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Contextualized Co-creation: Innovating with Individual External Contributors Throughout the Product Life Cycle

A co-creation strategy for product innovation ought to be customized for the specific context in which it is to be implemented. Despite the obvious common-sense appeal of this idea, the context-dependent character of co-creation has not yet been clearly recognized and analysed in the pertinent literature. We address this intellectual gap by positing the concept of “contextualized co-creation.” By focusing on the evolving opportunities for product innovation, and related extant conditions and potential risks, we see the early and the latter stages of the product life cycle as distinct contexts for co-creation. For each respective context our concept suggests what type of actors may be involved as co-creators in product innovation projects, which type of co-creation may be appropriate, and how a suitable co-creative setting may be developed. Our contextualized co-creation concept may be applied by companies as a rubric for strategic decision-making related to collaborative innovation with individual external contributors in product development projects.