Learning from open source

So, what's all this got to do with qualitative market research? Well, far-sighted businesses and organisations have picked up on how they can benefit from people contributing ideas and thinking that can help them serve their audiences better. The internet has provided the platform for people to become creators and advisors on behalf of organisations – and this represents a real challenge to the conventional models of market research.

This platform comes about as new technology brings people and information together. Business thinkers C.K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy have written about how the internet has allowed for the emergence of virtual 'thematic communities' that bring together consumers with a specific interest or passion, whether that be for mountain biking, Moleskine notebooks or The Sopranos (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004).

We can locate the emergence of thematic communities within the wider context of open source thinking, as these communities often provide the starting point for spontaneous action on the part of consumers. In the late 1990s, as the popularity of a Lego software product called Mindstorms grew, online communities developed where aficionados posted new ideas on how the software could be used for other construction ideas. Taking this to the next level, Lego fan Markus Noga took the original Mindstorms software, developed a new and improved version, and posted it online for open use. Smartly, Lego now allows 'amateur' programmers to access the original code, to refine and advance it for others.

Indeed, the reality for companies is that limits cannot be set on people-led innovation. The revolution occurring in the entertainment industry is a startling example of the futility of trying to impose boundaries. Paralysed by fears over digital piracy, the entertainment industry has worried and agonised over online distribution can work. In the meantime though, consumers have re-shaped this market through user-led innovations such as the file-sharing network, Napster. Frustrated at the industry's perceived failure to lead, consumer imagination has resulted in new ways for people to listen to music and watch films. As MIT Professor Eric von Hippel argues, “if customers really want something, they won't wait for you anymore” (quoted in Flight 2005).

In a shift that undercuts our traditional role, smart businesses are facilitating their own thematic communities. Take the case of the 'Boeing World Design Team', a site asking for input and ideas as the company develops its new airliners. Around 12,000 aviation enthusiasts have now joined up. The initiative revolves around a highly interactive website, where members can get sneak previews of the plane as it develops, vote on design elements and have direct dialogue with the Boeing team. Note this is not PR, creating an early buzz around something new; instead people are actually contributing to the design process.

Car manufacturers including BMW and Audi, retailers including IKEA and shoe firms such as Converse have also used the principles of open source thinking to tap into consumer creativity (for more examples, visit www.trendwatching.com/trends/customer-made.htm or www.micropersuasion.com)
 

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