Internal Crowdsourcing for Innovation Development
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Byrén, E. Internal crowdsourcing for innovation development Internal crowdsourcing for innovation development How multi-national companies can obtain the advantages of crowdsourcing utilising internal resources Master of Science Thesis in the Master Degree Programme, Entrepreneurship and Business Design ELIN BYRÉN Department of Technology Management and Economics Division of Management of Organizational Renewal and Entrepreneurship – MORE CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Gothenburg, Sweden, 2013 Report No. E2013:091 1 Abstract Innovation processes are becoming progressively more open, and companies have to explore several new paths when selecting innovation strategy. Crowdsourcing is one new type of open innovation companies are increasingly seeing the potential of. An even newer concept is that companies are beginning to utilising its existing network using internal crowdsourcing. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of the concepts in relation to innovation development, and aspects to contemplate when considering different crowdsourcing alternatives. The main research question is: How does internal crowdsourcing differ from external crowdsourcing in relation to innovation development? To answer this question, the main benefits and drawbacks are identified, and recommendations are made. The method used is a literature study and an empirical study, which is analysed. These are compared to each other and analysed in order to outline the differences. The empirical study is comprised of interviews with employees of multi-national companies, and with crowdsourcing companies. As crowdsourcing can use either an internal crowd or external crowd, and crowdsourcing in relation to innovation development can be carried out either through crowdcasting or through idea jams; four Crowdsourcing Models in relation to Internal and External interaction (CMIE) are identified. Conclusively, the main differences are identified to be related to innovation strategy and culture, incentives, intangible benefits and IP. The main identified benefits with internal crowdsourcing are that it captures underutilised resources and aggregates innovation insights. It offers a possibility for social collaboration and enables an agile informal innovation department unbound by hierarchy or position. It can enhance the innovation culture and increase the transparency between management and employees. The main identified drawbacks with internal crowdsourcing include less wildcards, risk of resistance and not generating external PR or customer intimacy. Acknowledgements This thesis was conducted contemporaneously with an internship at the Intellectual Property & Standards department at Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. I would like to thank Grégory Baque, Andrew Hall and Alexander van Eeuwijk, for providing me with valuable wisdom, much support and great advice to both my internship and thesis work. I would also like to thank all the interviewees for providing valuable input and sharing their knowledge. I would like to thank Bowman Heiden who has been my supervisor at Chalmers, providing me with both guidance and encouragement throughout the process. Gothenburg, 2013 06 20 Elin Byrén Definitions Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call (Howe, 2006). Throughout the thesis, crowdsourcing refers to both types of crowdsourcing, if not explicitly expressed as internal crowdsourcing or external crowdsourcing. Key definitions for the thesis External crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing that uses an unknown crowd for e.g. solving an innovation problem, or idea generation. The crowd may be selected by a crowdsourcing company, such as InnoCentive which has their community of researchers which submits solutions to organisations’ problems. The crowd may also be anyone with internet access, such as Dell’s online portal IdeaStorm, allowing people to submit ideas, and subsequently comment and vote on the ideas of others. Internal crowdsourcing: Refers to the firm extending its problem-solving to a large and diverse group of self-selected contributors beyond the formal internal boundaries of a large firm; across business divisions, bridging geographic locations, levelling hierarchical structures (Modified definition of intra-corporate crowdsourcing, Villarroel & Reis, 2010) The main difference compared to crowdsourcing is that the internal crowd is known to the company. The crowd can e.g. be all employees of the company, a certain division of the company, or extended to include partners and suppliers. The crowd is specifically used for e.g. problem solving or aggregating ideas for innovation purposes. It can be: Questions from management where the employees’ aggregated answer will comprise of more knowledge than traditionally just asking selected few (See section 4.1). Finding documents and information relevant to a certain patent or technology, in order to obtain an understanding of the patent or technology landscape (See section 4.1). A portal where ideas are submitted and enhanced by others in the crowd. Thus creating a stock market for innovations, with the aim of seeding the best ideas to further pursue (See section 5.1). 1 Table of Contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Purpose ............................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research question .............................................................................................. 3 1.3.1 Sub questions .............................................................................................. 3 1.3.2 Delimitations .............................................................................................. 3 2 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 4 2.1 General methodology ......................................................................................... 4 2.2 Literature study .................................................................................................. 4 2.3 Empirical study .................................................................................................. 5 2.4 Analysis and conclusion .................................................................................... 5 2.5 Quality of research ............................................................................................. 5 3 Literature study ......................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Innovation challenges ........................................................................................ 7 3.2 Crowdsourcing ................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Internal crowdsourcing .................................................................................... 11 3.4 Incentives ......................................................................................................... 12 3.5 Crowd intelligence ........................................................................................... 14 3.6 Crowd management ......................................................................................... 15 3.7 Intellectual property and regulations ............................................................... 16 4 Crowdsourcing company interviews ...................................................................... 19 4.1 Introduction crowdsourcing companies ........................................................... 19 4.2 How they work with internal crowdsourcing .................................................. 19 4.3 Incentives ......................................................................................................... 20 4.4 Crowd participation ......................................................................................... 21 4.5 Managing the crowd ........................................................................................ 22 4.6 Success measures ............................................................................................. 22 4.7 The differences between internal vs. external crowdsourcing ......................... 23 4.8 Future for crowdsourcing ................................................................................. 24 4.9 Regulations and IP ........................................................................................... 25 5 Employee interviews .............................................................................................. 26 5.1 Introduction to current platforms ..................................................................... 26 5.2 Innovation challenges ...................................................................................... 27 5.3 The innovation environment ............................................................................ 27 5.4 Views on internal crowdsourcing .................................................................... 28 5.5 Using internal vs. external crowdsourcing....................................................... 29 5.6 Importance of incentives .................................................................................