Innovating with Customers within Steady State and Discontinuities:The Challenge of Creating Out-of-the-Box Knowledge about Customer Needs

This paper is based on recent development in the area of the role of customers and customer needs in innovation. It reflects the customer theme against the challenge of managing steady state innovation and discontinuous innovation. It draws insight from an action research study of an ambitious company that wanted to become more customer-oriented and innovative and simultaneously acquire new uncontested markets through a new business model. Finally the paper discusses some possible future directions of innovation research based on the ideas of value co-creation