Exploring the inbound and outbound strategies enabled by user generated big data: Evidence from leading smartphone applications

The Open Innovation paradigm has been increasingly considered as a relevant approach to innovation. Among the different sources, the end users are particularly meaningful. Scholars highlighted several methods and strategies to involve them in the innovation process by asking, observing and giving them the chance to actually co-create. Digital technologies are expanding the span of opportunities in this direction, gathering a huge amount and variety of data while the end user enjoy a digital product, these data can be named as User Generated Big Data (UGBD). The aim of this research is to understand whether UGBD can contribute in User Innovation and to highlight the enabled strategies to create value through them. Leveraging on a multiple case study (Twitter, Spotify, Strava and Deliveroo), the paper first classify UGBD among the methods to foster User Centered Innovation, second it defines two strategies to create value relying on UGBD. First, companies can leverage on a Using Data strategy – addressing both the end user or other player in the ecosystem - fostering service innovation through an inbound approach. Second, a Selling data strategy can be pursued, addressing new clients and fostering business model innovation, enlarging the company’s value chain in an outbound perspective.