Eric von Hippel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035217
- eISBN:
- 9780262335461
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035217.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This chapter shows that free innovation extends well beyond product innovation—the type of innovation focused upon by almost all studies of household sector innovation to date. It reviews ...
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This chapter shows that free innovation extends well beyond product innovation—the type of innovation focused upon by almost all studies of household sector innovation to date. It reviews field-specific empirical studies that find significant levels of free innovation present in services, processes, marketing methods, and new organizational methods. The chapter also discusses illustrative examples of the sources of innovation across five innovation categories used in official Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) government statistics. Thus, the chapter argues that the scope of free innovation in the household sector is indeed broad—and perhaps as broad as that of producer innovation with respect to products, services, and processes of interest to consumers.Less
This chapter shows that free innovation extends well beyond product innovation—the type of innovation focused upon by almost all studies of household sector innovation to date. It reviews field-specific empirical studies that find significant levels of free innovation present in services, processes, marketing methods, and new organizational methods. The chapter also discusses illustrative examples of the sources of innovation across five innovation categories used in official Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) government statistics. Thus, the chapter argues that the scope of free innovation in the household sector is indeed broad—and perhaps as broad as that of producer innovation with respect to products, services, and processes of interest to consumers.
