Introduction: Co-creation in the Era of Bottom-Up Economics

Abstract

In many industries, we observe a paradigm shift from traditional firm-centric and top-down value creation towards more open and collaborative bottom-up approaches. Firms’ boundaries dissolve, and external actors can enter the domain of industrial value creation by means of advanced information and communication technologies. Beyond that, we also find examples where people co-create value with others without industrial actors necessarily being involved (e.g. open source communities, makerspaces). Thus, rethinking business as usual in the era of bottom-up economics via the concept of co-creation offers great potentials for both, firms and prosumers.