A Study of Product Concept Creation through User Co-Creation

From the Perspective of Sensemaking

Abstract

As product innovation tends to be more flexible format, such as smartphone and apps, product development organization needs to collaborate with users and stakeholders to create appropriate product concept in an on-going process. This study focuses on co-creation process of flexible product with ambiguous situation by applying Karl Weick's Sensemaking theory. The study investigates newly developed consumer targeted IoT products with high flexibility of customization as a case study. The product development team had less certainty towards product concept at the begging of product development, and they co-created with users and stakeholders throughout product launch process. The study found that there is dynamic update of product concept by enactments such as workshops which involves user's and stakeholder's interaction. Thought this enactment, product development organization expose to social interaction, which bring them cue and plausibility that let the organization keep updating product concepts. The study shows Sensemaking theory is applicable to co-creation process. As product innovation is to embrace IoT and servicing in near future, further development of Sensemenking framework in co-creation process is expected.