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5 

Customer as designer. This strategy uses the technology to enable customers to 

personalise products, again as a means of differentiation. This approach is particu‑

larly suited to information products, but manufactured products such as cars can 

now be specified to a fine degree of detail by the customer.

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 Open‑  source  value  creation. The  best‑  known example of this is the creation and 

commercial success of the operating system Linux by over 300,000 collaborators 

worldwide. Picardi (2000) suggests that organisations will make more use of exter‑

nal resources to solve their problems.

Answers to activities can be found at www.pearsoned.co.uk/chaffey

Evaluating new models and approaches is important since if companies do not review 

opportunities to innovate then competitors and new entrants certainly will. Andy Grove of 

Intel famously said: ‘Only the paranoid will survive’, alluding to the need to review new rev-

enue opportunities and competitor innovations. A willingness to test and experiment with 

new business models is also required. Dell is another example of a tech company that regu-

larly reviews and modifies its business model, as shown in Mini case study 5.3. Companies at 

the bleeding edge of technology such as Google and Facebook constantly innovate through 

acquiring other companies.

These companies also invest in internal research and development and continuously 

develop and trial new services.