Download Article
Download
To Suggested Citation
Suggested Citation
Stadler, C., Hautz, J., & von den Eichen, S. (2020). Open Strategy: The Inclusion of Crowds in Making Strategies. NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 12(1), 36-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nimmir-2020-0006

Register for our Newsletter

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review – Crowd Innovation: Hype or Help?

Open Strategy: The Inclusion of Crowds in Making Strategies

Authors

  • Christian Stadler, Professor of Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, Warwick University, United Kingdom, Christian.stadler@wbs.ac.uk
  • Julia Hautz, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Innsbruck, Julia.hautz@uibk.ac.at
  • Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen, Managing Partner, Innovative Management Partner (IMP), Honorary Professor of Organizational-, Management- & Business Model Innovation, University of Bremen (LEMEX), sfvde@impconsulting.com
Download Article

Christian Stadler, Julia Hautz and Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen 

While innovation contests have become very popular, the inclusion of crowds in the strategy process is less common. Some recent implementations are blogging, wikis, jams, ideation contests and community platforms or prediction markets. The most common goal of using crowds in strategy is to generate novel and unconventional ideas concerning a company’s strategic direction. Also, increasing internal participation and including employees on a larger scale can improve the implementation of a strategy. Other organizations state that by including a broader set of stakeholders, they can make the strategy formation process more transparent and comprehensible to the general public or their customers, which makes them able to increase external acceptance. On the other hand, the inclusion of larger audiences increases complexity, and involving employees makes it more difficult for managers to remain in control. Projects need to be well-conceived, well-planned and well-funded. Organizations need to remain flexible, learn from experiences and be ready to adjust tools and activities whenever necessary. 

Authors

  • Christian Stadler, Professor of Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, Warwick University, United Kingdom, Christian.stadler@wbs.ac.uk
  • Julia Hautz, Professor of Strategic Management, University of Innsbruck, Julia.hautz@uibk.ac.at
  • Stephan Friedrich von den Eichen, Managing Partner, Innovative Management Partner (IMP), Honorary Professor of Organizational-, Management- & Business Model Innovation, University of Bremen (LEMEX), sfvde@impconsulting.com
Share Publication
Copy link
Suggested Citation
Stadler, C., Hautz, J., & von den Eichen, S. (2020). Open Strategy: The Inclusion of Crowds in Making Strategies. NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 12(1), 36-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nimmir-2020-0006

Other articles of the MIR issue “Crowd Innovation: Hype or Help?”

Here you can find more exciting articles of this issue.

To the entire issue

[Translate to English:]

Crowd-Innovation: The Philosopher´s Stone, a Silver Bullet, or Pandora’s Box?

Solutions to some of the most challenging problems have always come from people that are neither specialists nor experts in the focal field.

Go to article
[Translate to English:]

How to Manage Crowdsourcing Platforms Effectively

Crowdsourced tasks are very diverse – and so are platform types. They fall into four categories, each demanding different governance …

Go to article
[Translate to English:]

Strategies for Leveraging Crowds

Crowds can be very effective, but that is not always the case. To actually render the usage of crowds effective, several factors need to …

Go to article
[Translate to English:]

How to Prevent Crowdsourcing Disasters and Leverage Positive Side Effects of Open Innovation

The gains from crowdsourcing can be high, but so can the risks. Contests may become a nightmare for the sponsoring …

Go to article
[Translate to English:]

Motivating Crowds to Do Good: How to Build Crowdsourcing Platforms for Social Innovation

Social innovations, just as any other form of innovation, can benefit from crowd engagement. However, the enthusiasm for crowdsourcing …

Go to article

Crowdsourcing at NASA: About the Work Behind Having Others Do the Work

NASA’s record of innovations is truly awesome. Every child knows about the first man on the moon and the space shuttle program, or marvels …

Go to article
[Translate to English:]

Case Study “Crowdsourcing@Rivella”: In Search of New Flavors

The development of new beverage concepts in close cooperation with consumers via crowdsourcing was a great success for Rivella AG overall, …

Go to article

Latest issues

All issues

2025-04

Influencer Marketing and the Creator Economy

Influencer Marketing Relationship Building Livestream Commerce
Go to issue

2024-10

Platform Business

Platform Strategies Platforms and Brands Business Innovation
Go to issue

2024-04

Generative AI - Reshaping the Marketing Landscape

Content Creation AI-Support Prompt Engineering
Go to issue
Scroll to top