ABSTRACT
In today’s dynamic marketplace characterised by demanding customers, increased competition and economic downturns, firms find themselves in a quandary about how to gain competitive advantage in a cost-effective manner. One popular strategy involves engaging customers in the creation and development of products and services (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2007). For instance, firms such as Starbucks, Lego, Unilever and H.J. Heinz have been found to stimulate customers to share new ideas in company-managed virtual environments (Sawhney et al., 2005; Breidbach et al., 2014; De Ruyck and De Wulf, 2013). In other cases, customers are encouraged to design their own solutions in collaboration with the firm (Franke and Piller, 2004; Thomke and Von Hippel, 2002). Nike, for instance, encourages its customers to design their own shoes by means of NikeID, an online design tool integrated in the Nike website.
