Enhancing Innovation in Manufacturing Firms through Customer Co-Creation : A Case Study
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Manufacturing organizations operate in a market where they are increasingly expected to leverage external knowledge to stay competitive. This pressure has led to the emergence of the open innovation paradigm, of which customer co-creation is one popular way of managing external collaboration. While open innovation and co-creation have been widely studied, the existing research has primarily focused on service and high-technology industries. This study examines how customer co-creation can be integrated into innovation programs in manufacturing companies and the organizational barriers and enablers that affect this integration.
This study builds on a theoretical framework developed through a literature review on open innovation, innovation programs, and customer co-creation. The study was conducted as a qualitative single-case study. The empirical data consist of nine semi-structured interviews with employees of the case company who have knowledge of the company's innovation activities. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis, following the Gioia methodology, to identify current innovation practices, challenges, and development opportunities.
The findings show that customer involvement in the case company's innovation activities is informal and driven by internal initiatives rather than a structured strategy. Barriers limiting customer collaboration include a lack of formal processes, limited resources for managing customer knowledge, cross-functional collaboration, and difficulties in demonstrating short-term value for new projects. Simultaneously, several enablers were identified, including existing customer relationships, internal motivation, and innovation strategies. The study highlights that a pilot-based approach, aligning co-creation with long-term innovation goals, and strengthening organizational capabilities, such as knowledge sharing, are key to enabling more systematic customer co-creation practices.
The study highlights that the transition from internally driven innovation towards customer co-creation requires both organizational capability development and managerial commitment. The findings contribute to existing knowledge by providing a better understanding of co-creation in a manufacturing context and offering managerial guidance for organizations looking to enhance innovation through customer involvement.