Idea generation: customer co‐creation versus traditional market research techniques

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between proactive and reactive market research techniques during the development of new market offerings. The study focused on the financial and innovative performance of traditional market research techniques, such as focus groups and in‐depth interviews, in comparison to more co‐creation‐oriented techniques that are designed to capture customers' value‐in‐use.Design/methodology/approachThe study was a two‐stage process. Study I, an empirical investigation of 195 development projects in European companies, examined how these companies use different market research techniques and how this relates to the profit margins of new products and services. Study II designed an experiment with 50 users of a consumer good and evaluated the contribution of different market research techniques, based on the degree of originality and customer value.FindingsSignificant differences were found, in terms of both content and originality, between the technique based on customer co‐creation and the two traditional market research techniques (Study II). These findings can help to explain why the relationship between the use of market research techniques and profit margin (Study I) is stronger for co‐creation techniques than it is for traditional market research techniques.Originality/valueDespite empirical evidence that the application of market research techniques based on co‐creation can lead to original ideas, there is a lack of valid studies regarding how co‐creation techniques perform in relation to more traditional methods of collaboration with customers.

Customer co‐creation in service innovation: a matter of communication?

“…The results of the present study contribute to a deeper understanding of why new offerings developed through market research techniques based on co-creation with customers are more profitable than those developed with traditional market research techniques (Witell et al, 2011). For development projects that aim to achieve incremental innovations, three dimensions of customer co-creation were equally important for product and market success.…”

“…Still, if radical innovations are to succeed, there must be latent customer needs connected to the new solution. The only way a company can form an opinion about the validity of this match between latent need and solution is to spend time with its customers generating knowledge about the context-specific sticky information, which may require a different tool set for companies (Witell et al, 2011).…”

“…Proactive market orientation can be achieved by working closely with lead users or by conducting market experiments to discover future needs that are typically difficult to foresee or articulate (Jaworski et al 2000;Slater and Narver, 1998;AtuaheneGima et al, 2005;Rogers, 1995). Witell et al (2011) suggested that it is necessary to distinguish cocreation for use from co-creation for others: customers perform co-creation for use for their own benefit, while co-creation for others is oriented towards other customers. Therefore, co-creation in the development process mainly concerns co-creation for others.…”

“…Despite the general consensus that co-creation with customers is beneficial, there is a lack of agreement regarding how and why (Kristensson et al, 2008;Witell et al, 2011). When describing the essence of the service-dominant logic, Lusch et al (2007) contended that co-creation with customers for the purpose of innovation is a foundational part of modern marketing, and that cocreation involves "shared inventiveness" (p. 11).…”

“…Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) concluded that "informed, networked, empowered, and active consumers are increasingly co-creating value with the firm" (p. 1). However, the specific actions and behaviors that make up co-creation have not yet been fully addressed (Witell et al, 2011). Gruner and Homburg (2000) and Lundkvist and Yakhlef (2004) argued that the process of communication and socially rich interactions with customers is one of the determinants for product success.…”