Virtual Customer Environments & Customer Involvement in Innovation and Value Creation

July 2, 2004
Satish Nambisan | Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The infusion of new information technologies in customer-firm interactions has redefined the roles customers can play in value creation and product innovation. Several companies (e.g. Microsoft, HP, Procter & Gamble, Volvo, Samsung, and Peugot) have established online or virtual product communities, virtual product prototyping and testing centers, and other virtual product forums – which I collectively refer to here as Virtual Customer Environments (VCEs) – to facilitate rich interactions between customers and firms as well as among customers themselves, and to involve customers in varied value creation activities ranging from the design and development of new products to product testing and customer support. I have been conducting research over the last four years or so on the various managerial aspects related to customer involvement in value creation in such virtual environments. The research has included interview-based studies (including interviews with Microsoft MVPs and customers of other firms such as HP and Bang & Olufson) as well as questionnaire-based survey of customers from Microsoft and IBM. This presentation will draw on the above research and focus on the following topics: customers’ value creation roles in VCEs, customer incentives and their impact on participation behavior, strategies for enhancing customers’ overall interaction experience in VCEs, and strategies for effective appropriation of the value co-created by customers in VCEs.

Speaker Details

Satish Nambisan is an associate professor of technology management and strategy at the Lally School of Management & Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY). His primary research interests are in the areas of technology strategy, product development, value creation networks, and software development. His research has been published in various top management journals including the Academy of Management Review, Management Science, MIT Sloan Management Review, IEEE Transactions, Communications of the ACM, and MIS Quarterly. He is a member of several professional organizations including the Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, PDMA, and INFORMS.