Few customers develop innovations from some products which were not originally thought of. If there is a system to track down those inventions/innovations.
This is a very interesting question, Upananda!
Now, imagine this:
A customer purchases a service or product, is dissatisfied with it in whole or in part. The customer rates the service and/or product online... and so do various others. Might there be opportunities for innovation that the customer may have unintentionally pointed out when (s)he articulated the reasons for their dissatisfaction with the product?
If a competitor were to read those customer assessments, could they be astute enough to see opportunity by creating a similar product with the improvements that the customer suggested? Or by improving their service based on customer's criticisms of competitor's services? Seems to me that this might be an area of research...
Dear Ruth,
Thanks for your response which leads to new insights.
However, i thought differently. Take for example, a paper clip. some Customers use paper clips other than binding few papers together. others may use paper clips as a small lever or screw driver or device to clean nails. then paper clip become a device of multiple purposes. However, we do not exactly how paper clip could be turned out to serve majority of these additional purposes.
Upananda
Yes, this is a rather new area of research anf a challenge for the research society. this area of research require an interdiciplinary approach!
thanks to above reseraches those answered, but I think following :
customer or end user isnot able to inovate business or technology, they only raiting or describe their satisfaction or dissatisfaction about products. Researcher or technologist will think how customer demand will solved by putting into the new model, formula or equation when try to develop upgrade services, technologies etc.
Eric Von Hippel coined the term "Lead Users" back in the late 80's that he used to identify those whose needs are not being satisfied and set out to improve existing products to better meet their needs. Here is a link to his paper, which was published in Management Science.
http://evhippel.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/lead-users-paper-1986.pdf
Customer feedback is one of the most useful information is an opportunity for improvement and can be transform into innovative idea in business. New product development research should consider customer feedback to innovate further for better customer acceptance.
On service perspective, after sales recovery is very important and responding to customer feedback is crucial to ensure customer satisfaction.
I would love to see the results of such a study
Interesting angle to assess creativity driven from the end user
There is a whole area of debate around issues of user and user-led innovation spearheaded by Erc von Hippel as Michael has mentioned above. This is also closely linked to issues of open innovation and the fact that feedback from suppliers and customers also provide relevant insights into which innovators can tap. Eric von Hippel's book on "Democratizing Innovation" published in 2005 comes to mind.
Interesting reactions on the topic ! I would also refer to Chesbrough's open innovation concept elaborated in detail in his book Open Services Innovation.
Management thinkers have already conceptualized " Co-creation ", " Customer driven innovation " etc. It is already established that customers can certainly participate in corporate value addition through their contribution in product development by providing feedback and suggesting improvement. Your question is regarding opportunities of research in the areas where customers innovation has lead to big businesses. There are applications in engaging customers in designing wardrobes in modern styling studios by bringing them in proximity to fabric and fashion designers, so as to make innovative customized product.
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