Are radical innovations designed by users ? The case of a software company

Our research concerns the customer/supplier relationship during the development of radical software innovation. Taking the customers' needs into account has been identified as a key factor in the innovation process since the work carried out by Freeman (1982). Von Hippel and Katz (2002) even consider that the customers play a decisive role in the emergence and direction that the innovation takes. More specifically, in software innovation , it is taking the customers' needs into consideration that seems critical (Cusumano 2004). Fichman and Kemerer (1997) suggest involving the users in the phases prior to the conception and development of the innovations so as to take their needs into consideration. However, the first customers are likely to direct the innovation process towards their own needs which can be very specific. To what extent should the innovation designer meet these needs given that he is looking to develop a product that could be of interest to a large number of customers ? This is the question that our research covers. In order to offer some answers to the question we decided to study the case of a company in the business software field. We identify the methods behind the integration in the innovation process of the first customers. We show the implications of this integration on the organisation of the innovation project and on the architecture of the innovation itself.