Innovation and Virtual Environments: Towards Virtual Knowledge Brokers
研究了虚拟客户环境如何支持创新过程，提出虚拟知识经纪人概念，他们利用互联网帮助企业与客户进行更丰富的对话，补充传统渠道获取的知识。
We examine the implications of virtual customer environments for supporting the innovation process. By building on the literature of knowledge brokers, we introduce the concept of virtual knowledge brokers—actors who leverage the internet to support third parties’ innovation activities. These actors enable firms to extend their reach in engaging with customers and they also allow firms to have a richer dialogue with customers because of their perceived neutrality. Consequently, virtual knowledge brokers help firms to complement the knowledge they can acquire through traditional physical and virtual channels for customer interaction. We highlight the capabilities and contributions of virtual knowledge brokers, and we discuss the implications of these entities for theory and practice in the management of innovation.