One thing I experienced the last couple of weeks is that it is pretty damn difficult to build an excellent research. When I talk with other people about co-creation, innovation, and new business models, their ears start to flap. Of course, my cluster mates are also working in this area, but outside our team it is not easy to make clear what is meant by these concepts. They are new and not always understood. Well, this is already a good reason to perform this research. Fortunately, I have the ability at Capgemini to meet people, who do know something about these concepts. An interesting conversation did take place with Ron Tolido, Chief Technology Officer at Capgemini the Netherlands. With him, I discussed my research and we talked about the broader perspective in which my research must be placed.In actual fact, it is not strange to think about the concepts discussed. As Andy Mulholland et al. describe in their book ‘Mashup Corporations’, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) enables a way to expand the reach of the company by allowing services to define and transform relationships. SOA can thus be seen as an enabling technology. It can enhance the relationship of a company with its customers. The basic assumption in my research is that companies are able to bring customers closer to the core business processes. In this way, so-called ‘pioneers’ are able to co-create value for and with customers. Companies like Google or Amazon.com are good examples of companies, which enabled the assembly of simple applications (‘mashups’) for innovative thinkers. So-called ‘lead users’ brought together in communities are able to come up with new ideas and solutions for companies, so that these companies can better serve customers or address new customers.
Of course, this has implications on the products or services that appear to customers, partners or competitors. Some of the co-creations create markets that not existed before or change the role the company plays in the value chain. Consequently, this leads to business model innovations. Companies can build stronger business models if they assess their own capabilities and the context for a co-creation. Chesbrough, famous from his book ‘Open Innovation’, argues that business model innovation is vital to sustain Open Innovation (Chesbrough & Schwartz, 2007, HBR). The innovations depend on the context for the relation between company and co-creation partner. Important hereby is to define the business objectives for partnering and align business models.
It appears that my research is not falling from the sky. Despite the fact that most companies (especially in the manufacturing sector) do not think about transforming because their business generates enough value, they have to due to changing relations in the business eco-system, new demands from customers, and to seek a solution for decreased margins. Companies must take the time to express their business model and try to understand business models of others. In line with Chesbrough, I argue that business model assessment of both your own business model and of others is critical for co-creation.
