How to plan and manage a project to co-create value with stakeholders

Purpose – The article explains how innovating with customers and other stakeholders to achieve co-creation of value requires companies to marry their collaborators' interests with corporate knowledge and resources. The process starts with setting objectives and proceeds through four additional steps: selection of arenas, engagement with collaborators, choice of project tools and processes and defining contracts with stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe how leading firms have developed best-practice processes, tools and technologies to better enable and expedite value co-creation. Findings – The article offers managers guidelines for deciding which customers to select for participation in specific co-creation programs. The choices are: Customers who have extraordinary passion for their brands; customers in attractive or untapped market segments; customers that exhibit a high co-creation potential; innovators and early adopters; lead users looking to develop solutions to solve their own needs. Practical implications – Collaborative innovation projects need to define “What's in it for the collaborators?” Customer collaboration rarely operates independent of incentives. Originality/value – The article offers practical guidance for companies that engage in co-creation projects because they want to them to foster the discovery of customer interest and value, which they can turn into innovation and competitive advantage.