Creating Knowledge together with your Customers - The Case of early Customer Integration (ECI) into the Innovation Process

In the current diverse and dynamic business environment, customer contributions can improve the effectiveness of product innovation activities. Consequently, companies engage in numerous initiatives to get closer to their customers or involve them directly in their innovation processes. In this analysis of European high-tech companies, the author focuses on the innovation front-end, since during the early stages of the innovation process, customer consideration can greatly affect innovation success. Using specific manufacturer goals for early customer integration (ECI) as starting point, the author derives necessary customer contributions, then develops a conceptual framework for joint knowledge creation between manufacturer and customer. Four new customer roles enhance the well-known Lead User approach: opportunity sensor, complementary specialist, specifier, and selector. Using this foundation, the paper analyses the respective characteristics and managerial challenges of these ECI roles.