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One word for many trends
As we draw towards the end of 2006, It is reasonable to say that the idea of empowering customers with a higher degree of control over their relationship with business has gained widespread acceptance. This basic idea has been researched in great depth over the last twenty years or so. Various terms and acronyms, such as mass customization, customer innovation, peer production, and so on have been devised to describe different approaches or strategies that empower the customer. Each of these strategies has the ultimate goal of enabling the business to say “These are our abilities, how do you want to use them?”, instead of “This is what we make, take it or leave it”.
It occurred to me that, while there has been extensive analysis of these various concepts, there has not been as much examination of how they have influenced and interacted with each other. To a certain degree, individual conceptual ideas overlap with each other, which may sometimes lead to a degree of confusion among those who are developing their understanding of mass customization and related business strategies. I hope that this article will shed some light on the origins of various concepts that have developed. It is probably fair to say that the terminology can come across as “management-speak” to many people, so it may be a good idea to come up with a more accessible description which can apply to them as a group.
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An essential component in the evolution of these customer-centric business strategies from concept to reality has been the development of the web, firstly in the form of the world wide web itself, and more recently the ’social internet’, sometimes referred to as “Web 2.0?. The role of ...