Books as Tools: A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

Open innovation and crowdsourcing are the hottest topics in strategy and management today. ‘Open innovation’ refers to the practice of developing business ideas not in isolation but in collaboration with customers, academia, or other firms. ‘Crowdsourcing’ refers to the practice of outsourcing tasks to a large group of people through an open call. Both are of wide interest among business strategists and managers.

This book targets business readers who want to learn how to improve innovation in their organizations. It also explains how to overcome the practical difficulties of applying open innovation and crowdsourcing.

Bringing together twenty leading thinkers, commentators, and practitioners, it explains how and why to look outside one’s organization to find innovative products and services, and it shows how to use those innovations to advance one’s business strategy.

A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing explains how to use the power of the internet to build and innovate in order to introduce a consumer democracy that has never existed before. It is a compendium of best practices, advice and case studies from leading thinkers, commentators and practitioners edited by Paul Sloane. Chapters are written by an international team of eminent thinkers, writers and practitioners in the field, and covers the definition of open innovation, how to manage virtual teams and co-create with customers, how to overcome legal and IP issues and common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid.

Contributors include Julian Keith Loren, Andrew Gaule, Stefan Lindegaard, Renee Hopkins, Jeffrey Phillips, Braden Kelley, Andrea Meyer, Anthony Townsend, and Steven Shapiro. The concept of capturing ideas in a hub of collaboration, together with the outsourcing of tasks to a large group of people or community is a revolution that is rapidly changing our culture.

With corporate case studies and best practice advice, A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowd Sourcing is a recommended read (and toolkit) for anyone who wants to find innovative products and services from outside their organizations, make them work and overcome the practical difficulties that lie in the way.

Wait! Before you go…

Choose how you want the latest innovation content delivered to you:

• Daily — RSS Feed — Email — Twitter — Facebook — Linkedin Today
• Weekly — Email Newsletter — Free Magazine — Linkedin Group

Mari Anixter is the Managing Editor for Innovation Excellence. Based in Chicago, she serves as director of community, digital editor, and content curator for the global IX community. Please follow @mari_IX and @IXchat