ABSTRACT
Two-way conversation didn’t come easy for major corporations that had spent decades shut off from consumers thanks to their advertising, marketing, public relations and customer service strategies. But as the corporate world began to grasp the power of social media it also saw an opportunity to use crowdsourcing and other social media collaboration to tap into consumer insights to create more sustainable products and services. This chapter charts the growth of crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and the sharing economy and it explores how companies have looked to collaborate with consumers and other communities in order to handle a crisis put sustainable business into action.
