Organizing and Tapping Consumer Communities

This paper provides a framework that links consumer efforts to commercial innovation. It seeks to answer the question why some firms are able to benefit from relations to their consumers. It proposes that (some) firms can improve their product development by organizing consumer communities and by relying on a critical mass of dedicated consumers. It shows how convergence between new technology and new organizational forms makes the systematic integration costless consumer generated content a relevant option to some firms. The framework is illustrated by two case studies of product development in the computer games industry.