A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

Prosumer Involvement in Innovation Strategies – the
Prosumer Creativity and Focus Paradigm
Monica Izvercianu and Sabina Şeran
Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
monica.izvercianu @ mpt.upt.ro
seran.sabina@yahoo.com
Abstract: Innovation has become a key success factor for sustainable companies that face diversity of thought,
globalization of communication means and the rise of a new type of consumer: the prosumer. This concept refers
to a technology savvy, that shares goods and services, wants to make his voice heard by developing ideas,
products or services in partnership with companies, to become valuable through his creative offer. With the
technology boom and the invention of the Web, prosumers, limited by physical boundaries went online, where
they found unlimited sources for their rip, mix and burn nature. The old consumption model is dead; long live the
new consumption model! The old consumption model was based on mass consumption, mass communication, a
centralized economy, standardization and specialization of work places. The usual consumer was uninformed,
could be easily influenced by marketing campaigns and generally bought a wide range of products. But with the
rapid development of technology, a large number of consumers became knowledgeable, having global access to
technology, communication and information. Precisely these changes offer a wide range of competitive
advantages for open minded organizations. Therefore a threat is transformed into an opportunity, by innovating
alongside their consumers. The degree of prosumer involvement into the innovation process takes time and
effort, and depends on a company’s characteristics and objectives. The present article takes into account the
level of prosumer involvement and creativity output, and presents the four main strategies that have emerged:
Company + Company customization, Company + Prosumer crowd sourcing, Prosumer + Company working
together and Prosumer + Prosumer co-creation. These four strategies are the starting point for important decision
making and complex marketing campaigns creation. The Prosumer Creativity and Focus paradigm is suited for a
company’s introspection, for defining its position and customer focus, leading to an open innovation and a radical
change of mentality.
Keywords: prosumer, co-creation, crowd sourcing, open innovation, prosumer creativity and focus paradigm,
virtual knowledge broker
1. Introduction
Companies from all over the world face profound changes in technology, demographical, economical
and cultural transformations, which are establishing market success according to innovative activities
undertaken. Schumpeter (2003) talks about innovation like an activity designed to “produce
something else or to produce otherwise”. Therefore, we can argue that an innovative activity must
target new products or services or new manufacturing technologies, which will offer new features for
common products. But innovation isn’t limited to these two possibilities. Extrapolating, and thinking
the matter in a systemic manner, it implies courage to enter new markets, which are shown to be
profitable, to bring new and revolutionary raw materials in the manufacturing process, to reorganize
the internal structure and culture of a firm based on an innovative method or to build a firm’s image
after a fresh marketing trend, corresponding perfectly to the target audience’s needs.
In the years 2007-2008, the economic crisis that put an end to the old consumption model, in a world
stroke by poverty and unemployment, brought to life an era ruled by value added actions and
prosumption. Therefore, the old consumption model which had known a rapid growth from the
massive industrialization era, with principles like mass communication, product standardization,
maximization of profits, specialization of the work place, centralization of economy and policy, began
to loose ground, because of its bureaucratic and slow reaction to change.
Jean Baudrillard’s (1970) consumption society collapsed because of the global recession. The
consumption has dramatically decreased causing companies to adopt new market strategies or to
declare bankruptcy. But what kind of strategies to adopt, if till then Kotler’s (2009) consumer centred
marketing determined managers to treat consumers like kings, to analyze their needs and wants and
to quickly meet them? What else could they do? It was a firm-client relationship issue. Managers
didn’t perceive the client as an individual, with a distinctive personality and creative potential, but as
an amorphous mass of people, corresponding to certain indicators, which needed to be manipulated
through mass communication. But yesterday’s uninformed consumer, who was purchasing a wide
range of products being influenced by advertising, has rapidly transformed in an informed consumer,
demanding in its choices, who could not be manipulated by mass media’s boastful ads. Companies
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