“Five Co‐s” in innovating: a practice‐based view

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to frame innovation as a process of co‐creation according to a practice‐based view. Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the innovation practices that occurred within the web contexts of ten companies. In accordance with netnography research, data include preliminary studies of the web‐based context, naturalistic observations of the community and the activities of its members, and direct interactions with the members of the innovating community. Findings – This work proposes the integration of innovation, practice and the emerging co‐creation research. The paper develops the five “Co‐s” model including: co‐ideation, co‐valuation, co‐design, co‐test and co‐launch. Each “Co‐“ represents a phase of the innovation process resulting from dynamic and on‐going interactions among resources, actions, and a group of actors who are interrelated via a dense network. Within each “Co‐“, the authors identify practices and elements of practices. Practical implications – A firm's managers should influence co‐creation opportunities by contributing to script practices. These managers should be able to consider more clearly the full options of co‐creation activities and be involved in designing and responding to co‐creation initiatives. They should also understand that each phase could provide an opportunity for collaboration that enhances the value of co‐creation. In this manner, managers could orchestrate multiple resources (e.g., actors, actions tools and output language). Originality/value – This work brings innovation into the realm of practice by moving the focus from the outcome to the process –, i.e. from innovation as a new artefact to the act of innovating. In this context, innovating is the system of on‐going co‐creation practices performed by people who merge knowledge, actions, tools, languages and artefacts to create something new and better. In this view, innovators are carriers of practices.