Online Consumer Communities, Collaborative Learning and Innovation

The paper aims to outline the managerial challenges faced by the companies interested in leveraging knowledge and creative talent embedded in online customers’ communities to sustain innovation in b-2-c industries. Through a detailed case-study analysis of a leading food producer (Barilla Mulino Bianco) who launched an online open collaborative platform to gather users’ idea for new products, the paper aims to highlight the transformational effort that firms have to make in order to leverage knowledge absorption from customers in the context of innovation. The paper suggests potential strategies for conventional companies to engage consumers in knowledge (co-creation) and collaborative innovation processes, formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to develop, maintain and increase customer’s engagement in the exchange. On the basis of the case analyzed, the paper suggests some managerial actions that could be adopted to facilitate customers’ engagement in processes of collaborative learning and innovation, outlining the potential barriers (in primis the managerial reluctance) that could prevent a successful result. The case contributes to the literature on co-creation, demonstrating how it can be progressively achieved and improved, trough a combination of management and marketing strategies, addressed not only to accrue users’ motivation but also managerial commitment