INNOVATION HEROES: UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS AS A VALUABLE INNOVATION RESOURCE (Series on Technology Management, 31)

This book provides the knowledge necessary for succeeding in a world where companies increasingly work side-by-side with customers to create new products and services. It is a pivotal navigation tool that helps cruise the ocean of customer integration methods and explains how the methods work, when to choose which, and how to seize advantages while avoiding pitfalls.

This title is an essential read for research and development managers, marketing professionals, and other practitioners who are involved in new product development to apply customer integration methods effectively and efficiently to drive new product development success. While the application of methods is no guarantee of success, knowledge of the correct selection and appropriate application increases the probability of new product and service development success. Rich in theoretical frameworks, research findings, and practical information about customer integration methods, Innovation Heroes will help the reader appreciate the value of customers as an innovation resource and ways to profit from them.

Fiona Schweitzer is a professor of marketing at Grenoble École de Management and at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Her academic research focuses on visualization in concept tests, technology adoption, social innovation, and customer integration into the innovation process. She has won three best-paper awards and has presented her work at various scientific conferences and published them as book chapters and in academic journals such as Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Innovation Management, Psychology & Marketing, Creativity & Innovation Management, and Research-Technology Management. She regularly works with high-tech companies such as Wacker Neuson, Siemens, and Viking/Stihl on diverse marketing and innovation management tasks. She worked as a visiting professor at the London Business School, the University of Berkeley, and the University of Hong Kong and gathered practical innovation and marketing skills at B2C companies (such as Unilever) and NGOs (such as WWF).

Joe Tidd is a physicist with subsequent degrees in technology policy and business administration. He is a professor of technology and innovation management at SPRU, visiting professor at University College London, and former professor of Cass Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and Rotterdam School of Management. He is the former deputy director of SPRU and head of the Innovation Group and director of the Executive MBA Program at Imperial College. He has worked as a policy adviser to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). He was a researcher for the 5-y International Motor Vehicle Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has worked on technology and innovation management projects for consultants Arthur D. Little, CAP Gemini, and McKinsey and numerous technology-based firms. He has written nine books and more than 60 papers on the management of technology and innovation, with more than 17,000 research citations.