Virtual worlds as settings for avatar-based innovation processes

  Niina Maarit Novak, Andreas Mladenow, Christine Strauss    Received: 21 February 2014 / Accepted: 15 June 2014 / Published: 30 June 2014  © The Society of Service Science and Springer 2014   ABSTRACT  The full potential of Virtual Worlds is still far away from being reached. Whereas innovations  are key factors for economic success, the increase of complexity in innovation processes, due  to  an  internationalization  of  collaborations  as  well  as  to  an  increase  in  interaction  between  manufacturers  and  consumers,  represents  a  major  challenge  for  many  companies.  In  this  context  Avatar-based  Innovation  Processes  represent  promising  innovation  drivers,  as  they  provide  a  globally  connected  working  environment  for  user-centred  innovation  processes.  The  use  of  Avatars  and  Virtual  Worlds  allows  for  an  unprecedented  form  of  web  based  collaboration  during  the  entire  innovation  process.  The  paper  provides  a  review  of  recent  developments in Virtual Worlds, analyses how companies may exploit virtual environments  and collaborate with Avatars during different stages of the innovation process, and underpins  those alternatives with examples.    increased  customer  satisfaction.  In  this  context  Avatar-based  Innovations  represent  a  new  chapter  of  user-centred  innovation  processes,  allowing  for  an  unprecedented  form  of  web- based collaboration along the entire innovation process chain.  Avatar-based Innovation Processes (ABIP) involve the transfer of the innovation process  into a Virtual World (VW), where users and manufacturer collaborate and interact during the  entire innovation process (Kohler et al. 2011). When VW first emerged, about a decade ago,  they  have  been  advertised  as  " The  next  big  thing "  that  will  revolutionize  the  social  media  landscape and e-Commerce in general. However, VW did not turn into the virtual shopping- temples  originally  envisioned …