User Toolkits for Innovation: Consumers Support Each Other

User toolkits for innovation were recently proposed as a means to eliminate (costly) exchange of need-related information between users and manufactures in the product development process. The method transfers certain development tasks to users and thereby empowers them to create their own desired product features. This article examines the implications of different levels of opportunities for consumer involvement (OCI) in product development to learn what happens when firms pass design tasks on to consumers. It explores this issue by studying the relation between the employment of user toolkits and the need for firms to support their consumers. An analysis of 78 computer games products and the amount of support given by firms to the consumers of these products suggests that a share of the costs firms save on information acquisition by letting consumers "do it themselves" may eventually reemerge as costs in consumer support. In other words, an increase in opportunities for consumer involvement seems to increase the need for supporting consumers. A promising solution to the problem of support costs is identified, namely, the establishment of consumer–consumer support interaction. A case study of an outlier in terms of firm support to consumers—Westwood Studios—shows that consumers who use toolkits may be willing to support each other. Such interactive problem solving in a firm-established user community is advantageous to the firm, because the process reduces the amount of resources that the firm itself needs to dedicate to the support of consumers using toolkits. Generally, consumer-to-consumer interaction can facilitate problem-solving in the consumer domain, can aid the diffusion of toolkit related knowledge, and potentially can enhance the outcomes produced by the toolkit approach.     

The Effect of Selective Openness on Value Creation in User Innovation Communities

Open innovation research and practice recognize the important role of external complementors in value creation. At the same time, firms need to retain exclusive control over some essential components to capture value from their product and/or service system. This paper contributes to the literature by analyzing some of the trade‐offs between openness to external value creation and closedness for internal value capture. It focuses on selective openness as a key variable and investigates how it affects value creation by external complementors, specifically the members of user innovation communities. Openness, it is hypothesized, matters to community members: The more open a product design is, the higher their sense of involvement in the innovation project, and the larger the effort they devote to it. Unlike prior literature, different forms and loci of openness are distinguished, specifically the transparency, accessibility, and replicability of different components of the product being developed. Hypotheses are tested based on survey data (n = 309) from 20 online communities in the consumer electronics and information technology hardware industries. Multilevel regression analysis is used to account for clustering, and thus nonindependent data, at the community level. We find that openness indeed increases community members’ involvement in the innovation project and their contributions to it. Interestingly, however, some forms and loci of openness strongly affect community perceptions and behavior, while others have limited or no impact. This finding suggests that, at least in relation to user communities, the trade‐off that firms face between external value creation and internal value capture is softer than hitherto understood. Contingency factors that may be able to explain these patterns are advanced. For example, users are expected to value the form of openness that they have the capabilities and incentives to exploit. The findings in this paper extend the literature on selective openness in innovation. They emphasize the need to study the demand for different forms of openness at the subsystem level and align supply‐side strategies to it. In managerial practice, a careful assessment of the demand for openness enables firms to successfully use selective openness and to effectively appropriate value from selectively open systems.     

用户异质、网络非中立与公共政策:基于双边市场视角的研究

本文通过构造比较静态与比较动态模型,对基于网络服务提供商平台两边用户异质情形下平台各层次配置相应内容流量的接入服务定价机制的网络投资激励与社会福利的效应进行了研究。发现,在数字化的网络提供商平台实行网络非中立的流量带宽配置,可以实现利益相关者均衡,满足在既定带宽下的不同服务需求,从而消除平台用户的交易外部性;不同接入速率敏感度的服务歧视,可以形成内容提供商一边的竞争,从而改善内容质量;网络服务提供商平台层次逻辑结构之间存在的相关性,使网络服务提供商可以利用杠杆效应,对平台的其他层次施加市场势力;在给定物理网络管制的情形下,强制性在网络其他层次推行网络中立管制会给平台的最优定价结构带来斯彭斯价格扭曲,而且加剧下游的竞争。     

论全球价值链中我国企业创新与市场势力构建的良性互动

当代国际新分工是以进出口诸方在产品生产的多个环节上混合使用多种要素从而组成全球价值链为特征的,由于我国企业普遍缺乏市场势力致使发达国家跨国公司通常在国际竞争中处于主导地位,而我方则面临低端锁定、利益扭曲、引进依赖等不利格局。我国企业若能构建、强化市场势力,则可提升自主创新的动力与能力,扭转不利局面。本文从理论上探索了企业创新与市场势力良性互动的机理,进而在“环”、“链”、“群”三个层次上就如何构建“良性互动”提出了思路与对策。     

New Market Creation for Breakthrough Innovations: Enabling and Constraining Mechanisms

While the technological development associated with breakthrough innovation (BI) is truly challenging, creating markets to stimulate their use may be an even more daunting barrier to successful commercialization. Co‐development partners, distribution channel agents, and ultimate users are all required to adopt new processes and to change behaviors in many cases, and the outcomes are unknown. In this paper, the processes and challenges associated with creating new markets for BIs are explored in a qualitative prospective cross‐case comparison of 12 breakthrough projects under development in 10 large established companies. A number of activities that take place in implicit fashion that create both enabling and constraining mechanisms for BIs are observed. The data suggest, for example, that the earliest application choices that scientists make in the project's development ultimately affect the revenue model, that scientists are unaware of the impact of these decisions, that business model development is a very exploratory process, that criteria used to choose initial market entry points conflict with the expectations of operating units, and that the concept of a killer application can be rather dangerous to the health and well‐being of a BI in its commercial infancy. It is argued that new market creation is the result of managing a specific set of events and activities, which are identified in a grounded theoretic fashion. The companies studied, however, were neither fully aware of nor systematically attentive to these activities. A framework is presented of enabling and constraining mechanisms that teams and organizations impose through the processes and decisions they take in the course of the project's development, and a series of propositions regarding the dynamics of successful new market creation for BIs is offered. The implications of these results are far‐reaching. These results show that market creation for BIs may require as much time and investment as their technical development. We do not find evidence of large established organizations’ awareness of or willingness to make these investments as readily as they invest in technical development. The result is research and development labs at large established firms with stockpiles of potentially game‐changing technologies. To evolve a mature BI commercialization competency, a firm must recognize and address the implications for managerial processes, for personnel recruitment, for setting leaders’ expectations, and for developing appropriate performance metrics for those responsible for market creation that go beyond technical discovery and engineering development. Implications for each are discussed.     

虚拟整合的概念模型与价值创造

本文在阐释虚拟整合概念的基础上,分析了虚拟整合与虚拟企业、供应链联盟、虚拟供应链、价值网、虚拟价值链等概念和理论之间的关系,并将其纳入同一框架下,提出了虚拟整合的概念模型;同时,对虚拟整合的价值创造机制与路径进行了分析和探讨,指出虚拟整合实现了合作企业的价值创造活动由实体空间向虚拟空间的延伸,而信息共享、跨组织流程再造、基于顾客价值的商业模式创新以及基于价值星系的开放式创新等则是虚拟整合在虚拟空间实现价值创造的主要路径。     

Labour Market Governance and the Creation of Outsiders

Using case‐study data, the article examines the contention that protective labour market policies and trade union action are responsible for growing divisions between labour market ‘insiders and outsiders’. Case studies are reported on developments in collective bargaining in the hospitals and engineering sectors from seven western and central European countries. The article finds that managerial strategies, and interactions between management and unions, have to be considered to give a full account of the growth of precarious employment.     

联盟组合:价值创造与治理机制

本文认为,联盟组合是焦点企业战略行为最基本诉求的产物,目的是为寻求扩大价值创造空间,进行价值创新或重构,价值创造和价值专有是焦点企业要着重考虑的两个方面。从联盟组合的价值创造机制及联盟租金分布看,联盟组合战略不仅适用于高禀赋企业,对禀赋较弱的企业同样有效。为达成联盟组合战略目标,焦点企业必须建立完善的治理机制,该治理机制本质上是焦点企业与其伙伴之间互动的规则及规范,是一种界面规则,其中的交易治理是硬界面或界面的硬规则,关系治理可以看做软界面或界面的软规则,知识治理是为了促进伙伴间知识与信息的充分交换与共享,伙伴调整则在组合层面上保障战略的适应性。     

The Role of the Interaction between the User and the Manufacturer in Medical Equipment Innovation

It has been empirically observed that 'under-standing user need' and 'good internal and external communications' are factors which discriminate strongly between commercially successful industrial product and process innovations and those that fail. The research reported in this paper examines how the innovating firm achieves desirable levels of these factors through multiple and continuous interaction with the user throughout the innovation process.
In the sample of thirty-four medical equipment innovations from eleven companies, twenty six (76 per cent) were developed through multiple and continuous interaction, resulting in twenty two (65 per cent) of these being successful.
There appear to be two major reasons for this high level of interaction: (1) the requirement that any equipment that is to be potentially introduced into clinical use first needs clinical assessment and trial; and (2) the 'state of the art' clinical and diagnostic knowledge resides in the user. A special relationship is, therefore, needed between the clinical advisory and trial team on the one hand and the manufacturer on the other.
The introduction to this paper reviews the findings of other work in the examination of the role of the user in the innovation process. Details of the sample, the methods of sample selection and classification of the data follow in section 2. The results of the research are summarised in section 3. These detail the nature of the medical equipment innovation process, identifying in particular the high level of interaction between the user, intermediaries and the manufacturer, resulting in good communications and understanding of user need. Section 4 attempts to determine the significance of these results for the effective management of innovation and suggest areas for further research.     

走进廿一世纪迎接未来商机

21世纪将是数字化、网络化的时代,印刷业作为信息产业的重要组成部分,将得到迅猛发展,更多的新技术将付诸应用。在这个过程中,孕育着巨大的商机。国内的印刷企业,印刷设备、器材制造企业,以及相关的生产、供应商,应该抓住机遇,实现自我发展。     

公司总部的价值创造

公司总部一方面可以创造价值，另一方面也可以破坏价值。公司总部如何创造价值可以由RBV的观点、愿景驱动式管理理论、核心竞争能力理论、母公司优势理论来加以解释，为了达到创造价值的目的，公司总部必须明确其功能定位并选择正确的管理模式，同时，还要避免各种价值破坏行为。     

The Value of Federal Sponsorship: The Case of Freddie Mac

The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 attempts to limit the risk borne by the taxpayer due to federal sponsorship of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) and the Federal National Mortgage Association by: (1) controlling their range of activities; (2) requiring a level of capital sufficient to absorb substantial losses; and (3) providing a mechanism for closure if capital is insufficient. This article estimates the impact of the capital standards on the value to the FHLMC of federal sponsorship. Although FHLMC's level of capital exceeds requirements, the federal government still bears a nontrivial portion of the FHLMC's risk.     

面向市场的产品包装设计

当今的科技发展日新月异，在竞争激烈的现代商品社会中，消费者对产品需求已越来越呈现出多元化趋势，企业产品的更新换代速度也不得不随之加快。面对市场疲软、竞争加剧、强手如林、资金短缺的营销环境，绝大多数企业只有一种选择，那就是进行详尽而周密的市场调研，分析消费者的购买动机、购买习惯以及购买决策过程，     

Perspective: The Innovation Dilemma: How to Innovate When the Market Is Mature

Most companies have ambitious growth goals. The trouble is there are only so many sources of market growth. Markets in many countries and industries are mature and increasingly commoditized; achieving growth in market share is expensive; and acquisitions often do not work. For most companies, product development means line extensions, improvements, and product modifications, and only serves to maintain market share. Markets aren't growing, so firms increasingly compete for a piece of a shrinking pie by introducing one insignificant new product after another. The launch of a truly differentiated new product in mature markets is rare these days. As a result, development portfolios have become decidedly less innovative since the mid‐1990s, and R&D productivity is down. The answer is bold innovation—breakthrough products, services and solutions that create growth engines for the future. This means larger‐scope and more systems‐oriented solutions and service packages. Examples such as Apple's iPod are often cited. (Note that Apple did not invent the MP3 player, nor was this opportunity in a blue ocean; in fact there were 43 competitors when Apple launched!) What Apple did succeed in was in identifying an attractive strategic arena (MP3s) where it could leverage its strengths to its advantage and then to develop a solution that solved users’ problems. The result—an easy‐to‐use, easy‐to‐download MP3 system, which also happened to be “cool.” Our benchmarking studies reveal that five vectors must be in place to undertake this type of innovation to yield bolder and more imaginative development projects. First, develop a bold innovation strategy that focuses your business on the right strategic arenas that promise to be engines of real growth. Most businesses focus their efforts in the wrong areas—on flat markets, mature technologies, and tired product categories. Break out of this box towards more promising strategic arenas with extreme opportunities. Next, foster a climate and culture that promotes bolder innovation. Leadership is vital to success. If senior management does not have the appetite for these big concepts, then all your efforts and systems will fail. Senior management plays a vital role here in promoting an innovative climate in your business. Next, create “big ideas” for integrated product‐service solutions. The best methods for generating breakthrough new product ideas are identified in this paper. Then drive these “big concepts” to market quickly via a systematic and disciplined idea‐to‐launch system designed for major innovation initiatives. Just because these projects are imaginative and bold is no reason to throw discipline out the window. In fact, quite the reverse is true. Finally build a solid business case and focus on the winners. Most innovation teams don't get the facts, and consequently build weak business cases; the result is that many worthwhile innovations don't get the support they need to be commercialized. It's essential to do the front‐end homework, and so build a compelling business case. Then make the right investment decisions—evaluating “big concepts” for development when little information is available. Note that financial models don't work well when it comes to evaluating major innovations, because the data are often wrong. But other methods can be used to make these tough go/kill decisions. Illustrations and examples are provided from many industries and companies to show how to implement these five vectors.     

Perspective: The Green Innovation Value Chain: A Tool for Evaluating the Diffusion Prospects of Green Products

Although green products and technologies are heavily promoted by those worried about global climate change and sustainable development, they are frequently unsuccessful in displacing conventional “brown” products in numbers large enough to create meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource use. This paper introduces the green innovation value chain (GIVC) as a tool for analyzing the financial viability of green products using a multi‐stakeholder perspective that includes manufacturers, distribution channels, consumers, the environment, and governments as separate links in the chain. Hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, are used as an illustrative case and are found to be financially unattractive compared with conventional vehicles across the entire GIVC.     

Product Design Innovation and Customer Value: Cross‐Cultural Research in the United States and Korea

Innovation is one of the key drivers of success that a firm must utilize to develop a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate is especially important for a firm's survival in dynamic, changing environments. Customer demands are constantly changing, and more purchases are made when a firm's product design incorporates what customers perceive as cutting‐edge innovations. Satisfying customer demands is a distinct challenge for product designers because firms must develop a clear understanding of what aspects of design the customer wants. Although the importance of design has increased, very little research has been done to explain the relationship between product innovation and product design. Studies indicate that design innovation may create greater customer value through improvements in design value. Previous research has been limited and has not provided a clear concept of design innovation or defined the relationship between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual definition of design innovation, and to define the link between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper utilizes cross‐cultural research to discover how these concepts differ due to cultural differences between the United States and Korea. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of the relationship between design innovation and customer value.     

设计的本意:"开发""创造"

现代包装设计是指以现代科技对产品包装进行开发研究，达到最理想、最适用的新包装而进行的设计。     

拉链在服饰设计中的创意表达

拉链虽然在服饰整体设计中占的面积较小,但可以运用色彩、材质等的变化方法起到画龙点睛的作用,成为服饰中的视觉焦点。因此拉链在服饰设计中的形式表达已从功能向多样转变,拉链的创新使用已成了一个装饰性、实用性、创意性等集多元化于一身的新元素。     

传统经济下编织工艺的价值创新设计探究

社会的喧嚣与复杂性,促使人们更向往舒适、自由的生活体验。人们会借助身边习以为常的衣物或饰品来增强轻松的生活氛围,因此为编织工艺带来广阔的市场发展契机。编织工艺独特的制作手法,为人们的生活带来新的情感寄托。本文通过对编制工艺的种类介绍,了解到编制工艺所体现出的价值。编织者们在作品创新设计中,可将传统编织工艺与丝绸、针织布料进行结合,进而提升编制工艺的价值。     

包装设计是市场的链接点

包装作为开拓市场和占领市场的重要手段之一,致使越来越多的商家把改进包装设计摆在其市场战略的重要位置。如今人们都喜欢在超市选购商品。超市里,同类产品往往摆放在一起,使其间的竞争日趋白热化。这时最能使消费者产生购买欲望的,除了产品本身的品牌和质量外,便是包装了。包装冲击力强的产品往往能够左右消费者的购买意识。一些商家正是发现了这一点,纷纷开始在包装上挖空心思,力求以赏心悦目的包装来吸引消费者,并在同类产品的竞争中占得先机。好的设计在商场上增加筹码,给企业带来更加丰厚的商业回报。这种做法尤其体现在国外的大品牌…