All assigned readings are available in the course reader. The main text for the class is:
von Hippel, Eric. Democratizing Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 0262002744.
Note that it is available free in electronic format from the MIT Press Web site, for reproduction for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.
| Lec # | Topics | readings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and Overview | von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 2 and 3 in Democratizing Innovation. |
| 2 | Many Users Innovate: Maybe Even You! | von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 2 and 3 in Democratizing Innovation. |
| 3 | Innovate or Buy? Each User has a Low-cost Innovation Niche | von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 4 and 5 in Democratizing Innovation. |
| 4 | Dr. Nat Sims, Medical User-Innovator | |
| 5 | How Open Source Software Works |
Raymond, Eric. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Press, 1999, pp. 27-78. ISBN: 0596001088. (The chapters in this book are not numbered - but the one assigned here is entitled “The Cathedral and the Bazaar.”) “Why Hackers Do What They Do: Understanding Effort and Motivation in Open Source Projects.” (PDF) |
| 6 | User Innovation Communities |
von Hippel, Eric. Chapter 7 in Democratizing Innovation. Mollick, E. “Innovations from the Underground: Towards a Theory of Parasitic Innovation.” Master’s Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. |
| 7 | Why Users Often Freely Reveal Their Innovations |
von Hippel, Eric. Chapter 6 in Democratizing Innovation. von Hippel, Eric. “Cooperation Between Rivals: Informal Know-How Trading.” Research Policy (1987): 291-302. |
| 8 | How Can Manufacturers Make Money if Users are the Innovators? |
von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 8 and 9 in Democratizing Innovation. Raymond, Eric. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Press, 1999, pp. 137-193. ISBN: 0596001088. (The chapters in this book are not numbered - but the one assigned here is entitled “The Magic Cauldron.”) |
| 9 | Finding Lead User Innovations and Giving Customers Toolkits | von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 10 and 11 in Democratizing Innovation. |
| 10 | How Manufacturers Can Benefit from Distributed Innovation: The Story of InnoCentive | Please go to the Web site Innocentive to browse. Learn about what the firm does, what its business model is, and read case examples. |
| 11 | Design and Manufacture of “Mass Customized” Products |
Zipkin, Paul. “The Limits of Mass Customization.” Sloan Management Review 42, no. 3 (Spring 2001): 81-87. Thomke, Stefan, and Eric von Hippel. “Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value.” Harvard Business Review 80, no. 4 (April 2002): 74-81. |
| 12 | Resistance to Innovation is the Norm: Things will Change - But Slowly, If Incumbents have a Choice! |
Henderson, Rebecca M., and Kim B. Clark. “Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35, (1990): 9-30. |
