Comments on: Faster horses in the age of co-creation

By: Gulliver Travels To A Very Social CRM Evolution « The Blakery

Gulliver Travels To A Very Social CRM Evolution « The Blakery — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:57:45 +0000

[...] ten years disruptive technology comes along to change business. Henry Ford once said “if I’d asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses.” We are there again…and brands are clumsily hobbling along in horse powered [...]

By: Welcoming a New Decade Where Marketers Control the Message « blog.devongroup.com

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:01:27 +0000

[...] Brand ownership matters more than ever. There’s a pervasive thought attendant to the growth of social media in marketing: Customers “control” your brand, and your role is simply to follow their lead. This isn’t just wrong; it’s a quick way to destroy years or even decades of brand value. Companies need to be proactive in communicating their key messages and look for ways to preserve their core brand identity and values while expanding and adapting to fit new opportunities. Henry Ford had it right when he purportedly said: “If we asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.“ [...]

By: JasonTheodor.com » Blog Archive » From Chasm to Convergence

JasonTheodor.com » Blog Archive » From Chasm to Convergence — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:46:42 +0000

[...] JP Rangaswami’s ideas in faster horses in the age of co-creation [...]

By: From Chasm to Convergence: Technology Closes the Gap Between Manufacturers and Consumers: Part 2 at Experience Matters

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:29:23 +0000

[...] of this report: Matt Rhodes’s brilliant thoughts on co-creation JP Rangaswami’s ideas in faster horses in the age of co-creation Johann Fueller and Eric Von Hippel for their excellent work and (public) report Matt Milan’s [...]

By: ocellus | Link(s) of interest

ocellus | Link(s) of interest — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:09:56 +0000

[...] Faster horses in the age of co-creation. [...]

By: Richard Weiser

Richard Weiser — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:12:22 +0000

Wonderful article. And your reply to the posts is also very thought provoking. I have been very focused on creating innovative solutions to consumer needs – and that alone is a major shift for the corporations I work with – but now I see that if we allow consumers to share their desires, ideas, questions, the latent innovation(s) will be contained therein. Thank you.

By: Josh Clauss

Josh Clauss — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:30:26 +0000

JP-

I was referred to your blog, and I have to say I am inspired by the content in this post. The topic is great, but I just don’t think it’s as simple as you make it out to be. The problem is, as we learned in great documentaries like “The Century of The Self,” that marketers (“Mummy” to use your analogy) at one point said, “consumption is best,” and the consumer has been on a path to un-do this hypnotism ever since. Consumerism itself is part of this suppressive education. So, although choice has increased over time, businesspeople have never let go of deciding what people consume – this is evident in the powerful automobile industry deciding that the electric car is not ready to be marketed when it so obviously is. The tyranny is not over, not by a long shot, and I, for one, believe an equally monopolistic ideal needs to take root in the industrialized world in order to clean up the damage caused by modern consumer culture.

By: Judy Rey Wasserman

Judy Rey Wasserman — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:18:23 +0000

Interesting post.
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and other innovators give the public what is does not yet know it wants. Great artists like Rembrandt and van Gogh did the same thing.
Innovations are usually met with resistance, at least at first. Getting past the drag of what can see conservatism is an achievement.
Human perception is partially to blame as we actually can see, taste, hear, etc. what seems familiar better and with more ease than what is new.
The more startling new the harder it is to actually perceive. That’s the brain decodes the impressions it perceives through memories of previous similar people. places or things. Until enough new memories of something radically different are built up, it is difficult to perceive vs. what is familiar.
The name “horseless carriage” demonstrates people attempting to see the new automobiles in a way that was familiar– as a carriage.
While giving the consumer what he/she wants is a smart idea, and the world is quickly being dominated by niche products, it differs from true innovation.
Ford though outside of the box by looking at what the customer actually wished to achieve (faster travel) than by listening to what the customer thought was the solution.
Thanks,
Judy Rey Wasserman
On Twitter :judyrey

By: David Armano

David Armano — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:53:22 +0000

Excellent, excellent post. I especially like this part

“That customer knows that part of what she wants is to be able to figure out what she wants. She is both consumer and producer, a partner in the process of co-creating value. The senior partner in the process of co-creating value.”

Have a look at the first visual that goes with my BusinessWeek article on the conversation economy. Goes perfectly with your text.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2007/id20070409_372598.htm

Thanks for the thoughtful article here.

By: Rana

Rana — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:38:03 +0000

Excellent article.

I was also born in Calcutta. Have just returned from there to the UK. But while there, almost exclusively frequented the little corner shop that sell everything instead of using the new department store. You say what you want to buy and the quantity you need – it is personally handed to you. The guy knows the cost and benefit of every product he sells. Credit is based on personal acquaintance. That level of personalisation and customisation is what vast banks of databases and logistics systems aspire to recreate for the modern “western” consumer.

The new model claims more efficiency because of economies of scale. But somehow (how?) the Kolkata corner shop is still much cheaper than the Kolkata department store.

Sorry, a bit of a diversion there, but it is still all about giving the customer what he wants – not all about building bigger stores because it’s the trendy thing to do.