THE IMPLICATIONS OF "USER TOOLKITS FOR INNOVATION"
Lars Bo Jeppesen · OpenArchive@CBS (Copenhagen Business School) · 2002
Leading firms have begun to offer "user toolkits for innovation".User toolkits are seen as a means to eliminate (costly) iterations of need-related-information between users and producers in the product development process because toolkits allow users to perform need-related aspects of product development themselves (von Hippel, 2001;Thomke and von Hippel, 2002;von Hippel and Katz, 2002 ).In this paper we investigate the implications of increasing opportunities for consumer involvement (OCI) in the product development process.What happens when a firm throws over design tasks to consumers?We explore the issue by looking into the relation between user toolkits and firms' need to support their consumers.A statistical analysis of the OCI-characteristics of 78 computer games products and the intensity of firm support to these products, shows that the higher the OCI, the more a firm will support its consumers.This finding suggests that a portion of the information costs saved (on a reduced number of information iterations between user and producers) may eventually re-emerge as costs in consumer support.However, what is more important is to determine what the support rates are compensating for.Therefore we proceed to identify a number of important (interrelated) dimensions of the toolkit approach.Apart from the support dimension previously mentioned we find in addition two dimensions that may affect the effectiveness of the toolkit approach: 1) the size of solution space left open to consumers; 2) the pre-existing consumer capabilities for dealing with toolkittechnology.We conclude by suggesting that interactive consumer learning will positively affect the toolkits approach.In a case, we study the importance of consumer-toconsumer interaction as a means of substituting firms support efforts and conclude that facilitation of such interaction can enhance the outcomes of the toolkit approach.