Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/50405 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
KOF Working Papers No. 276
Publisher: 
ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, Zurich
Abstract: 
Research about users as a source of innovation has been largely restricted to case studies exploring specific innovation projects at the firm level. This study assesses empirically the relationship between external end users' knowledge as an input factor to innovation and firms' innovation success. The results strongly support the hypotheses: (i) that external end users have the potential to essentially improve the innovative performance of firms; (ii) that the technique of interaction during the innovation process and the characteristics of involved external users matter as well. The more firms make use of emphatic design and select specific users to acquire hard-to-articulate customer needs, the stronger is the relationship between access to external end users' knowledge and firm innovation success measured in sales of innovative products.
Subjects: 
user innovation
user interaction
lead user
innovation performance
JEL: 
O31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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