Posted on : 2024-01-05 03:22:58
Article : Good evening Friday Management TASK 275- What is role of customer co-creation in new product development?
In consumer goods manufacturing sector Co-creation refers to inviting stakeholders (usually customers or employees) to participate in a design or problem-solving process to produce a mutually valued outcome. Co-creation in new product development, (NPD) in which consumers dynamically contribute and select various elements of a new product offering” emerges as a salient form of consumer participation. It encompasses a broad range of activities, such as proposing ideas for new product or service development or the improvement of existing ones, by means of supporting the design phase, evaluating ideas and alternatives, or contributing to the definition of the launch campaign.
From a marketing perspective, co-creation is posited as a lever to develop products or services able to fulfil needs not met in the market yet. The possibility to spur innovation and to enhance performances explains the rising interest of companies and scholars in such activities. The web has enabled innovative forms of virtual co-creation in new product development thanks to ubiquitous access to content, enhanced interaction opportunities and cost savings, improving consumer engagement through larger reach, persistence, speed, and flexibility.
Co-creation, in the context of a business, refers to a product or service design process in which input from consumers plays a central role from beginning to end. Less specifically, the term is also used in which a business allows consumers to submit ideas, designs or content. Another meaning is the creation of value by ordinary people, whether for a company or not. Customer co-creation, in short, is open innovation with customers. It is a product or service development approach where users and customers are actively involved and take part in the design of a new offering. More specifically, customer co-creation is defined as an active, creative, and social process, based on collaboration between producers and customers. The idea of co-creation is to actively involve customers in the design or development of future offerings, often with the help of tools that are provided by the firm. Through this the manufacturer is either empowering its customers to design a solution by themselves or is implementing methodologies to efficiently transfer an innovative solution from the customer into the company domain.
The process a company must tap into in order to really understand their customers is sometimes referred to as presumption. Presumption is a process in which consumers co-design and co-produce their own products and services. Such processes blur the distinction between consumers and producers, which makes the quality of the consumer as, if not more important than the quality of the service provider. The acceptance of presumption as a phenomenon implies that, rather than simply being passive constituents of an industry, customers become principal participants in the creation of and competition for value.
Traditionally, firms have attempted to manage this asymmetry by engaging in various forms of marketing research to obtain better information about their customers’ needs. Under this approach, successful innovation rests on first understanding customer needs and then developing products to meet those needs. Unfortunately, customer needs are often idiosyncratic and tacit in nature and, hence, hard to accurately measure and coherently implement. It is suggested that consumers have deep and complex high-fidelity needs; however, traditional market research methods often provide managers with only a cursory low fidelity signal of what customers want or need. As a result, most new product failures are attributed to a firm’s inability to accurately assess and satisfy customer needs. The ability of consumers to take a more active role in NPD has been significantly enhanced by recent technological advances, most notably the development and growth of the Internet.
With this introductory profile on co-creation for new product development (NPD) we shall discuss more with real time companies’ examples where consumers were co-creators. We also wish that present corporate brand/marketing/product managers might also have hands on experience on this NPD process and it would highly be appreciated if you can share your experience on our comments box or mail us so that we can share with millions of young budding professionals. Our Management solution for this TASK 275 will be posted on 8th Jan 2024 Good Moring Monday post.
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