Tor Geir Kvinen (Kvinen Consult) and Ingrid Liv Helling (NEW) at a breakfast meeting Wednesday,

Leading companies involve customers more and more when creating new products and services.

“Human resources should be redefined to include all humans involved in your enterprise – like customers and suppliers. Leading companies are putting these resources to good use”, says Tor Geir Kvinen.

He has a PhD in co-creation from the University of Aalborg in Denmark.

At a breakfast meeting in Kristiansand Wednesday, organized by NEW (NODE Eyde Women), Kvinen showed examples from several industries where major companies involve their customers in developing new products and services.

“There has been a shift of mind in how companies view their customers; from consumers to co-creators. LEGO says: ‘People who really love LEGO are more innovative then we are. We should listen to them’. Nike constantly generates ideas from its consumers. BMW has a co-creation lab. Most leading companies are in a continuous dialogue with their customers”, says Kvinen.