1. OPEN INNOVATION IN THE SPORTING GOODS INDUSTRY: POTENTIALS OF VIRTUAL
Kai‐Ingo Voigt · 2012
The general conditions of the sporting goods industry, which is characterised by an intense and dynamic competitive environment, have changed considerably over the last years. Besides the increasing individualisation of the products, the customers’ lifestyle orientation is also gaining in importance. For a long-term existence in this situation, the companies need to coordinate the innovation activities with these changing conditions and the resulting demand. In this regard, the early identification of trends is important for satisfying the customers’ needs as soon as possible, before the competition does. As users of the products, the company’s customers can be used as a key source of stimulation. The basic approach for opening the innovation process to outside influence is commonly known as the term “Open Innovation”. Due to the use of web-based applications that allow users to network and communicate in many ways, for some time now there have been many mechanisms available that allow the implementation of the customer integration in the context of innovation activities to be virtual as well. For example, the use of communities, the holding of idea contests or the use of the so-called toolkits can contribute to the early identification of trends and, furthermore, can develop the customers’ impulse for their own innovation management. In the present paper, the innovation activities of the sporting goods industry by means of Open Innovation are discussed theoretically first. Based on previous research, mechanisms for virtual customer integration are presented and their potential is identified. Particularly with regard to tiding over the typical distance between sporting goods producers and the final customers through intermediary dealers, the integration of customers through web-based tools proves itself to be particularly suitable. Following up on this, the practical implementation of Open Innovation in the sporting goods industry is qualitatively examined through expert interviews. Basically, the utility of such instruments for early integration of customers-side impulses in the innovation process is proved. The research shows that the surveyed companies use the mechanisms for virtual customer integration as communities, innovation contests or toolkits only unsystematic and irregular. The identified potentials are exploited poorly thus far, but the surveyed companies are open to an intensification of the use of these mechanisms. Based on the theoretical and empirical results in the paper we derive strategic action recommendations, how companies in the sporting goods industry can optimise their innovation activities through a systematic implementation of virtual customer integration.