ABSTRACT
Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004; pp. 4, 12) argue that companies can no longer autonomously design and develop products as the future of corporate competition will involve “an individual-centred [not corporate centred] cocreation of value between consumers and companies.” Through such close collaborations with users manufacturers can stay at the leading edge of an industry. These can enable manufacturers to potentially obtain high quality contributions from users and to obtain a better understanding of user needs and how these can be satisfi ed. Translating user needs, in functional terms, into products is often a very diffi cult process, especially as customers frequently cannot express their exact needs unless they can assess a product in real-life situations.106 As users possess specialized knowledge about the environment in which the products will be used, such co-developments offer the “opportunity for the mutual adaptation of both technology and user work environment” (Leonard 1998; p. 104). Voss’ (1985) study of the software industry confi rmed that intensively studying users’ needs substantially increased the likelihood of developing successful software products.
