John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

have now are the needs other users will have later (Von Hippel, 2005, p.22). In
addition, the innovations they develop to meet their own needs will often form
the basis for improved commercial products. He argues that by supporting
these lead users, producers and providers increase the potential to discover
innovations they can then leverage and sell to their other customers. Hippel
explores why users might want custom products or services, and finds that user
needs are so diverse that no standardised product can meet them all. Although
this is tantamount to ‘all the people some of the time, and some of the people all
the time, but not all the people all the time’ it is nevertheless important because
it indicates there is still great potential and new opportunities for new markets.
Hippel continues by discussing the ‘free revealing’ of proprietary information
and the means by which commercial interests can benefit from this
transmission. This is illustrated with the example of academic publications.
Hippel cites a study (Antelman, 2004) that provides considerable evidence that
free revealing vastly increases reuse based on the number of citations of papers.
Empirical studies find that articles available for free download are cited
significantly more often than are equivalent articles that are available only from
libraries or fee-based websites (Von Hippel, 2005, p.88).
“Freely revealing users also may benefit from enhancement of reputation,
from positive network effects due to increased diffusion of their
innovation, and from other factors. Being the first to freely reveal a
particular innovation can also enhance the benefits received, and so there
can actually be a rush to reveal, much as scientists rush to publish in
order to gain the benefits associated with being the first to have made a
particular advancement.” (Von Hippel, 2005, p.10)
Hippel points out that smaller enterprises and even individual hobbyists now
have access to sophisticated CAD design tools for hardware and electronics (Von
Hippel, 2005, p.13). He suggests that this will continue to drive innovation by
users. Free Open Source Software (FOSS) projects are indications that
“…users can create, produce, diffuse, provide user field support for,
update, and use complex products by and for themselves in the context of
user innovation communities.” (Von Hippel, 2005, p.14)
- 66 -