Collaboration and Crowdsourcing
QUESTION: Define and discuss (with examples) mass collaboration and crowd-sourcing used in
marketing. What are the main advantages and disadvantages of using these two areas (pp. 122-126).
Mass Collaboration
• Definition: It is the use of collective intelligence in a collaborative environment. Such projects
typically take place on the internet. A large number of people and companies coming together
on the Web to innovate and create value. To have a productive mass collaboration, there needs
to be openness, sharing, working with peers and acting globally. There are four groups that
businesses most often use in mass collaboration. Mass Collaboration is something that is
particularly possible today because of the Internet. It is technology that really enables the
creation and application of ideas at scales previously unimaginable, in a focused way.
Prosumers: use consumers as product- inventors. Consumers often modify a product in a way that
improves performance or sometimes creates a new purpose. Businesses that includes prosumers in
product development through mass collaboration frequently discover new ways to increase customer
value of their products.
Partnerships: Mass collaborations with outside professionals and specialists lead to product
improvements in less time and at a lower costs than the conventional closed approach. Example of this
in the book: BMW hosting a virtual design agency on its website that gives small and medium size
businesses an opportunity to submit ideas that could lead to ongoing relationships with BMW.
Suppliers: With mass collaboration, suppliers become a part of the design process.
Example of this in the book: Boeing targeted supplies as its collaborators to make the 787 which
helped them gain access to the best ideas and capabilities in the worldwide aircraft industry.
Employees: At a large company, the employees are often consumers of the company’s products. The
company’s front line employees are perhaps in the best position to see possibilities for improvements to
products and processes.
• Examples from real- life:
– Youtube: Take YouTube, the world’s most popular video sharing site. The founders Steve Chen and
Chad Hurley made it easy for visitors to share, rate, and comment on short clips that users upload
themselves. In effect, YouTube created a powerful engine for community-building and let its customers
self-organize. (http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2007-02-01/innovation-in-the-age-of-mass-
collaborationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice)
– Geek Squad: Geek Squad, the computer fix-it company now owned by Best Buy, has an open
management model. It lets employees run the company and design products by collaborating over the
web. (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2006-12-26-
