Crowdsourcing business models that last

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss how to sustain crowdsourcing business models. Emerging companies are innovating their business model to rely on a crowd of participants and involve contributing users in value capture. While some organizations demonstrate initial success, sustaining a crowdsourcing business model is challenging.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a comparative case study of the prominent crowdsourcing communities Threadless and Quirky. Participatory observation resulted in over 380 analyzed comments.FindingsSeven lessons from Threadless’s success and Quirky’s failure are discussed to derive implications for sustaining crowdsourcing business models.Research limitations/implicationsBecause both cases are integrator platforms build around contests, other crowdsourcing platform types should be studied to enrich the findings.Practical implicationsManagers receive guidance on how to design a sustainable business model that involves the crowd in creating value and lets the crowd participate in value capture.Originality/valueCurrent research primarily addresses the question of how companies can take advantage of crowdsourcing and mainly considers corporate value capture. The original contribution of this article is a set of strategies to sustain crowdsourcing platforms by taking a platform’s entire business model into account.