Nivea (A)

Karim R. Lakhani, Johann Fuller, Volker Bilgram, Greta Friar

The case describes the efforts of Beiersdorf, a worldwide leader in the cosmetics and skin care industries, to generate and commercialize new R&D through open innovation using external crowds and "netnographic" analysis. Beiersdorf, best known for its consumer brand Nivea, has a rigorous R&D process that has led to many successful product launches, but are there areas of customer need that are undervalued by the traditional process? A novel online customer analysis approach suggests untapped opportunities for innovation, but can the company justify a launch based on this new model of research?

Details

Pub Date: Jan 24, 2014(Revised: Jan 12, 2017)

Discipline: Operations Management

Subjects: Big data, Collaborative innovation, Consumers, Crowdsourcing, Innovation, Knowledge management, Knowledge transfer, R&D, Social networks

Source: Harvard Business School

Product #: 614042-PDF-ENG

Teaching note: Available

Supplementary case (B) – Product #: 614043-PDF-ENG

Industry: Cosmetics, Retail trade

Length: 27 page(s)

Nivea (B)

Karim R. Lakhani, Johann Fuller, Volker Bilgram, Greta Friar