Using users: When does external knowledge enhance corporate product innovation?
研究用户知识对企业产品创新的影响，基于医疗设备公司与创新医生的合作数据，发现用户合作能提升创新，尤其在新技术领域和激进创新中效果更显著。
Prior research on corporate innovation highlights the importance of accessing external knowledge from other firms and universities. However, survey evidence indicates that product users are perhaps the most important source of external knowledge. We build on existing theory to identify the conditions under which user knowledge contributes to corporate innovation and when the benefits will be greatest. Using a panel dataset of medical device companies and their collaborative efforts with innovative physicians, we find evidence that inventive collaborations with users enhance corporate product innovation and that the benefits are greatest in new technology areas and in the generation of radical innovations . Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.