Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing, and Co-creation: Advancing the Service Marketing Activities of Indonesian Small and Medium Enterprises

Since open innovation suggests that the innovation initiative has been a more fair arena for small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), there has been growing attention to open innovation research in this context. Prior studies on small- and medium-scale enterprises and innovation have underlined the critical role of enterprise marketing initiatives in order to foster enterprise-level innovation under resource limitations. Crowdsourcing for innovation may offer an alternative effort to generate products and services with new ideas for small- and medium-scale enterprises. The “value-in-use” paradigm is concerned with the joint creation of value between service providers and customers who voluntarily contribute resources. Both are resource allocators who interact and integrate into value creation activities. Given the complexity of managing open innovation in small business contexts, therefore, we explore the importance of open innovation for SMEs to meet these challenges. In addition, our research highlights how to involve customers and other actors in crowdsourcing and value co-creation activities. This chapter begins with the relevant literature on open innovation, crowdsourcing, and value co-creation. Conclusions and limitations are presented at the end of the chapter.