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The paper aims to examine how to devise ways to capture data in and around the marketplace that generates indicators of emerging and potential marketplace change which could lead to breakthrough customer offerings and how to do so long before the opportunities are manifestly visible.

The paper describes a new methodology, the Value Opportunity Web (VOW), a process for collecting insights about the external environment and transforming and leveraging them into winning customer offerings. These data come from unique communities of individuals “close to the action” who can anticipate, for example, how a set of technologies might someday intersect.

The paper shows cases where companies have used VOWs to identify unique data sources, have created sets of technological mechanisms or “platforms” to capture the relevant data and have managed these communities successfully.

The authors are leading consultants with access to cutting edge information gathering programs, which they have disguised for this article.

The VOW has a critical strategic purpose: to extract breakthrough opportunities from an ever‐burgeoning world of external data by learning from a community of talented recruits, each an expert in one or more fields. Companies are learning to use VOWs to quickly understand change and to test breakthrough ideas as they emerge.

The ultimate purpose of a VOW is not data gathering but reflection and analysis, with the goal of identifying and developing new ways to deliver customer value.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is a digital marketing method that has been considered by some companies as an effective and efficient approach to enhance social learning and the environment for the customers. A social media user could benefit from gaining information from other users to aid their decision-making process. Instagram is an example of a social media platform that could be utilized for the application of eWOM. It could serve as a source of quality, credible and detailed information, and a channel to increase customer interactions and trust. This study aims to determine the effects of eWOM information generated through Instagram on patients’ intention to join the in vitro fertilization (IVF) programs. By adopting the information acceptance model (IACM) theory, several parameters were evaluated: information quality, credibility, usefulness, adoption, attitude toward information, and purchase intention. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze as many as 200 respondents of Morula IVF Jakarta and were active Instagram users. The results showed that the adoption of information and attitude toward information had considerably influenced patients’ intentions to join the IVF programs. Such circumstances might have occurred as a result of the increase in information exchange about IVF, through the discussions and sharing of experiences by patients on Instagram. Furthermore, information usefulness was demonstrated to affect information adoption and was influenced by the credibility of information and attitudes toward information. Nonetheless, one variable which did not display any effects on the usefulness of information was the quality of information. In summary, the characteristics of eWOM information that were conveyed on Instagram could affect the intention of patients in joining the IVF program.

After leading more than thirty co-creation projects, and observing more than 200 others, the author can offer a view on why co-creation with stakeholders is becoming a cornerstone of the creative economy and suggest how the most popular approaches contribute to helping firms gain a competitive advantage through connections that enable continuous innovation.

To tackle large, complex problems, co-creation, in its most generic form, requires adopting five processes that each represent a potential source of competitive advantage; an approach can utilize each process from very little to a lot. A co-creation strategy will be most powerful when all five processes are used in combination.

Leading theorists are predicting that in the foreseeable future the co-creation model will become a primary source of the firm's competitive advantage.

Opening up the traditional value chain to stakeholders could precipitate a race to co-creation, as every firm tries to connect each function and process to the relevant ecosystem and attract the best external players as partners.

Leading theorists anticipate that in the foreseeable future the co-creation model will become a primary source of the firm's competitive advantage. The article lays out five approaches.

This study attempts to address the question of whether and how new product development (NPD) performance can be enhanced by interacting with users at specific stages in the process and whether performance can be affected by user knowledge management.

In this study, data were collected from firms in the software industry in Taiwan and a model of knowledge management capabilities was adopted to analyze the effectiveness of a firm's user knowledge.

The findings demonstrate that user interaction during NPD stages significantly promotes new product performance in the early stages and that user knowledge management competence has a positive effect on NPD performance – especially through the process capability dimension.

Drawing from the findings of this paper, further research directions and theoretical and managerial implications are projected.

As the user‐base of the Internet expands, on‐line “virtual communities” may have the potential to become the key customer‐infomediaries, social forums, and trading arenas, of the early twenty‐first century. In parallel, new delivery channels and new means of fostering long‐term customer relationships may prove critical for success in the financial services industry. As these two developments intertwine, many organizations in the sector may therefore need to consider desktop icons as an emerging customer interface. Reviews the economic argument for virtual communities as the first viable Internet value‐creation model to combine content and communication. Drawing from practical experience with pioneering virtual community developments, and a consideration of direct and indirect financial service delivery channels, the conclusion is reached that many companies in the sector now face an important, strategic choice in the development of their on‐line presence. For most, this will be between deciding to act rapidly to build their own virtual community, or instead opting for a more effective third party, virtual community “inhabitation strategy”.

This paper presents a structure for understanding Internet communities. A conceptual framework is developed with a view to enabling an understanding of the delivery of service and engendering of loyalty in an on‐line community. This framework, termed the customer bonding triangle, incorporates three elements, service value, technical infrastructure and interactivity. These elements were directly developed from the authors' experience with an on‐line community, macnews.de. The paper examines these elements and their function in developing Internet community bonding and develops a questionnaire based on Kano's (1984) model of customer satisfaction requirements which is tested using participants from the macnews.de site. It is found that for this group technical infrastructure was not perceived as providing satisfaction while providing solutions to problems was of more importance. The paper considers the implications of these findings for Internet communities.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This paper investigates the conceptualisation and measurement of service quality in on‐line service environments. It reports the findings from an exploratory study of consumer perceptions of service quality as they relate to an on‐line library service in a prominent public sector university in Western Australia. The results reveal the core service quality dimensions of significance to on‐line consumers and demonstrates the usefulness and relative simplicity of this measurement methodology for evaluating the service quality construct in on‐line environments. The study highlights not only how the service is perceived from a customer point of view, but also what is important to the customers in their use of on‐line services.

This paper investigates the impact of the Internet upon the UK second‐hand and antiquarian book trade. Questionnaires were sent to all 681 UK members of the industry’s largest and most prominent association (PBFA) and 355 responses were received. To ensure depth as well as breadth of knowledge, in‐depth interviews were also conducted with ten companies. The results showed that, overall, e‐commerce presents an opportunity rather than a threat to this traditional retailing sector. Pre‐existing database management and distribution skills made the industry well suited to Internet trading. The number of companies trading on‐line was five times greater than the UK industry average and the booksellers were highly satisfied with the results. Not only did 90 per cent of survey respondents with Web sites consider that their aims in setting them up had been met in whole or in part, but 20 per cent of respondents derived more than 30 per cent of their sales from Internet trading. Moreover, 68 per cent of on‐line respondents stated that in their opinion their Web sites had resulted in overall business profits increasing. Predicted threats posed by the Internet such as reduced prices and margins, causing offence to existing customers and distribution system difficulties presented risks but could not outweigh the benefits of Internet trading.

The rise of e‐mail and other computer‐based communication technologies has enabled members of global organizations to collaborate and exchange information to an uprecedented degree. The term “on‐line community” (OLC), coined in the early days of computer networking, is now being applied to groups of employees with common professional goals and interests who seek to add value by extending themselves virtually. However, the performance of these corporate OLCs has not always kept pace with their lofty aspiration. To find out why, Arthur Andersen’s Next Generation Research Group, in cooperation with Anheuser‐Busch, The Mutual Group, and Shell US, studied 15 very different OLCs. Among the questions we sought to answer were: how successful are OLCs in achieving their state purpose? What distinguishes a truly successful OLC? What are some pitfalls that everyone is encountering? This article presents findings and lessons learned from our in‐depth interviews with the organizers of these virtual groups.