The ultimate co-creation: leveraging customer input in business model innovation

In order to stay competitive, organizations need to regularly revamp and innovate their business model (BM). A key catalyst for innovation—acknowledged by managers as well as academics—is input from customers. However, the functional aspect of customer input in the process of business model innovation (BMI) is still ambiguous. In this paper, we explore the role of customers in the process of BMI and propose a conceptual model that links customer input to BMI success. Particularly, our model demonstrates how customer input is generated and how organizations can efficiently and effectively manage such input to enhance the performance of their newly innovated BM. This proposed model provides managers with a basis for developing actionable plans to reach customers, utilize their input during the BMI process, and enhance BMI success. © 2019, Academy of Marketing Science.