Social manufacturing: When the maker movement meets interfirm production networks

Markko Hamalainen and Jesse Karjalainen

Business Horizons, 2017, vol. 60, issue 6, 795-805

Abstract: New business models harnessing the power of individuals have already revolutionized service industries and digital content production. In this study, we investigate whether a similar phenomenon is taking place in manufacturing industries. We start by conceptually defining two distinct forms of firm-individual collaboration in manufacturing industries: (1) social cloud manufacturing, in which firms outsource manufacturing to individuals, and (2) social platform manufacturing, in which firms provide manufacturing services to individuals. We then empirically investigate the nature of firm-individual collaboration within these forms, focusing on the role of individuals. We find that the individuals are often makers who view their participation primarily as a hobby and are driven mainly by nonmonetary benefits, that the design process often involves both parties, and that the two forms of collaboration exploit different enabling technologies. Our findings suggest that firms working with individuals can potentially reap multiple benefits, including fresh ideas, broader design support, and quick delivery times. This article contributes to an improved understanding of how firms can build potentially disruptive business models in manufacturing industries by leveraging individuals, thereby adding to the emerging stream of literature on social manufacturing.

Keywords: Social manufacturing; Sharing economy; Maker movement; 3-D printing; Cloud manufacturing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681317301052
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:60:y:2017:i:6:p:795-805

DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2017.07.007

Access Statistics for this article

Business Horizons is currently edited by C. M. Dalton

More articles in Business Horizons from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().