Readings

All assigned readings are available in the course reader. The main text for the class is:

  von Hippel, Eric. Democratizing Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 0262002744.

Note that it is available free in electronic format from the MIT Press Web site, for reproduction for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution.

Course readings.

Lec #	Topics	readings
1	Introduction and Overview	von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 2 and 3 in Democratizing Innovation.
2	Many Users Innovate: Maybe Even You!	von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 2 and 3 in Democratizing Innovation.
3	Innovate or Buy? Each User has a Low-cost Innovation Niche	von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 4 and 5 in Democratizing Innovation.
4	Dr. Nat Sims, Medical User-Innovator
5	How Open Source Software Works	Raymond, Eric. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Press, 1999, pp. 27-78. ISBN: 0596001088. (The chapters in this book are not numbered - but the one assigned here is entitled "The Cathedral and the Bazaar.") "Why Hackers Do What They Do: Understanding Effort and Motivation in Open Source Projects." (PDF)
6	User Innovation Communities	von Hippel, Eric. Chapter 7 in Democratizing Innovation. Mollick, E. "Innovations from the Underground: Towards a Theory of Parasitic Innovation." Master's Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.
7	Why Users Often Freely Reveal Their Innovations	von Hippel, Eric. Chapter 6 in Democratizing Innovation. von Hippel, Eric. "Cooperation Between Rivals: Informal Know-How Trading." Research Policy (1987): 291-302.
8	How Can Manufacturers Make Money if Users are the Innovators?	von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 8 and 9 in Democratizing Innovation. Raymond, Eric. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Press, 1999, pp. 137-193. ISBN: 0596001088. (The chapters in this book are not numbered - but the one assigned here is entitled "The Magic Cauldron.")
9	Finding Lead User Innovations and Giving Customers Toolkits	von Hippel, Eric. Chapters 10 and 11 in Democratizing Innovation.
10	How Manufacturers Can Benefit from Distributed Innovation: The Story of InnoCentive	Please go to the Web site Innocentive to browse. Learn about what the firm does, what its business model is, and read case examples.
11	Design and Manufacture of "Mass Customized" Products	Zipkin, Paul. "The Limits of Mass Customization." Sloan Management Review 42, no. 3 (Spring 2001): 81-87. Thomke, Stefan, and Eric von Hippel. "Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value." Harvard Business Review 80, no. 4 (April 2002): 74-81.
12	Resistance to Innovation is the Norm: Things will Change - But Slowly, If Incumbents have a Choice!	Morrison, Elting. "Gunfire at Sea." Chapter 2 in Men, Machines and Modern Times. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 0262630184. Henderson, Rebecca M., and Kim B. Clark. "Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms." Administrative Science Quarterly 35, (1990): 9-30.