is hard to find similar researches, and the study attempts to increase researchers’ understanding of such phenomenon. The case study method has enabled the exploration of the strategies used and the results achieved by an international food company, which has involved ordinary customers at early stages of its NPD process, namely at the idea generation and screening stages.
Findings – The case study shows that customers freely provide valuable, original, new, and feasible ideas that can foster product and service innovation, and may also trigger process innovation. Thus, the case study shows how the company has outsourced to customers the idea generation and screening stages of the NPD. The case illustrates how the food company has used the ideas gathered from customers to develop new products and new services. Increasingly, it shows also how the company has gathered strategic information about consumers’ needs and desires (marketing intelligence). Finally, this research discusses the importance of knowledge codification facilitators and of informal, peer-to-peer, and transparent communication as enablers of consumers’ ideas sharing.
Research limitations/implications – The single case study approach may prevent the generalization of results.
Originality/value – In marketing and innovation research, there is a dearth of studies on how companies are involving customers through the web at early stages of their NPD process. In addition, there is a lack of in-depth discussion about the innovation outputs generated through cocreation activities.
AB - Purpose – The ever changing needs of customers require companies to speed up the new product development process. Thus, the web and social media enable companies to interact and to share knowledge with customers, and to cocreate new products with them. The purpose of this study is to analyze the innovation outputs companies can achieve by involving customers at the “fuzzy front end” of the new product development (NPD) process.
Design/methodology/approach – A case study method has been adopted because the phenomenon under investigation is new, it is hard to find similar researches, and the study attempts to increase researchers’ understanding of such phenomenon. The case study method has enabled the exploration of the strategies used and the results achieved by an international food company, which has involved ordinary customers at early stages of its NPD process, namely at the idea generation and screening stages.
Findings – The case study shows that customers freely provide valuable, original, new, and feasible ideas that can foster product and service innovation, and may also trigger process innovation. Thus, the case study shows how the company has outsourced to customers the idea generation and screening stages of the NPD. The case illustrates how the food company has used the ideas gathered from customers to develop new products and new services. Increasingly, it shows also how the company has gathered strategic information about consumers’ needs and desires (marketing intelligence). Finally, this research discusses the importance of knowledge codification facilitators and of informal, peer-to-peer, and transparent communication as enablers of consumers’ ideas sharing.
Research limitations/implications – The single case study approach may prevent the generalization of results.
Originality/value – In marketing and innovation research, there is a dearth of studies on how companies are involving customers through the web at early stages of their NPD process. In addition, there is a lack of in-depth discussion about the innovation outputs generated through cocreation activities.
KW - case study analysis
KW - customer co-creation
KW - idea generation
KW - idea screening
KW - innovation
KW - marketing intelligence
KW - new product development
KW - open innovation
UR - http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0263-4503&volume=31&issue=1&articleid=17076793&show=abstract
U2 - 10.1108/02634501311292911
DO - 10.1108/02634501311292911
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 40
EP - 53
JO - Marketing Intelligence and Planning
JF - Marketing Intelligence and Planning
SN - 0263-4503
IS - 1
ER -