Five Co-s in innovating: a practice-based view

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to frame innovation as a process of co-creation according to a practice-based view. Design/methodology/approach - The paper focuses on the innovation practices that occurred within the web contexts of ten companies. In accordance with netnography research, data include preliminary studies of the web-based context, naturalistic observations of the community and the activities of its members, and direct interactions with the members of the innovating community. Findings - This work proposes the integration of innovation, practice and the emerging co-creation research. The paper develops the five Co-s model including: co-ideation, co-valuation, co-design, co-test and co-launch. Each Co- represents a phase of the innovation process resulting from dynamic and on-going interactions among resources, actions, and a group of actors who are interrelated via a dense network. Within each Co-, the authors identify practices and elements of practices. Practical implications - A firm's managers should influence co-creation opportunities by contributing to script practices. These managers should be able to consider more clearly the full options of co-creation activities and be involved in designing and responding to co-creation initiatives. They should also understand that each phase could provide an opportunity for collaboration that enhances the value of co-creation. In this manner, managers could orchestrate multiple resources (e.g., actors, actions tools and output language). Originality/value - This work brings innovation into the realm of practice by moving the focus from the outcome to the process -, i.e. from innovation as a new artefact to the act of innovating. In this context, innovating is the system of on-going co-creation practices performed by people who merge knowledge, actions, tools, languages and artefacts to create something new and better. In this view, innovators are carriers of practices.