Who are the “the right consumers” that should be integrated in new product development processes? Prior literature on this issue has discussed lead users (individuals with domain-specific competences) and emergent-nature consumers (individuals with distinctive generic characteristics). In an article published by the highly renowned Journal of Product Innovation Management, E&I’s Prof. Peter Keinz, together with three co-authors, investigated and compared the potential of these two groups to develop commercially promising product ideas. The research finds that in both conducted studies, lead users outperform emergent-nature consumers and average consumers, highlighting the potential of lead users as an important source of new product and service concepts.

Research article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpim.12500