IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulp/sbbeta/2008-14.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Users The Next Entrepreneurs? A Case Study On The Video Game Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN
  • Claude GUITTARD

Abstract

Knowledge based-entrepreneurial firms struggle to survive because they must be simultaneously entrepreneurial on several dimensions. Can those firms rely on users to achieve sufficient efficiency in some entrepreneurial dimensions? To answer this question we drew on the entrepreneurial theories of the firm and on the users/innovator literature. In this work we present the plural entrepreneurship framework and then with a longitudinal case study of a mobile phone video-game firm which relies on users to improve their games we show that the user can significantly enhance the efficiency of the innovation of the firm. We also show that the other important dimensions of the firm behavior (organization, business model) can be significantly improved by the implication of users.

Suggested Citation

  • Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN & Claude GUITTARD, 2008. "Are Users The Next Entrepreneurs? A Case Study On The Video Game Industry," Working Papers of BETA 2008-14, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2008-14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://beta.u-strasbg.fr/WP/2008/2008-14.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric von Hippel, 1986. "Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(7), pages 791-805, July.
    2. Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, 2002. "Some Simple Economics of Open Source," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 197-234, June.
    3. Weijian Shan, 1990. "An empirical analysis of organizational strategies by entrepreneurial high‐technology firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 129-139, February.
    4. Malerba,Franco & Brusoni,Stefano (ed.), 2007. "Perspectives on Innovation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521685610.
    5. Baldwin, Carliss & Hienerth, Christoph & von Hippel, Eric, 2006. "How user innovations become commercial products: A theoretical investigation and case study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1291-1313, November.
    6. Markus C. Becker & Patrick Cohendet & Patrick Llerena, 2007. "Division of labor and division of knowledge: Why the nature of the causality matters for the evolutionary theory of the firm," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Franco Malerba (ed.), Innovation, Industrial Dynamics and Structural Transformation, pages 49-63, Springer.
    7. Franke, Nikolaus & Shah, Sonali, 2003. "How communities support innovative activities: an exploration of assistance and sharing among end-users," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 157-178, January.
    8. Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Rossi, Cristina, 2003. "Why Open Source software can succeed," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1243-1258, July.
    9. Lee Fleming, 2001. "Recombinant Uncertainty in Technological Search," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 117-132, January.
    10. John Hauser & Gerard J. Tellis & Abbie Griffin, 2006. "Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 687-717, 11-12.
    11. Antoine Bureth & Julien Pénin & Sandrine Wolff, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in biotechnology: The case of four start-ups in the Upper-Rhine Biovalley," Working Papers of BETA 2006-21, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    12. Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN, 2008. "Plural-entrepreneurial activity for a single start-up: a case study," Working Papers of BETA 2008-01, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    13. Zeitlyn, David, 2003. "Gift economies in the development of open source software: anthropological reflections," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1287-1291, July.
    14. Jeffrey T. Macher & Barak D. Richman, 2004. "Organisational Responses To Discontinuous Innovation: A Case Study Approach," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(01), pages 87-114.
    15. J. Metcalfe, 2004. "The entrepreneur and the style of modern economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 157-175, June.
    16. Malerba,Franco & Brusoni,Stefano (ed.), 2007. "Perspectives on Innovation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521866644.
    17. Shah, Sonali, 2005. "From Innovation to Firm Formation in the Windsurfing, Skateboarding and Snowboarding Industries," Working Papers 05-0107, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    18. Audley Genus & Anne-Marie Coles, 2006. "Firm Strategies For Risk Management In Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(02), pages 113-126.
    19. Lars Bo Jeppesen & Lars Frederiksen, 2006. "Why Do Users Contribute to Firm-Hosted User Communities? The Case of Computer-Controlled Music Instruments," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 45-63, February.
    20. U. Witt & C. Zellner, 2005. "Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship: The Organizational Side of Technology Commercialization," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2005-04, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    21. Lakhani, Karim R. & von Hippel, Eric, 2003. "How open source software works: "free" user-to-user assistance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 923-943, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thierry Burger-Helmchen & Patrick Llerena, 2008. "A case study of a creative start-up: governance, communities and knowledge management," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 125-146.
    2. Ebbing, Tobias & Lüthje, Christian, 2021. "Pricing decisions of consumer innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(8).
    3. Jordan Robert Gamble & Michael Brennan & Rodney Mcadam, 2016. "A Contemporary And Systematic Literature Review Of User-Centric Innovation: A Consumer Perspective," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 1-45, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thierry Burger-Helmchen & Claude Guittard, 2008. "Are users the next entrepreneurs ?," Post-Print hal-02189762, HAL.
    2. Lettl, Christopher & Rost, Katja & von Wartburg, Iwan, 2009. "Why are some independent inventors 'heroes' and others 'hobbyists'? The moderating role of technological diversity and specialization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 243-254, March.
    3. Sheen S. Levine & Michael J. Prietula, 2014. "Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1414-1433, October.
    4. Thierry Burger-Helmchen & Patrick Llerena, 2008. "A case study of a creative start-up: governance, communities and knowledge management," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 125-146.
    5. Maria Roszkowska-Menkes, 2017. "User Innovation: State of the Art and Perspectives for Future Research," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 13(2), pages 127-154.
    6. Boudreau, Kevin J. & Lakhani, Karim R., 2015. "“Open” disclosure of innovations, incentives and follow-on reuse: Theory on processes of cumulative innovation and a field experiment in computational biology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 4-19.
    7. Schulz, Celine, 2006. "The Secret to Successful User Communities: An Analysis of Computer Associates’ User Groups," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 1257, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    8. Idota, Hiroki & Nakaya, Joji & Tsuji, Masatsugu, 2019. "Why Consumers Commit Voluntarily to Collaborative Innovation with Firms by Using Social Media?: Case of Japanese consumers," 30th European Regional ITS Conference, Helsinki 2019 205183, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    9. Konstantin Fursov & Thomas Thurner, 2016. "God Helps Those Who Help Themselves! A Study of User-Innovation in Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 59/STI/2016, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Alexander Brem & Volker Bilgram & Adele Gutstein, 2021. "Involving Lead Users in Innovation: A Structured Summary of Research on the Lead User Method," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Alexander Brem (ed.), Emerging Issues and Trends in INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT, chapter 2, pages 21-48, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Ruo-Yu Liang & Wei Guo & Ling-Hao Zhang & Lei Wang, 2019. "Investigating Sustained Participation in Open Design Community in China: The Antecedents of User Loyalty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-19, April.
    12. Adrián Kovács & Bart Looy & Bruno Cassiman, 2015. "Exploring the scope of open innovation: a bibliometric review of a decade of research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 951-983, September.
    13. Vipul Aggarwal & Elina H. Hwang & Yong Tan, 2021. "Learning to Be Creative: A Mutually Exciting Spatiotemporal Point Process Model for Idea Generation in Open Innovation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1214-1235, December.
    14. Claussen, Jörg & Halbinger, Maria A., 2021. "The role of pre-innovation platform activity for diffusion success: Evidence from consumer innovations on a 3D printing platform," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(8).
    15. Satish Nambisan & Robert A. Baron, 2010. "Different Roles, Different Strokes: Organizing Virtual Customer Environments to Promote Two Types of Customer Contributions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 554-572, April.
    16. Parmentier, Guy & Mangematin, Vincent, 2014. "Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 40-53.
    17. Carliss Baldwin & Eric von Hippel, 2011. "Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1399-1417, December.
    18. Jeppesen, Lars Bo & Laursen, Keld, 2009. "The role of lead users in knowledge sharing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1582-1589, December.
    19. Heikkinen, I.T.S. & Savin, H. & Partanen, J. & Seppälä, J. & Pearce, J.M., 2020. "Towards national policy for open source hardware research: The case of Finland," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    20. Miric, Milan & Jeppesen, Lars Bo, 2023. "How does competition influence innovative effort within a platform-based ecosystem? Contrasting paid and unpaid contributors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Plural entrepreneurship; management of innovation; Video-game case study.;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2008-14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bestrfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.