"Mart) The stated examples reveal the increased participation of consumers despiteof lack of research.The advanced technology and tools has now led firms to emphasize on innovativemethods by effectively involving consumers in the competitive environment. Abalanced level of marketing techniques could help a firm to capture a considerableshare of the market. The firms are spending significant resources in social mediumlike social networking websites, blogs and search engine optimization to activelybring the consumers closer to the producer in the marketing step.EMPOWERMENT OR EXPLOITATION: Consumer`s Perspective34 Involvement of consumers is multi-faceted; it is beneficial for the consumers on onehand while may hinder the company`s development as well as can be proveddisadvantageous for the consumers. (Mika Saastamoinenet al., 2007) It is thusimportant for business organizations to identify the consumers who willingly favourtheir contribution in the development process and hence should work towardsconvincing the other part through innovative design process.Consumers Involved Not InvolvedBenefits Benefits from Benefits from Non- Involvement InvolvementCosts Costs of Costs of Non-Involvement InvolvementInvolvement of consumers does not benefit them in monetary terms but in otherforms, presumably intangible. (Jeppesen and Frederiksen, 2006) FMCG industryproducts can be best cited as examples of goods that consumers benefits highly bygetting involved. However, their involvement is found to be comparatively lower inthis sector. Involvement in design process leads the industries to develop a betterunderstanding of their needs and hence deliver the products accordingly. (Jeppesenand Molin, 2003) It would be surprising but potential consumers are found to begaining experience by application of their skills and expertise which eventuallyhelped them in subsequent job seeking. (Jeppensen and Frederiksen, 2006;n.d)The benefit is also viewed as group benefit as a result of their activeparticipation. For example, reduced mobility rights in Europe provide the disabledwith opportunities to travel as compared to others. (EU Legislation, 2006; July 6)The most basic underlying theme or benefit is providing good with their own input. 35 As per Gartner Customer research(2010), less than 10% consumers are involved inproduct development process. A high proportion of business to business activitiescan also be accounted for lesser consumer involvement; B2B accounts for over50%. (Ed Thompson, 2010; May 12) However, this consumers` contribution figureis expected to rise to over 80%. Other researchers have supported results stating thefigure to reach over 60%. (Michael Maoz, Gareth Herschel et al, 2010) Despite of alower involvement, the maximum proportion of the market share still gains evenwithout involvement. The smaller portion of the participating consumers benefits thenon involved ones despite of distinguished needs and preferences. Opportunity cost of getting involved in the design process is opportunity lost or timespent. Participating consumers spend their time and effort to help in the NPDprocess. However, their involvement is not of professional level and thus they do it intheir own time. The cost of involvement provides them a better product withoutearning anything in monetary terms. However, consumers can still save aconsiderable portion of their income as a return of the costs. As the time devoted,company gets better information about the consumers` needs and the consumersassumedly demands a cheaper product with high quality; the consumers`involvement would help the companyto develop the product of their need whichmight be otherwise highly priced one. The consumers` costs and efforts certainlyhelp a firm to earn large sums. (Jeppesen and Molin, 2003)Consumers who does not involve in the development process can be presumed tohave no disadvantages. The real situation however, states that consumers havedifferentiated tastes and opinions and hence the products formulated on the basis ofthe active lead users may not match the others. (Jeppesen and Frederiksen,2006)The inactive group would consider the product to be as disadvantageous.However, excessive customer feedback may also hinder the success of the designprocess. Consumers would not accept the unfinished products if the companyexpects it to finish on the basis of the feedback despite of increased involvement ofconsumers. Consumers are ambiguous about their involvement in the designprocess and hence not very enthusiastic about their involvement.INNOVATION: Succeeding where Others Fail36 "