by C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy

For more than 100 years, a company-centric, efficiency-driven view of value

creation has shaped our industrial infrastructure and the entire business system.
Although this perspective often conflicts with what consumers value — the quality of
their experiences with goods and services — companies see value creation as a process of
cost-effectively producing goods and services. Now information and communications
technology, the Internet in particular, is forcing companies to think differently about
value creation and to be more responsive to consumer experiences. In fact, the balanceof power in value creation is tipping in favor of consumers.

strategy + business issue 27

content strategy & competition
1

The
Co-Creation
Connection

Illustration by Steve Moors

Companies spent the 20th
century managing efficiencies.
They must spend the 21st century
managing experiences.

content management51

content strategy & competition
3

Venkatram Ramaswamy(venkatr@umich.edu) is professor of marketing, the Michael
R. and Mary Kay Hallman
Fellow of Electronic Business,and the director of theCommunity for Business
Innovation at the University ofMichigan Business School.

The disconnect between what companies and consumers value traces back to the early-20th-century
industrial principles. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management focused on lowering unit costs of production. The value chain, a concept introduced byMichael Porter in the 1980s, gave managers an integrated framework to identify and manage costs of designing,producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting goods
or services. And Michael Hammer and James Champy’s
business process reengineering was widely interpreted as
implicitly linking cost reduction and internal efficiencies
to value creation.
During the 1990s, notions of the extended enterprise and the boundaryless organization encouraged
managers to broaden their search for efficiencies anddiscover ways of creating value from their supplier network and beyond. Starting in 1995, the Internet further
invigorated the corporate pursuit of efficiency, this time
expanding it to include all the activities directly involving or affecting the company–customer relationship.
Still, throughout this evolution, the assumption thatinternal cost efficiency is the source of value creation has
remained unchallenged.
Consumers appreciate and expect efficiency when it
improves their experience with a product or service. But
most of the time, managers are so preoccupied with
operating efficiently that they don’t even think about
value in terms of the consumer’s experience. (See Exhibit
1.) Ask yourself: Do you as a consumer of a digital camera think about the complex sourcing patterns and logistics that the manufacturer has to deal with, or are you
thinking about the fun you will have when you bringthe camera to the beach to record your children’s firstocean swim?

Because companies have historically controlled allbusiness activities involved in the creation of the things
they sell, it is their view of value that is dominant.
Indeed, the consumer typically has little or no influenceon value created until the point of exchange when ownership of the product is typically transferred to the consumer from the firm. This is true whether the consumer
is a company or an individual.
Now consumers are challenging this corporate logic
of value creation. Spurred by the consumer-centric culture of the Internet — with its emphasis on interactivity, speed, individuality, and openness — the consumer’s
influence on value creation has never been greater, and
it is spreading to all points in the value chain. (See “TheFive Powers of the Connected Consumer,” page 7.)nd therein lies a fundamental
challenge for business. Companies
have grown used to viewing consumers as passive target markets
for what they create. But, interestingly, markets are not passive;
they are now becoming more likeforums, largely because of theInternet. In the “market as a forum,” consumers actively define value the way they see value — as experiences— and push companies to see it the same way. Today’scompanies know just how dramatically 40 million consumers networking with each other and challenging thestatus quo online, in categories as different as music andmortgages, are shaking up the business world.
In this environment, we believe companies need toembrace a new approach to value creation, one in which
the basis for value shifts from products to experiences;A

strategy + business issue 27

C.K. Prahalad(cprahalad@aol.com) is theHarvey C. Fruehauf Professorof Business Administration at
the University of Michigan
Business School, Ann Arbor.
He is also the founder andchairman of Praja Inc., a pioneer company in interactive
event experiences.

How do companies co-create valuable experiences with
consumers?
The traditional company-centric view says: (1) the
consumer is outside the domain of the value chain; (2)the enterprise controls where, when, and how value isadded in the value chain; (3) value is created in a seriesof activities controlled by the enterprise before the pointof purchase; (4) there is a single point of exchange where
value is extracted from the customer for the enterprise.
The consumer-centric view says: (1) the consumer
is an integral part of the system for value creation; (2)the consumer can influence where, when, and how value

How Companies Think

How Consumers Think

CRM
Call Centers
ERP
Choiceboards
Enterprise Networks
Product Variety
PlantsPricing
Logistics
Product
Manufacturing
Engineering
Technology
Science
R&D
Platforms

Hopes
DreamsDesires
Aspirations
Peace of Mind
FamilyLifestyle
Work Style
Compromises
Needs
Chats
Stage of Life
Consumer Reports
Activities
Communities
Word of Mouth
Expectations

content strategy & competition

The Art of Co-Creation

Exhibit 1: Value Creation:
How Companies and Consumers Think

The Point of Exchange

consumer influence is spread across the value chain (inresearch and development, design, manufacturing, logistics, service, and points in between); conflicts between
companies and consumers are more visible and resolved
more productively; and companies don’t dictate how
value is created.
In short, companies must learn to co-create value
with their customers.
Although it is only human to feel threatened by aloss of control, it makes little sense for companies not tobe open and engaged with consumers. By partneringwith them in the value creation process, companies canbetter balance the objectives of value creation, managing
the bottom line (cost and investments) and the top line
(growth and revenues). Furthermore, co-creation is becoming a competitive imperative. Information illuminating what consumers value is voluminous, and it flows
freely in information networks. If your company does
not capture this intelligence to create more fulfilling
experiences for consumers, your competitors will.

4

is generated; (3) the consumer need not respect industry
boundaries in the search for value; (4) the consumer cancompete with companies for value extraction; (5) there
are multiple points of exchange where the consumer andthe company can co-create value.
In the customer-centric mass production and marketing of automobiles, for example, suppliers provide
raw materials, components, subcomponents, and systems to manufacturers, who create value by assemblingthese inputs into vehicles. Consumers actively decide
what vehicle to buy, but companies decide what theirchoices will be. Cars are sold by dealers acting as intermediaries for the automakers. For companies reliant on
this scenario, value creation is defined solely by extracting profit from end consumers.
The Saturn Corporation, billing itself as “a different

content strategy & competition
5

kind of car company,” has spurned the industry’s traditional ways. In 1985, when the General Motors
Corporation launched Saturn, it didn’t just start a newcar company, it created a “community.” Saturn works
with its customers in the design, manufacturing, andsales processes, and it engages Saturn owners to help
continuously innovate and improve its cars.
Consumers think about the place of a car in theirlife — how it fits their budget, their desire for comfort,
their need for peace of mind, their aesthetics.
Companies think about their competitive strategy andtheir operations — engineering, differentiation, logistics, pricing, and, above all, revenue and profit.
Although these views of value do clash, they’re not irreconcilable. Saturn is a company trying to merge these
two ways of looking at value.
In the pages that follow, we present a framework —a new value creation paradigm — to suggest how companies can better understand the consumer’s view ofvalue and productively work with them to co-create
more satisfying value for both sides.
Elements of Exchange

The point of exchange is often the place where the conflict between the traditional company view of value andthe consumer view of value is most exposed. Althoughcompanies are not inclined to interact with consumers
at all points in the value chain, opportunities forexchanges between the company and the consumer neither begin nor end when a consumer purchases something from a company. Indeed, the point of exchange
need not be restricted to where the company and theconsumer trade money for finished goods or services.
If experience is the critical source of value for con-sumers, we need to identify the factors that determine
experience. We call these the elements of exchange, andthey are:• How transactions are managed.
• How choices are determined.
• How the consumption experience is staged.
• How price and performance relate.
By examining the four basic elements that constitute an exchange, companies can explore how current
management approaches may positively or negatively
affect customer experiences, and discover better ways tocreate value.
• Transactions. Companies have been quick tospot emerging technologies that reduce transaction costsby having consumers perform functions formerly handled by employees (i.e., customer self-service). Gas stations’ transitioning from full-service to self-service wasan easy win for gasoline retailers and consumers. Companies asked customers to fill their own tanks and pay
through devices on the pump. And what drivers lost in
attendant service they happily traded for the convenience of self-service and, sometimes, better prices.
But most customer self-service scenarios aren’t thissmooth. Managers are usually so preoccupied with thecost advantages of self-service that they misjudge its consequences on the customer experience. Or worse, they
don’t consider the consequences at all. Anyone who has
been foiled by automated multiple-choice customer
service over the phone, or who has been left on hold listening to bad music, knows the limitations of call centers. When hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies put
health records, diagnoses, and prescription information
online to cut costs, are they taking into account consumer concern about privacy?

strategy + business issue 27

In a market forum, consumers define
value as experiences and pushcompanies to see value the same way.

inventory management and pricing by channel charged$48 for a shirt online and marked the same shirt down
to $24.99 in a retail store. Over time, consumers willrecognize such differences, and they might accept them,but only if an explicit policy exists that says online andin-store pricing (or styles and colors) may differ.
Information technology has opened a whole newopportunity for manufacturers to cost-effectively offer
customized products faster and cheaper. In the computer industry, companies like the Dell Computer
Corporation have an impressive competitive advantage
in build-to-order PCs. Now BMW is offering a “custom” car, delivered in 12 days. For the Z3 roadster, theautomaker offers a choice of 26 wheel designs and 123
console options.
Mass customization allows companies like Dell and
BMW to offer variety, but who decides what can be customized? Customization ultimately is a matter of what
can be built and delivered to suit the efficient operationof a company’s value chain. Even in the most sophisticated mass-customization schemes, the customer chooses from a menu dictated by the company.
hanks to the Web, companies canbecome much more astute about
what consumers like and don’t like,and that knowledge will greatly
improve companies’ ability to beinnovative and to anticipate consumer needs. On the Web, consumerto-consumer recommendations, newideas, critiques, musings, and more are having a powerful influence on choice. About.com (owned by Primedia
Inc.), one of the most popular consumer word-of-Tcontent strategy & competition

On the Web — the ultimate self-service technology— corporate indifference to the consumer experienceoccurs constantly. Witness the number of abandoned“shopping carts”; perhaps shoppers who stop short ofpurchasing find the interfaces confusing or don’t feelsecure using a credit card online. For the consumer who
doesn’t believe a company will not sell his or her personal data to someone else, giving profile information in
exchange for the convenience of “one-click” purchasing
or instant recognition on a password-protected Web site
may not be worth the risk. Companies also have greatly
underestimated how differently older and younger people view issues like privacy and security online.
The key issue in automating transactions is consumer heterogeneity. Customers differ in their skills,
their propensity for problem solving, and their willingness to spend time to learn a new system, as well as their
willingness to trust it. This is true whether it involves the
Web or any other system that is unfamiliar.
Self-service works best when it’s applied by companies that manage their costs and the customer experience with equal care. Southwest Airlines Company
works hard to make sure its standards for being prompt,
accurate, and friendly are the same whether the customer exchange is made through an automated channel
or handled by an employee. Similarly, Lands’ End Inc.
has invested in self-service technology and superior agent
training so that the consumer experience on its Web site
is as good as its catalog operation consumer experience.
• Choice. Elaborately structured distribution andcommunications channels allow companies to control a
consumer’s choices. But when companies don’t offer thesame choices across channels, they risk antagonizing thecustomer. One clothing retailer trying to optimize

6

The Five Powers of the Connected Consumer
cians more aggressively and partici-

mation to sharpen global strategies.

tion, companies could do everythingpate more fully in choosing treat-

New competitors and potential part-— choose materials used in products,

ments. This is dramatically altering

ners for large companies are also

design production processes, craft

traditionalsales

emerging in the global marketplace.

marketing messages, control sales

practices. In the U.S., it is driving con-

Even poor artisans in Rajasthan,channels — with no interference.

sumer-centric “defined-contribution”

India, can sell high-quality table linen

Now, consumers exercise their influ-

health-care reform wherein compa-

on the Web for $10 and deliver it toence in every part of the business sys-

nies give employees information andbuyers in the U.S. in about a week,tem. Nevertheless, companies should

ask them to assume more responsi-

and for one-tenth the cost of compa-

welcome, not resist, the consumer

bility for selecting and managing theirrable linen in the United States.

powers detailed below.

own health-care benefits.

pharmaceutical

3. Networking. Consumers natu-

1. Information Access. With access

2. Global View. The Internet is therally coalesce around common skills,

to unprecedented amounts of infor-

first single source of information thatinterests, and experiences. The

mation, consumers have knowledge

gives consumers the ability, 24 hours

Internet amplifies this by encouraging

to make much more informed deci-a day, to see what is happening

an unparalleled ease and openness ofsions. This is causing companies

around the world. That is changing

communication

across industries to cede control over

the rules for how companies com-strangers. Indeed, “communities ofvalue creation and develop new ways

pete. For example, multinationals areinterest,” where individuals confabu-

of doing business. Consider healthmore exposed to consumer scrutiny

late and commiserate without geo-care. More than 70 million Americans

of product price and performancegraphic constraints and with few

have reportedly used the Internet toacross geographies, which meanssocial barriers, exist all over the Web.

learn about diseases and treatment

those businesses have less latitude toPeople participating in a chat area

options and investigate how to getvary the price or quality of products

may know nothing more about those

involved in clinical drug trials.

sold in multiple regions. But it also

they’re chatting with than the interest

Consumers now question their physi-means companies have more infor-

they share. The power of consumer

mouth sites, is host to discussions about more than
50,000 subjects, from allergies to zebras. Content,
organized by topic, is kept fresh and credible with athorough oversight system run jointly by About.com
and its community members. Sites like About.com aretrying to establish businesses promoting consumer-toconsumer communication, but thousands of Web sites
exist that buzz with conversations about what consumers value and don’t value. Companies need to listen,learn, and absorb this valuable intelligence.
Even in the world of drugs for treating life-threatening diseases, consumer advocacy in online support
groups seems to be as influential as company marketing.
For example, when Novartis AG began clinical trials ofa promising leukemia drug, word spread so fast that thecompany was overwhelmed with demand from patientsseeking participation.
• Consumption Experience. Companies like theStarbucks Corporation and Walt Disney Company are

among

perfect

highly attuned to human behaviors, preferences, andtastes because experiences are the essence of what theysell. But the fact is, companies that manufacture products bear just as much responsibility as restaurants andentertainment companies for enhancing or diminishingthe value of consumer experience. For example, mostantibiotics are prescribed to be taken several times a day
for two to three weeks. If you forget to take the pills, themedicine is ineffective, and many people don’t remember to complete the full cycle. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. saw this behavior as an opportunity tomake it easier for people to take medicine the way it wasprescribed. It introduced an antibiotic called Zithromax
that typically requires an initial dosage of two pills followed by a daily single pill for only four days. Then
Pfizer marketed Zithromax in a blister pack called theZ-pak, which clearly reminds users of their daily dosage
requirement and how much they have left to take. Pfizer
effectively became the patient’s partner in making it as

strategy + business issue 27

content strategy & competition
7

Before the Internet liberated informa-networks is that they’re independent

places where companies can learnof co-creation can tap into con-and based on real consumer experi-

what consumers are thinking.

sumers’ creativity for the develop-

ences, not what the company tells
them they will experience.

4. Experimentation. Consumers

ment of products and services.

use the Internet to experiment with

5. Activism. As people learn, they

Such networking among con-and develop products, especially digi-

become more discriminating in theirsumers turns traditional company-

tal ones. The German research com-choices about what they buy, and as

controlled marketing and advertising

pany

for

they network, they become embold-

upside down. For example, rather

Experimental Software Engineering

ened to speak out. Now consumers

than attempt to shut down unofficial

released MP3 as a freely available

provide unsolicited feedback to com-

Hobbit fan sites, New Line Cinema co-compression standard that accelerat-

panies and to each other. There areopted them, to help spread word ofed the transmission of digital audio.

hundreds of “sounding-off sites” on

Fraunhofer

Institute

The collective competence of soft-the Web that target specific compa-

movie The Lord of the Rings. Gordon

ware users has enabled the codevel-nies and brands. AOL Watch, forPaddison, senior vice president of

opment of popular products, such as

example, publishes complaints fromworldwide interactive marketing,

the Apache Web server software andformer and current AOL customers.

reached out to the more than 400 fan

the Linux operating system.

The Web has also become an influen-sites before the movie was released to

The ability of consumers to experi-

tial tool for social groups focused oncommunicate with the early influ-

ment with each other goes beyond

such issues as child labor and envi-

encers and give them insider tips.

software and digital products. Cooks

ronmental protection to get corporate

Consumer education and feedback

can share recipes. Gardening enthu-

attentionsites are struggling to prove them-siasts can share tips on growing

Although activism might seem men-selves as viable businesses. But thisorganic vegetables. Homeowners canacing to companies, it also opens thedoes not diminish their utility asshare stories about their homedoor to competitive opportunity.

places where consumers can com-

improvement projects. The list goespare and share information, andon. Companies that choose the patheasy as possible for the medicine to do its curative work.
Zithromax now dominates its market. Consumers
like Zithromax’s shorter cycle and the convenient
reminders to take their pill. Doctors, too, applaud thesefeatures, because they make the drug more effective.
With the Z-pak, Pfizer has creatively incorporated theconsumption variable into the manufacture and designof the product to increase its value.
• Price-Performance. The traditional psychology
of price setting, largely based on cost structures, isbecoming increasingly irrelevant. Further, the relationship between price and performance is no longer implicit and controlled by companies; it is explicit and debatedby consumers.
Independent consumer-feedback Web sites, such as
Epinions.com, PlanetFeedback.com, and BizRate.com,
allow people to share price information recommendations, reviews, and comparative price information for
thousands of products. Search engines like Google areandpromotereform.

— C.K.P and V.R.

also powerful tools consumers can use to collect andcompare price and performance data.
Global television and the Internet make it easier for
people to see the kinds of products companies sell in different regions and countries and compare them towhat’s offered in their own market. That is altering
consumer desires and raising consumer expectations,especially in developing countries. Consumers in emerging-market countries (e.g., India, Brazil, and Indonesia)
with annual incomes sufficient to purchase cars, refrigerators, branded clothing, and other mainstays of comfortable living expect these products to be affordably
priced and to meet global quality standards and local
cultural requirements.
The new challenge for companies accustomed to
producing lower-priced, and often inferior, goods forthese markets is to raise the consumer experience bar
and make a profit. For example, Hyundai in India is successfully selling its Santro sedan for the equivalent ofcontent strategy & competition

mouth and create buzz about its

8turing arm. Like Unilever, Aravind is testing this business model in other regions.
Building Blocks for Co-Creation

Businesses operate in a networked environment inwhich it is possible both to learn continuously about
what people want and need, and to interact with themin ongoing exchanges of value. But companies need to
be much more aware of where these opportunities tointeract with consumers exist.
We suggest there are four building blocks for cocreating value. Dialogue at every stage of the value chain
encourages not just knowledge sharing, but, even more
importantly, understanding between companies andcustomers. It also gives consumers more opportunity tointerject their view of value into the creation process. In
short, access challenges the notion that ownership is the
only way for the consumer to experience value. By
focusing on access to value at multiple points of
exchange, as opposed to simply ownership of products,
companies can broaden their view of the business
opportunities creating good experiences. Risk reduction
assumes that if consumers become co-creators of value
with companies, they will demand more information
about potential risks of goods and services; but they may
also have to bear more responsibility for handling thoserisks. Transparency of information is required to create
the trust between institutions and individuals.
1. Dialogue. Dialogue is creating shared meaning.
In dialogues, people listen and learn from each other; inthe most productive dialogues, people communicate
and debate as equals. Dialogue helps companies tounderstand the emotional, social, and cultural contexts
that shape consumer experiences and provides knowl-

strategy + business issue 27

content strategy & competition
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about $8,000. The Santro’s driving performance is comparable to that of a compact car sold in the U.S. forabout $11,000, and it has comfort features, such as spacious seating and headroom, that are highly valued byconsumers in India.
Even the world’s 4 billion poorest consumers, whoearn less than $1,500 a year, are aspiring to a better lifeand demanding more goods and services. This situation
represents a huge opportunity for companies to change
their mind-sets and their business models (e.g., “thepoor can’t afford or have no use for consumer products,”or “we can’t make money in this market”). In 1995,
Unilever PLC’s subsidiary in India, Hindustan Lever
Ltd. (HLL), drastically altered the management of its
value chain so it could sell a detergent, called Wheel, tothe poor. HLL decentralized its production, marketing,and distribution and quickly established sales channels
through thousands of small storefronts. HLL adjusted
the cost structure of its detergent business so it could sell
Wheel at a very low price point and still make money.
Today, Wheel has gross margins and a return on capitalas good as, or better than, HLL’s higher-end cleaningproducts, and Unilever has used this business model tocreate a new detergent market in Brazil.
Patients at India’s Aravind Eye Hospital, the world’s
largest eye-care facility, pay about $10 for cataract surgery, compared to $1,600 for equivalent care in the
United States. The hospital, which operates on morethan 200,000 patients per year, gives 60 percent of its
care at no cost and still is highly profitable. Between
1998 and 1999, Aravind’s total income was Rs. 230.6
million (about $5.2 million), with a profit of Rs. 110.1
million (about $2.5 million), and return on capital ofmore than 200 percent on surgery and its lens manufac-

edge companies can use to innovate. Dialogue with consumers is central to Harley-Davidson Inc.’s being able toco-create a multigenerational “way of life.” Building aforum for dialogue was how, early on, America Online
Inc. created a community — a group of enthusiasts
whose shared interests bonded them to the service at thesame time that it gave the company insights into service
improvements. Dialogue was what kept a loyal community of Macintosh users together when Apple Computer
Inc.’s product development began to wane. And it is dialogue that is helping the personal-computer manufacturer to recover with the introduction of the new iMac.

D

content strategy & competition

ialogue involves more than listening
and reacting. It requires deep engagement, lively interactivity, empathetic
understanding, and a willingness byboth parties to act, especially whenthey’re at odds. What is happening in
the music industry today is theantithesis of dialogue. If the recordlabels were listening, they would hear that consumers
don’t object to paying for music. They just want to create their own musical experiences once they’ve paid forit. People have been packaging their own music for years(in the 1970s, parents of Napster and MP3 player fansmade custom cassette tapes by copying songs from longplaying records). Why, with even better technology
available today to duplicate and mix their own music,
would consumers want anything else?
While recording companies fight the battle against“illegal downloading” and resist changing their businessmodels, music sales are declining and sales of blank CDs
are soaring. “If the industry doesn’t change the way we
do business, we’re going to be bankrupt,” Val Azzoli,
cochairman of Atlantic Records, told the New YorkTimes in February 2002. The Sony Corporation shows
just what’s at stake. Its music sales are currently about$4.6 billion, compared to about $40 billion in sales
from consumer electronics, including CD burners andMP3 players.
2. Access. Ownership is the traditional way to lookat the transfer of value from the company to thecustomer. But you don’t need to own something toexperience its value. Indeed, access without ownership isdesirable for consumers and can be very profitable forbusinesses. Thinking in terms of access expands a company’s view of potential markets.
Over the past decade, numerous companies serving

European and U.S. cities have begun to offer a novel
service for people who want more than just a rental car;they want the convenience of having a car they don’t
own at their disposal all the time. For example, in
Switzerland, people who join Mobility CarSharing
receive a personal access device that unlocks a dedicatedpool of cars, which are rented on a pay-as-you-drive
basis, making the service ideal for running short errands,
visiting friends in the suburbs in the evening, and thelike. What do Mobility CarSharing and similar companies sell? A new urban lifestyle that is not only economical and convenient, but also reduces pollution andparking problems.
In the music industry, consumers are not fighting
for all music to be free; they just want more freedom tochoose how they access music once they’ve paid a fair
price. This is a classic instance of the consumer being
shut out of the value creation process.
The successful coupling of access with dialogue inthe computer community’s Open Source movement has
had a significant influence on traditional players in theindustry as they see its benefits. For example, to promote
the use of Linux, the open source operating system,
IBM is putting $40 million of its software tools in the
public domain. More important, in 2001, IBM madethe largest commitment of any computer maker — about
20 percent of its R&D budget ($1 billion) — to Linuxand Apache Web servers.
3. Risk Reduction. The obligations and responsibilities of the firm and consumers for risk management will
always be debated. But it is safe to assume that as consumers become more involved in co-creating experiences with companies, they may be willing to take on
more responsibility for managing risk exposures, if companies are willing to reveal more information about therisks associated with the products and services they produce. One key issue in the Firestone-Ford tire case centered on the amount of knowledge Ford and Firestone
had about risks associated with the combination of vehicle, tire pressure, and driving conditions. How muchshould Firestone and Ford have shared with consumers?
In a world where good information is widely available, consumers, within the limits of their technicalknowledge, should be able to make more informed
choices about risks. Companies can be a part of thatprocess by being both forthcoming in the discussions ofrisk with the general public, and by disseminating
appropriate methods for assessing personal risk and societal risk. Labeling is one way of explicitly passing on to

10

The world’s largest houseboat makershows how the pieces of the co-creation
model — dialogue, access, risk reduction,and transparency — fit together.

awarded to researchers who offer the solution judged“best” by the company that posted the problem.
InnoCentive represents a bold open source approach toinnovation for industries that in the past have beenclosed and private.
umerset Houseboats, the world’s
largest houseboat manufacturer,
based in rural Kentucky, shows how
all the pieces of a co-creation model— dialogue, access, risk reduction,and transparency — can fit together.
Imagine interactively codesigning thelayout and configuration of yourdream boat, negotiating specs and prices, connectingwith the factory to participate in your boat’s construction, and monitoring its progress in real time. Now
imagine a personal Web page where you can review
drawings; access architectural, aesthetic, and structuralexpertise; and consult a customer representative. You
can see pictures and read the biographies of the people
who are crafting your boat. You can critique design elements and fully furnish your boat before it is delivered.
You can have dialogues with other Sumerset customers
and a wider community of avid sailors.
What is co-created in this process is not just a boat,a physical artifact, but also experiences. Even before
owners set sail, they begin to form an emotional attachment to their boat while building their stake in the outcome of the value creation process.
The company also benefits. Sumerset and its suppliers learn more about the end consumer and accessnew ideas for design, engineering, and manufacturing.
Everyone from design engineers to carpenters gains aSstrategy + business issue 27

content strategy & competition11

the consumer more responsibility for risk. But that is
not enough. Companies will need to be more willing toengage in open dialogues with concerned people.
Companies should not approach their communications
defensively. On the contrary, proactive risk communication and management offers new opportunities for firms
to differentiate themselves.
4. Transparency. In the wake of the Enron debacle,
shareholders are demanding more transparent, or thorough, financial disclosure; but transparency is also necessary for consumers of goods and services to become
co-creators of value. When companies make vital business-process information visible to consumers, companies, in effect, relinquish control of the value creation
process before the traditional point of exchange.
The Federal Express Corporation has high levels oftransparency in its logistics system. Customers can log
on to its Web site and check the progress of packages inreal time using the same information that FedEx
employees use; large corporate customers can also
reroute packages themselves. Individuals have choices
they wouldn’t have if FedEx controlled all the information, and that improves the customer experience.
This same type of information transparency has created a revolution in the trading of securities. Global
agency brokers like Instinet Group Inc. build transparency into their trading systems so that customers canmonitor in real time how much the fund manager’s trading is costing them.
In June 2001, Eli Lilly and Company launched a
new e-business research venture called InnoCentive
LLC. It brings together, via its Web site, companies andresearchers from around the world seeking solutions toscientific problems. Significant cash incentives are

A Quiet Revolution

As the noise from debates about the old economy and
the New Economy dies down, it is easier to detect a quieter revolution — fomented by a shift in how value isperceived and created. Movement toward a market environment in which companies and consumers co-create
experiences is gaining momentum, but as with any
change in deep-seated assumptions about competitionand strategy, the adjustments for companies will becomplicated and trying.
First, companies must embrace the notion that consumers can become partners in the co-creation of experiences. Only by letting go of the company-centric viewof value creation, once and for all, can companies proceed with the difficult and long-term work of making
lasting reforms to the business system. Managers must
make a major transformation in the way they conceiveof the tasks of value creation, and therefore change how
firms are organized. Management disciplines and therelationships between disciplines need to be reexamined— market research, product development, logistics,
branding, pricing, and accounting, among others.
Companies are getting more used to competing on
the basis of their adaptability and how fast they innovate
and apply knowledge, and they are rising to the challenge of keeping down the costs of experimentation as
they test new ideas. But business competition is a lot
more unpredictable when innovation and flexibility,
rather than efficiency, are the main drivers of value.

Firms also need new and different IT strategies andapplications that incorporate the principles of a morebalanced system of value creation, and a system moresensitive to the consumer’s perception of value. A new
information architecture that allows a company tomaintain a consistent brand identity and quality of customer experience across channels, for example, is an
essential strategic asset. Likewise, IT vendors need towork with companies to come up with replacements fortoday’s company-centric business software systems.
Companies can and will make the adjustments tothrive in a world where value is co-created in experiences. But it will take time, courage, and stamina tocompete in a different value creation space. If companies
rise to the challenge, they are sure to discover an exciting new era of business creativity and opportunity. +Reprint No. 02206

Resources
J. Philip Lathrop, Gary D. Ahlquist, and David G. Knott, “Health Care’s
New Electronic Marketplace,” s+b, Second Quarter 2000
www.strategy-business.com/press/article/?art=19291&pg=0
C.K. Prahalad and Stuart L. Hart, “The Fortune at the Bottom of the
Pyramid,” s+b, First Quarter 2002
www.strategy-business.com/press/article/?art=229761&pg=0
C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy, “Co-Opting Customer
Competence,” Harvard Business Review, January–February 2000
www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp
Neil Strauss, “Behind the Grammys, Revolt in the Industry,”
New York Times, February 24, 2002

content strategy & competition

deeper understanding of consumer desires and thepotential value trade-offs. This reduces investment risk
for the company as well as the risk the consumer won’t
be satisfied.

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