Title: Value co-creation through customer engagement in virtual communities for product innovation

Authors: V. Rema; Abhinandan Srivastav

Addresses: Ramaiah Institute of Management, Gate No. 8, Ramaiah Group Campus, 'C' Block, M.S.R.I.T. Post, Bengaluru-560054, Karnataka, India ' Ramaiah Institute of Management, Gate No. 8, Ramaiah Group Campus, 'C' Block, M.S.R.I.T. Post, Bengaluru-560054, Karnataka, India

Abstract: The trend of 'open innovation', a participative, decentralised approach to innovation, involving the synthesis of stakeholder ideas with the business model is likely to bring in more customisation, satisfaction and value. Technological advancement has made it possible for businesses to engage with customers, seek their inputs and implement their contributions, enabling customisation. This study understands the dimensions of customer engagement and its impact in the process of co-creation with respect to new product development for a reputed automobile company. The customer involvement happens on a range of design tasks and product prototype development. Monetary incentives to engage do not seem to be an influencing factor. The study demonstrates that customer engagement has a significant impact on value co-creation in new product development. The role of collaborative framework, a pragmatic approach can enable organisations to innovate based on customer insights and deliver value to the customers and businesses.

Keywords: value co-creation; customer engagement; virtual communities; open innovation; new product development; NPD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2024.137393

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2024 Vol.36 No.2/3, pp.310 - 325

Received: 22 Mar 2020
Accepted: 24 Jun 2020
Published online: 18 Mar 2024 *

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