Realizing that interactive technologies have changed people's behavior, a small but growing number of companies have invited customers to participate directly in the design of products and services.

In doing so, these pioneers have discovered that other stakeholders, like employees and suppliers, won't whole heartedly participate in customer co-creation unless they're allowed to generate value for themselves, too. That requires giving them the opportunity to design and manage their own work experiences and to help identify and solve problems.

The payoffs of the co-creative enterprise are greater productivity and creativity, lower costs and employee turnover, and new business models and sources of revenue.