Innovation and Ontologies

54 Roadmap for the Fuzzy Front End
2.2.2 Participants of Ideation
Organizations should […] make information about customers 68 , competitors, and the industry
more widely available to employees; and encourage staff
to be interested in […] and collectively make sense of external development.
(Madanmohan, 2005)
In the traditional conception, ideas are mainly derived from internal sources. An important role is
given to internal research and development. Adjacent divisions, like marketing or customer
service, as well as members of production and procurement are considered to be important
creators of ideas, too (Benders & Vermeulen, 2002; Brockhoff, 1999; Herstatt, Verworn &
Nagahira, 2004; Phillips, Noke, Bessant & Lamming, 2004; Salomo & Cratzius, 2005).
Open innovation, going beyond the traditional closed innovation model, taps additional
(external) sources for the ‘outside-in process’ or ‘co-creation’ of innovation (cf. figure 22)
(Chesbrough, 2004; Gassmann & Enkel, 2006; Keim & Littkemann, 2005; Reichwald & Piller,
2006). Particularly for this phase 69 , open innovation stresses the integration of (end) customers 70 ,
suppliers and competitors as initiators and/ or participants (Brockhoff, 2005; Ernst, 2004;
Franke, von Hippel & Schreier, 2006; Gassmann & Enkel, 2006; Gruner & Homburg, 1999;
Harhoff, Henkel & von Hippel, 2003; Hermann & Schaffner, 2005; von Hippel, 1995; von
Hippel, 2005; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2003; Quinn, 1985; Reichwald & Piller, 2006).
Research
Projects
Boundary
of the Firm
Research
Development
Market
Research
Projects
Boundary
of the Firm
Research
Development
figure 22 Closed and open innovation (based on Chesbrough, 2005; Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke & West, 2007)
New
Market
Current
Market
Multidisciplinary participants ensure that the different needs and capabilities as well as the
integrated perspectives of market and technology can positively influence the innovation process
from the beginning (Enkel, Perez-Freije & Gassmann, 2005; Ernst, 2002; Kim & Wilemon, 2002;
Kobe, 2006; Lester & Piore, 2004; Manimala, Jose & Thomas, 2005; Vissers & Dankbaar, 2002).
68 It is important not to consider customers only as equivalent of existing customers, an often cited (mis)interpretation of Christensen’s work
(Christensen, 1997). It is a necessity to focus on current as well as on future customers. This is best realized by trying to understand the latent
and unexpressed needs of customers which also might be requirements of future customers, e.g. by the methods suggested in 2.2.2, 2.3.2.3,
and 2.4.1.3 (Danneels, 2004).
69 Internal and external diversity is an important success factor of the entire Fuzzy Front End. This section on Ideation mainly focuses on
customer integration. Paragraph 2.3.2.2 shows the importance of internally diverse teams, while subsection 2.4.1 elaborates on cooperation
between companies.
70 Enkel, Perez-Freije & Gassmann (2005) provide an exhaustive overview on the literature on customer integration in the innovation process.
They identified 11 attributes of customer integration as well as their key issues and associate them to the respective academic contributions.
Besides, an overview on the customer profiles necessary for useful contribution to the innovation process is provided.