Use of Web 2.0 applications in product development: an empirical study of the potential for knowledge creation and exchange in research and development

Abstract

Over the past few years the common usage of the internet has dramatically changed towards the so-called Web 2.0. That means a fundamental change of the principles of creating and processing information in the internet. Companies have started to benefit from the emerging chances. Previous researches concentrate on studying of the usage of Web 2.0 tools within companies in general. But the concept of Web 2.0 contains also a great potential for the internal use of such applications, which has not been investigated yet. The potential of the internal integration of employees across several organizational units is important in particular for the process of innovation, especially in research and development. This paper examines the potential of an internal use of Web 2.0 applications for generating and sharing knowledge. An empirical study shows the status quo of the corporate use of Web 2.0 tools within companies. The study evaluates the quality of the content and the frequency of corporate use of Web 2.0 applications as well as the integration of those applications in daily business. Furthermore, the study analyzes the impact of internally used Web 2.0 applications in research and development departments of companies, especially on the emergence of innovations.

Keywords: Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, knowledge management, research and development (R&D), innovation management

International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 9, 2010, pp. 54-68
product development