The current shift in demographics - aging and shrinking populations - in many countries around the world presents a major challenge to companies and societies alike. One particularly essential implication is the emergence and constant growth of the so-called “graying market” or “silver...

The majority of service providers have recognized the need to develop innovative services that meet sophisticated customer needs on time. Because of structural changes in the market, rising costs and shorter lifecycles of services and technologies this has become a more demanding task than ever...

User innovation is a broadly discussed phenomenon in the context of open innovation which describes, for instance, the customer integration into the early phases of new product development). Despite there existing a large body of research in the field of lead users and user innovation,...

This study builds on our previous work, which had questioned the validity of certain assumptions of the lead market theory in the face of changing ground realities in a globalized world. Sustained economic growth and proven technological capabilities in some "emerging economies" like China and...

Our study focuses on the question, whether users should be intensively involved in the innovation process of radical product innovations or better not - from the manufacturer's perspective. Radical innovations incorporate new technologies, shift market structures, require intensive user learning...