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Information Technology and Product Development pp 109–127Cite as

Virtual Customer Environments: IT-Enabled Customer Co-innovation and Value Co-creation

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Part of the book series: Annals of Information Systems ((AOIS,volume 5))

Abstract

In recent years, the establishment of IT-enabled customer co-innovation and value co-creation platforms or virtual customer environments (VCEs) has radically changed the nature and extent of customer involvement in product innovation and product support activities. VCEs offer facilities ranging from online customer discussion forums to virtual product design and prototyping centers and enhance the richness of customers’ interactions with one another and with the company. This chapter provides an introduction to the different research themes and issues that arise from the emergence of VCEs. Specifically, four broad set of research issues are discussed. First, what are the different customer co-innovation and value co-creation roles that are enabled by IT? Second, what are the factors that motivate customer participation in innovation and value creation in VCEs? Third, what are the critical dimensions of customers’ experience in VCEs? And, fourth, what are the different types of impact of customer participation in VCEs? Together, these four broad themes offer a rich and promising set of issues for future research in the area of IT-enabled customer co-innovation and value co-creation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 12180, Troy, NY, USA

    Satish Nambisan

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  1. Satish Nambisan
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Correspondence to Satish Nambisan .

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  1. Lally School of Management &, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., 8th Street 110, Troy, 12180, U.S.A.

    Satish Nambisan

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Nambisan, S. (2010). Virtual Customer Environments: IT-Enabled Customer Co-innovation and Value Co-creation. In: Nambisan, S. (eds) Information Technology and Product Development. Annals of Information Systems, vol 5. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1081-3_6

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