Open innovation initiatives fail
One of EMAC 2011 participants (from the University of Amsterdam) presented yesterday some facts about platforms of open innovation like MyStarbucksidea and Dell’s Ideastorm. MyStarbucksIdea received some 74000+ suggestions out of which about 300 were actually converted. A mere 0.4%. You can wonder therefore what the value of such platforms really is. Well, I see some positive points: firms using such platforms actually do communicate in some way with customers firms can get suggestions and improve...
Do you know Archiduchesse
Just like Michel & Augustin (whom I’ll meet in a few weeks), Archiduchesse is also a brand that receives much attention currently thanks to its products, 100% Made in France men socks. Archiduchesse is a pretty good example of a brand which was built entirely on Facebook-generated word-of-mouth (WOM). The owner of the company (Patrice …) applies a participative model and even shares the evolution of his turnover with his fans, followers and customers. It may...
Henry Ford and Cesar Ritz
Is the customer always King as Cesar Ritz, the founder of the eponymous palace, once said? In other words, should we always obey customers wishes? Well, I’m not so sure about it. Remember what Henry Ford said «If I had asked to my clients what they needed they would have told me a faster horse». How should we interpret such opposed statements? At first sight they don’t seem to be to be incompatible. Both statements can...