Professor Renée Richardson Gosline Sponsor: Capgemini Consulting
The Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT engages in fundamental research on the effects of digital technology on business and the economy. Today’s organizations have become more permeable to different external factors such as effects from co-creation, contingent workers, or personalized products to name a few examples. This has led to a variety of customer archetypes, impacting business models and the future role of a customer.
Given the constant change in nature of the Internet of Things, organizations must accept the change in boundaries and engage in framework that grasps the true essence and purpose of co-creation: to co-exist with your customer as you live and breathe as an organization. Current research has focused on functional co-creation for product production, which has led to shorter-lived results through product extensions or personalization. However, a co-existing business model has the potential to enable long-term brand resonance, customer loyalty, and sense of community. By studying how organizations and customers co-exist, a typology of strategic options can be derived on how organizations and customers can harmonize as one fluid entity.