Leveraging the Collective Intelligence and Effort of Digital Crowds

October 31, 2015

Read The Full Prompt

In this module we have examined how firms can leverage digital technologies to harness the power of collective intelligence from the crowds to tackle a range of problems such as innovation problems and funding startups. For this assignment you have three options:

1 – Pick one industry where no firms have leveraged crowds, and come up with a crowd-based business model that may potentially transform the industry. Describe how you plan to create and capture value. Explain why the crowd will participate, and why your crowd-based model is better than the current model employed by the incumbents.

2 – Describe a company that is using crowds (external or internal) in an innovative manner. Describe how they incentivize participation and manage the crowd. What are the challenges? Describe how value creation and value capture occur, and the growth potential of this business.

3 – Companies often struggle with crowds as well. Describe failed crowdsourcing efforts and explain how and why the company failed. Given what you have learned in the course, what would you do differently?

Create an approximately 500-750 word post to make your contribution. Please create appropriate tags for your post. Please also respond to and comment on three other posts per module. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos and links to other sites to corroborate your points.

Please prepare a two minute pitch about your blog entry before the class.

Submitted (136)

“THE HUNT” BRIDGES GAP BETWEEN FASHION INSPIRATION AND FINAL PURCHASE
JP
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 9:15 pm
Ever have outfit envy while scrolling through Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr? The Hunt helps users track down items by empowering a community’s collective knowledge.
Not Quirky enough?
Jason Preston
Last modified on October 27, 2015 at 11:42 am
Quirky sought to use the crowd to generate product ideas that were implicitly in demand, and then produce those products. But it's hard to get something right on the first try.
Julep: Defining beauty by numbers
MR
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
From internet to store/house, Julep has been redefining the way beauty products are launched and consumed
Crowdtesting with Testbirds – leveraging the crowd intelligence for bug-free products
SJB
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Testbirds - a crowdtesting platform for software and hardware helps clients to find bugs and errors leveraging the crowd.
The next crowdsourcing battleground: your car
ilny
Posted on October 30, 2015 at 10:24 am
The true consumer value to be unlocked in the automotive industry no longer lies in hardware. To explore the vast possibilities of integrating vehicles into internet of things, boosting in-vehicle infotainment systems and increasing safety with data usage, automakers should [...]
Creative Action Network: Making the Classics Cool
Pinky and the Brain
Last modified on October 29, 2015 at 10:16 pm
Creative Action Network is removing barriers to help students enjoy reading classic works of literature via creativity!
This.cm – the Facebook News Feed Replacement for Great Articles
BrittW
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 12:35 pm
This.cm - the latest news aggregating platform - relies on crowds to post articles, follow members, and "Thank" members for posting great articles. It has the potential to replace your Facebook News Feed as your go-to place for great news [...]
Yik Yak is Crowd-Sourcing Funny
ecashman
Posted on November 2, 2015 at 1:02 am
Yik Yak is crushing funny through crowd-sourcing.
Her Campus – The scalable digital magazine
Qing
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 11:29 pm
Business Model Her Campus is an online magazine that prides itself in being the number 1 online community for college women. The company has more than 7,000 contributors from 290+ schools writing articles on topics such as style, beauty, career, [...]
New Freelancer Opprotunity
HBSSectB
Last modified on October 31, 2015 at 6:46 pm
WriterAccess provides an online content writing platform where customers can access over 10,000 rated U.S. writers, place orders and manage work flow using built-in planning and performance tools. The 14-person firm, headquartered in Boston, pulled in $4.4 M in revenue [...]
Lending Club shakes up the loan market
SC
Posted on November 2, 2015 at 7:21 am
Lending club's business model is challenging the way we think about loans by leveraging their crowdfunding community to fund loans.
Hearken helps newsrooms fuel public-powered journalism
moniguzman
Last modified on October 27, 2015 at 4:50 pm
Proven successful in a handful of public media outlets, Hearken's public-powered platform brings communities into news.
Summit Powder Mountain
Dani Johnson
Posted on November 1, 2015 at 9:44 pm
Summit Series has crowdfunded and crowdsourced a new resort and town plan for Powder Mountain in Eden Utah. The Question is to what end?
ExcelinEd: Crowdsourcing in Education
Jennifer B.
Posted on October 31, 2015 at 3:45 pm
The US public education system has a lot of room for improvement. One education organization is utilizing crowdsourcing to make a change, and bring creative ideas to the system.
Using the wisdom of the crowd to diagnose medical mysteries
Marissa Henry
Last modified on November 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm
CrowdMed aims to help those who suspect they have a rare disease, perhaps were misdiagnosed, or simply want a second opinion provide the story of their health problem to a community of experts.
Crowdfunding by Betabrand or how an $88 “Poo Emoji Button-Up Shirt” raised 1298% of its funding goal
mtv0302
Last modified on November 2, 2015 at 3:07 pm
Betabrand is successfully harnessing the power of the crowd to get and vet apparel ideas. But will its engaged, niche crowdbase stand in the way of further growth?
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