Where's the customer in technology-based radical innovation?

Abstract

There is a growing understanding of the importance of customer involvement in bringing radical innovations successfully to the market. In this paper, we analyse when and how industrial customers can facilitate technology-based radical innovation. For this purpose, we combine a literature review with a comparative case study research comprising eight empirical cases. For management theorists, the presentation of extant findings in a process model allows the integration and coherent interpretation of current literature. In addition, our empirical research provides an improved understanding of the way customers contribute throughout the innovation process. For managers, the overview of existing findings in the literature gives an indication of the benefits and difficulties of involving customers in the development and commercialisation of technology-based radical innovations. The empirically observed range of activities involving customers shows that managers are aware that customer involvement can facilitate technology-based radical innovation.