Management of Customer Co-development in Business-to-Business Markets
Oinonen, Minna (2016-06-17)
Väitöskirja
Oinonen, Minna
17.06.2016
Lappeenranta University of Technology
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-265-962-0
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-265-962-0
Tiivistelmä
Management of customer co-development means involving customers in the
development of new products and services, and coordinating the process. In business-tobusiness
markets, customer co-development enables the development of innovations that
better match customer needs and strengthens customer relationships. However, close
collaboration with customers can hamper the innovativeness of new products and lead to
overly customized solutions. Therefore, the management of co-development is crucial to
its success. Yet the existing research on management of co-development has mainly
focused on selecting the right collaboration partners, and the field lacks understanding on
how to manage the tensions inherent in customer co-development.
The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding on the management of the codevelopment.
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first comprises the literature review
and conclusions for the whole study, and the second presents four publications. From the
methodological perspective, the research papers follow exploratory qualitative research
design. The empirical data comprise interviews with 60 persons, representing 25 different
organizations, and a group of 11 end users.
The study conceptualizes management of customer co-development in three dimensions
1) relational co-development processes, 2) co-development challenges and paradoxes,
and 3) internal customer involvement processes. The findings contribute to the customersupplier
relationship, innovation, and marketing management literatures by providing a
framework on supplier-customer co-development, addressing co-development paradoxes
and their management processes, and suggesting practices for customer involvement. For
practitioners, the findings provide tools to manage the challenges related to codevelopment
with customers.
development of new products and services, and coordinating the process. In business-tobusiness
markets, customer co-development enables the development of innovations that
better match customer needs and strengthens customer relationships. However, close
collaboration with customers can hamper the innovativeness of new products and lead to
overly customized solutions. Therefore, the management of co-development is crucial to
its success. Yet the existing research on management of co-development has mainly
focused on selecting the right collaboration partners, and the field lacks understanding on
how to manage the tensions inherent in customer co-development.
The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding on the management of the codevelopment.
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first comprises the literature review
and conclusions for the whole study, and the second presents four publications. From the
methodological perspective, the research papers follow exploratory qualitative research
design. The empirical data comprise interviews with 60 persons, representing 25 different
organizations, and a group of 11 end users.
The study conceptualizes management of customer co-development in three dimensions
1) relational co-development processes, 2) co-development challenges and paradoxes,
and 3) internal customer involvement processes. The findings contribute to the customersupplier
relationship, innovation, and marketing management literatures by providing a
framework on supplier-customer co-development, addressing co-development paradoxes
and their management processes, and suggesting practices for customer involvement. For
practitioners, the findings provide tools to manage the challenges related to codevelopment
with customers.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1038]