“Do consumers want to design unique products on the internet? A ...

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VC Mediums Description Table 2: Mediums for VC communication Communication Type Chat Room Online conversation in close <strong>to</strong> real-time. Usually no record of communication kept. Synchronous Message/Bulletin Allow the user <strong>to</strong> post content which other Asynchronous Boards users may reply <strong>to</strong>, usually communication is kept for a long period of time and the community can browse this. News Groups Usually in the form of a Message or Bulletin board which requires specialist software <strong>to</strong> connect the user <strong>to</strong> the news server <strong>to</strong> view/contribute <strong>to</strong> users posts. Often the News Group is formed around a specific <strong>to</strong>pic. Asynchronous E-mail Group Often referred <strong>to</strong> as Listserv groups, this is a community centered on e-mail communication using one e-mail address which users use <strong>to</strong> post. These tend <strong>to</strong> have higher levels of moderation and more focused specialized communication. Asynchronous Instant Messaging Examples of this are MSN or AOL Synchronous (IM) Messenger, these enable you <strong>to</strong> build lists of your online friends and communicate directly with them. The emphasis here is often more on meeting people you already know than meeting new people as in a chat room. Wikis Pioneered by the online encyclopaedia “Wikipedia”. Community is usually built around a shared interest area in which all users have the same right <strong>to</strong> alter community generated content. Asynchronous It is suggested in the literature that VCs are attractive <strong>to</strong> businesses as they provide a mechanism <strong>to</strong>: - Facilitate a stronger relationship between the firm and its cus<strong>to</strong>mers (Brown et al 2002; Hagel and Armstrong 1997) - Generate rapid-response and instantaneous feedback concerning different innovation projects throughout the entire innovation process (Ernst and Gulati 2003). Adam Fletcher – Do <strong>consumers</strong> <strong>want</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>design</strong> <strong>unique</strong> product on the internet. 2006 28
- Access a communities’ publicly available knowledge base containing information detailing their likes, dislikes or demographics (Ridings et al 2002). Obviously before the consumer will be willing <strong>to</strong> openly share information and ideas there is a need for trust in the community, trust that the community hosts will not exploit information on the members, perhaps selling their contact details or ideas. Trust is defined as an implicit set of beliefs that the other party will refrain from opportunistic behavior and take advantage of the situation (Hosmer 1995). Online however trust is multi-faceted. A member may only be communicating directly with one other member, however if this communication is viewable by other members, then it is not only the trust that the two directly communicating members have with each other, but their level of trust in the community as a whole, and with the communities provider which will shape their communication (Ridings et al 2002). Repeated interactions can help <strong>to</strong> build a culture of trust and commitment which only encourage further innovation and involvement (Fuller and Heinerth 2004; Fuller et al 2004). Without this trust users may be reluctant <strong>to</strong> contribute and the knowledge sharing potential between organisations and the community is lost. Threadless helps <strong>to</strong> build this trust by having a clear privacy and usage policy with explicitly states the rights it has over community generated content and <strong>design</strong>s. Online communities have been found <strong>to</strong> be highly innovative and can be found for almost every product or service (Fuller & Hienerth 2004), with research suggesting that many Adam Fletcher – Do <strong>consumers</strong> <strong>want</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>design</strong> <strong>unique</strong> product on the internet. 2006 29
Page 1 and 2: “Do cons
Page 3 and 4: Abstract Mass Custo</strong
Page 5 and 6: Chapter 1 Introduction, Term Defini
Page 7 and 8: mass produced system.” Adam Fletc
Page 9 and 10: The Internet itself could be viewed
Page 11 and 12: With this renewed interest and opti
Page 13 and 14: 2.0 Literature Review (5000) This c
Page 15 and 16: Table 1: Description of Production
Page 17 and 18: Lampel and Mintzberg’s (1996) hav
Page 19 and 20: individualization” (Piller & Mull
Page 21 and 22: necessary discounting to</s
Page 23 and 24: significant value add or a way of g
Page 25 and 26: Figure 3: MC approaches used by VMs
Page 27: eceived less focus in the literatur
Page 31 and 32: Some studies have proven that often
Page 33 and 34: In this approach the custo<
Page 35 and 36: Figure 5: “Conceptual framework s
Page 37 and 38: 3.0 Research Strategy & Methodology
Page 39 and 40: general. It can help to</st
Page 41 and 42: 3.3 Research Methodology It is sugg
Page 43 and 44: Chapter 4 Findings & Discussion “
Page 45 and 46: shows the different categories and
Page 47 and 48: commonly posted comments were givin
Page 49 and 50: community member adds a comment bel
Page 51 and 52: “This is pretty rough right now,
Page 53 and 54: “other” also responded in a way
Page 55 and 56: Surprisingly and contradict
Page 57 and 58: 4.5 Sawhney and Prandelli (2000) st
Page 59 and 60: customers
Page 61 and 62: Figure 10: Adapted Conceptual Frame
Page 63 and 64: Chapter 5 “Armed with new connect
Page 65 and 66: 5.1 Research Conclusions & Limitati
Page 67 and 68: 5.3 Recommendations The most obviou
Page 69 and 70: Chapter 6 References & Appendices
Page 71 and 72: participation in network and small
Page 73 and 74: Control. Vol. 15, N.4, June 2004, 4
Page 75 and 76: Von Hippel, E. (1986) “Lead users
Page 77 and 78: 1. Less than once a week 2. Once or
Page 79 and 80:
17. Do you design
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30. Please rate from 1-10 (10 being
Page 83 and 84:
The Virtual Community of Threadless
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