From user demand to manufacturer design a review of the Literature on user innovation

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to better understand the flow and potential directions of research on user innovation. Thus, this thesis reviews existing research articles that address user innovation from a number of perspectives. It classifies these studies into subcategories that are normally used by scholars on user innovation. Papers in each subcategory are critically reviewed and summaries of their findings are provided. Moreover, the internal connection between sub-domains and the implications of each sub-domain are discussed to identify potential research questions for further study in the future. Previous studies suggest large differences for user innovation between end users (e.g., extreme sports and e-sports fans) and intermediate users (e.g., medical surgeons). From the process of classifying studies into sub-categories, I find that the detailed investigations of lead user theory and the detailed study on developments of toolkits for user innovation are less sufficient in the area of intermediate user focused industry than end-user focused industry. Hence, short case studies on the medical device industry are included in the thesis in order to enrich the existing literature on intermediate user innovation. Overall, this thesis reveals the internal relationship and rational connection inside each research area of user innovation, and it has also advanced the knowledge in the management of innovation with perspective from the demand side, with discussion on driver and implication of user centered innovation.