Shifting Innovation to Users Via Toolkits
Name
Shifting Innovation to Users Via Toolkits 4232-02.pdf
Size
247.63 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7fc6041336acb6ffd9b06f4ac12b1343
Author(s)
Von Hippel, Eric A.
Katz, Ralph
Date Issued
June 7, 2002
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4232-02
Abstract
In the traditional new product development process, manufacturers first explore user
needs and then develop responsive products. Developing an accurate understanding of
user needs is not simple or fast or cheap however, and the traditional approach is
coming under increasing strain as user needs change more rapidly, and as firms
increasingly seek to serve "markets of one."
Toolkits for user innovation is an emerging alternative approach in which manufacturers
actually abandon the attempt to understand user needs in detail in favor of transferring
need-related aspects of product and service development to users. Experience in fields
where the toolkit approach has been pioneered show custom products being
developed much more quickly and at a lower cost. In this paper we explore toolkits
for user innovation and explain why and how they work.
Description
Another version of this paper is available in MIT Open Access Articles collection at https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/127249.
Subjects
User Innovation
Toolkits
Product Development
Persistent DSpace Link
