Thirty years lead user research - an empirical study of its implementation level in business practice

Thirty years ago MIT-Professor Eric von Hippel coined the term lead user, and defined lead users as organizations or individuals characterized by (i) trend leadership and (ii) high ex-pected benefit from innovative solutions.... [ view full abstract ]

Thirty years ago MIT-Professor Eric von Hippel coined the term lead user, and defined lead users as organizations or individuals characterized by (i) trend leadership and (ii) high ex-pected benefit from innovative solutions. Since then, much research and many lead user studies have been carried out and lead users in different industries and settings have been investigated (e.g. embedded, technological or entrepreneurial lead user). However, the practical implementation of the lead user approach in the product development of firms has been neglected so far and a superordinated study - regardless of particular firms, product categories or branches - is still missing. Applying a qualitative and quantitative approach we aim to find answers for some very basic questions, such as: Is the lead user approach well known in practice at all? Are firms open minded to implement it? What are possible retentions to refuse it? What are the essential success factors, challenges and corresponding solutions? Is the theoretical process of integrating lead users applied today in practice and/or do firms adopt it to their particular circumstances? Can we learn from the practical experiences to improve theory? To answer these questions, we conducted an online survey (n=249) to analyze the state of art in practice as well as a case study analysis with 17 interviews to deepen our results. Based on this we finally refine and extend the traditional lead user process by adding a fifth implementation phase. Moreover, we develop a best practice for the application of the lead user approach in practice combining it with project management practices.