Joint Development with Customers

The consumer is boss or is it part of the innovation?

Joint Development is becoming more and more important. Companies are using customers as part of the development process to improve current products. Companies can do four different things with Creative Customers (those that want to contribute with new ideas for businesses).

Resist change: Actively restrain customers creative
Enable: Activile facilite customer innovation
Discourage: Ignore or tolerate customer innovation
Encourage: Acutally promote customer innovation


The choice to any of the options differs from company depending on the nature of the business. One company that is encouraging consumers is Procter & Gamble. Examples can be found in the creation of commercials in YOUTUBE with Tide To Go with the campaign your stain talks ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgtfC5LBAW4 ). Also P&G is taking big steps listening to the consumers as AG Lafley (P&G's CEO) described in an recent interview with Fortune Magazine.




1. We put the consumer at the center of everything we do. Three billion times a day P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. Our goal is to delight consumers at two "moments of truth": first, when they buy a product, and second, when they use it. To achieve that, we live with our consumers and try to see the world and opportunities for new products through their eyes. At P&G the CEO is not the boss - the consumer is. In ways large and small, we were not living up to the "consumer is boss" standard - and we were paying for that lapse.

As conclusion, companies have now more alternatives to promote innovation. Customers are one source that can contribute to achieve breakthrough results.



http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/07/news/companies/lafley_charan.fortune/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote