Managing both corporate customer and consumer involvement in upstream firm’s new product development. Case: KONE Corporation
Vo, Ngoc (2017-04-26)
Managing both corporate customer and consumer involvement in upstream firm’s new product development. Case: KONE Corporation
Vo, Ngoc
(26.04.2017)
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Turun yliopisto. Turun kauppakorkeakoulu
Kuvaus
siirretty Doriasta
Tiivistelmä
The success of an upstream firm in a supply chain is affected by its capability of developing new products. This study discusses the significance of both corporate customer and consumer involvement in the upstream firm’s new product development process. The purpose of this study is to suggest a framework which can well describe the way the firm involves both groups of customers at different stages of the development process and how it is able co-create value with both of them despite the disadvantage of being far located from end users.
Due to the lack of literature focusing on the involvement of both customers, the study’s literature review firstly consists of theoretical discussions relating to value co-creation with the customers and consumers separately. It then is integrated and combined for the purpose of creating a synthesis framework. Methodologically, the study selects qualitative approach to allow deep understanding on special context. Secondary data was used for the study because data from/about the case company – KONE Corporation – is widely published and studied by many researchers. A total of 124 items, including academic research, dissertations, magazines, reports and mini case studies were chosen for analysis. Content analysis was chosen to analyze the collected data. Furthermore, due to the unique nature of the phenomenon, abductive approach was used to enable the author to base on a comparison between empirical findings and extant theoretical framework to develop more complete and appropriate interaction framework well illustrating the situation.
The study finds that although the upstream firm faces challenges in engaging the consumers, consumer involvement is inseparable with customer involvement throughout the development process. In fact, customers and consumers play critical roles and their information requires appropriate attention at different stages. Knowledge transfer mechanism comprises of trust, open communication and language. External knowledge transfer between the focal firm and customers is a key to access and acquire better consumer information despite their distance in the chain. Furthermore, effective internal knowledge transfer plays as a competitive advantage and essential antecedent for the success of external knowledge transfer. Interestingly, sustainability is found to be an important factor influencing its long-term relationship with the customers and stakeholders. In addition, involvement intensity and methods for each type of customer are discussed.
The results of this study create fundamental knowledge of involving both direct and indirect customers in B2B context. It hence can be a base for future studies, such as customer’s and consumers’ views on value co-creation with upstream firms, and how sustainability impact on value co-creation with customers and consumers when it is integrated throughout the whole value chain.
Due to the lack of literature focusing on the involvement of both customers, the study’s literature review firstly consists of theoretical discussions relating to value co-creation with the customers and consumers separately. It then is integrated and combined for the purpose of creating a synthesis framework. Methodologically, the study selects qualitative approach to allow deep understanding on special context. Secondary data was used for the study because data from/about the case company – KONE Corporation – is widely published and studied by many researchers. A total of 124 items, including academic research, dissertations, magazines, reports and mini case studies were chosen for analysis. Content analysis was chosen to analyze the collected data. Furthermore, due to the unique nature of the phenomenon, abductive approach was used to enable the author to base on a comparison between empirical findings and extant theoretical framework to develop more complete and appropriate interaction framework well illustrating the situation.
The study finds that although the upstream firm faces challenges in engaging the consumers, consumer involvement is inseparable with customer involvement throughout the development process. In fact, customers and consumers play critical roles and their information requires appropriate attention at different stages. Knowledge transfer mechanism comprises of trust, open communication and language. External knowledge transfer between the focal firm and customers is a key to access and acquire better consumer information despite their distance in the chain. Furthermore, effective internal knowledge transfer plays as a competitive advantage and essential antecedent for the success of external knowledge transfer. Interestingly, sustainability is found to be an important factor influencing its long-term relationship with the customers and stakeholders. In addition, involvement intensity and methods for each type of customer are discussed.
The results of this study create fundamental knowledge of involving both direct and indirect customers in B2B context. It hence can be a base for future studies, such as customer’s and consumers’ views on value co-creation with upstream firms, and how sustainability impact on value co-creation with customers and consumers when it is integrated throughout the whole value chain.