1. ¹Adidas AG, Herzogenaurach, Germany
2. ²Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM), London Business School, London, UK
3. ³MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, USA
4. ⁴TUM Business School, Munich, Germany
5. ⁵TUM Business School, Institute for Information, Organisation & Management, Munich, Germany

Correspondence: K Möslein and F Piller, TUM Business School, Leopoldstrasse 139, 80804 Munich, Germany. Tel: +49 89 289 24800; Fax: +49 89 289 24805; E-mail: kmoeslein@london.edu, piller@mit.edu

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore new modes of cooperation among customers, retailers and manufacturers resulting from co-design – a customer-centric business strategy. Co-design activities are performed at dedicated interfaces and allow for the joint development of products and solutions between individual customers and manufacturers. Our research on co-design is based on a deep interaction with case companies, making the research itself a further collaborative effort. In this paper, we first explore collaboration challenges with a case company introducing customer co-design (Adidas AG, a sport goods manufacturer). In a second step of exploration, we use findings from a larger database of case studies on customer co-design or mass customization to identify four basic modes of cooperation between customers, retailers and manufacturers. In a final step, the understanding gained from this differentiation is refined using the Adidas case. From the perspective of management practice, our research contributes to a better understanding of the collaboration challenges following a customer-centric business strategy. From the perspective of management research, the paper provides both a conceptual model of cooperation demands at the customer interface and a methodological framework for collaborative management research between academics and companies.