Communities of Creation: Managing Distributed Innovation in Turbulent Markets

TLDR

The community of creation is a distributed innovation governance model that sits between hierarchical and market‑based mechanisms, shifting innovation beyond firm boundaries to a collaborative community, requiring a sponsor, ground rules, and IP management, and balancing order and chaos to enable innovation in complex environments. The article presents detailed computer‑industry case studies to illustrate differences among innovation‑management approaches and discusses opportunities and unresolved issues of the community‑of‑creation model for practitioners and academics. The authors use case studies from the computer industry to compare innovation‑management approaches within the community‑of‑creation framework.

Abstract

A new model for managing distributed innovation, the community of creation is a governance mechanism for managing innovation that lies between the hierarchybased (closed) mechanism and the market-based (open) mechanism for innovation management. The community-centric model shifts the locus of innovation beyond the boundaries of the firm, to a community of individuals and firms that collaborate to create joint intellectual property. A community of creation requires an identified sponsor, a set of ground rules for participation, and a system for managing intellectual property rights. The community of creation model allows innovation to proceed in a complex environment by striking a balance between order and chaos. This article presents detailed case studies from the computer industry to highlight the differences among the different approaches to innovation management. It also discusses the opportunities and the unresolved issues of the community of creation model for practitioners as well as for academics.