Motivation in Open Innovation

Shorter product life cycles, high product flop rates and an increasing heterogeneityof consumer needs have recently put considerable pressure on the innovationactivities of manufacturers. The collaboration with users in open innovationprocesses has been promoted as a powerful approach for companiesto succeed in today's competitive environment. However, little isknown about what drives these user innovators to contribute their time andeffort to the creation of new products. Yet, a deep understanding of themotivation of user innovators represents an important first step formanufacturers to improve the nature of this type of cooperation. RobertMotzek's study investigates the motivational profiles of user innovators froma manufacturer's point of view. Since lead users and tool kit users can to avery high extent be involved in the firm's innovation process, this report willfocus on the integration of those two types of users. The analysis will be supportedby two exploratory case studies of Spreadshirt and Threadless, twocompanies which have successfully based their business models on the integrationof user innovators. The study will identify the most important factorscontrolling user innovators' motivation and will derive suggestions on howmanufacturers can address these points in order to tap the full potential ofuser innovation for their new product development.