Narrow Results

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss challenges and opportunities related to the development of innovative firms' networks. The paper utilises four case studies based on interviews with representatives of young innovative firms and their present and previous network partners. The findings show that while early network partners often play several roles simultaneously, the roles of both the innovative firm and its network partners become increasingly distinct as the innovative firm develops. Such clarification of roles highlights competition between parties. For the innovative firm, the early phases are marked by innovativeness and problems related to growth and financial issues; later phases may include challenges of dependence, competition, exclusion of actors, decreased innovativeness and less innovative freedom.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and classify the roles of customers in innovations. In literature on innovations, customers have been increasingly emphasised as a source for innovations and also in how they help develop ideas in their early phases. This paper exemplifies various customer roles in innovations through three case studies. These describe the customer as initiator, as co-producer and as inspiration for business development. Through using role theory to discuss customers in innovations, it becomes explicit how customers may play their traditional roles, add roles or transfer to new roles beyond the scope of being a customer. Furthermore, the paper shows that customer roles change during the innovation process from added or transferred towards more traditional ones.