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On a warm August afternoon in2012, Mrc Svrc, generalmanager of Helsinkis Klaus Kboutique hotel, placed an openFacebook invitation Be adesigner for a day invitingsubmissions for a new loungescheme. Six hours later his inboxpinged with the rst entry, anidea for a living room space by

J J, a fan of theoriginal hotel concept, which isbuilt around the Finnishnational epic Te Kalevala.

When I saw his sketchesand Pinterest images, I thought,this guy really understandsexactly who we are and what wedo, says Skvorc, who followedhis own instincts with the social media call for entries.Although expert recommendations suggested a moreengineered approach, Skvorc, who manages the family-owned hotel with his wife Mia Cederberg-Skvorc, feltstrongly about having the hotels heavy users drive theprocess.

Our way of working is about challenging the tradi-tional aspects of the hotel business, he says. Wewanted to turn the normally business-led design proce-

dure around and give guests direct access to creatingthis renewal. We believe openness is a key element tomanaging a business in a ourishing community.

INSpIRAtIoN StRIkES

Juhola, who works for a Helsinki communicationsagency, says that openness was a key element in hisdesire to participate.

Te most important thing was that the thresholdfor participation was low, he says, which is why the

co-creation paradigm works. Idont have the drawing skills, sothe opportunity to submit ideasin words and pictures felt just

right when inspiration struck.Te Designer for a Day idea

was part of the Helsinki WorldDesign Capital 2012 ocialprogramme. Despite Skvorcs

initial enthusiasm for Juholas ideas, further submis-sions were accepted. Te jury, comprised of Klaus Kboard members and Finnish designerati, selected thetop six submissions and deliberated.

In the end, Juholas concept was chosen and carriedout with Swedish interior architecture and designagency Stylt rampoli in Gothenburg, the company thattransformed the historic Klaus Kurki Hotel into adesign hotel in 2005. Juhola will travel with Skvorc to

kLAUS k HotELS NEW LoBBy LoUNGE IN HELSINkI, dESIGNEd

IN pARt By A pAtRoN, IS AN INNovAtIvE ExAMpLE of Co-

CREAtIoN IN tHE tRAvEL INdUStRy. tHIS WAy of ENGAGING

CUStoMERS HAS tRAdItIoNALLy BEEN USEd By GLoBAL

pRodUCt GIANtS SUCH AS StARBUCkS ANd NIkE.

MoSt IMpoRtANtLy,

tHE tHRESHoLd foRpARtICIpAtIoN WAS

LoW.

B Katja Pantzar ISAIOS B jussi KaaKinen

the better-together

paradigm

CO-CreatiOn

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A WoRLd WHERE

EvERyoNE WINS

oR LoSES

in the board game Co-opoly: The Game

of Cooperatives, players collaborate to

found and run a democratic business. In

order to survive as individuals and to strive

for the success of their co-op, players make

tough choices regarding big and small

challenges while putting their teamwork

abilities to the test (a challenge for anyone

used to a hierarchical work environment

where someone else tells him or her what

to do). This is a game where everyone wins

or everybody loses.

By playing Co-opoly, players discover

the unique benets, challenges, and oper-ations of the cooperative world as well

as the skills needed to participate in a

co-op. The Guardian newspaper described

it as like Monopoly, but better.

store.toolboxfored.org

pEopLE tRAvELLING foRBUSINESS doNt WANt to StAy IN

tHEIR HotEL RooMS ALoNE.

Gothenburg to participate in a Day as a Designerevent. He will choose his favourite table in the iving-oom, which will be designated Te Jukka Juholatable with a lifetime reservation.

HARNESSING CREAtIvIty

Vent Rmsmyis widely credited with coiningthe term co-creation along with business thinker andprofessor C.K. Prahalad: they rst introduced theconcept in aHarvard Business Review article in 2000.

A Hallman Fellow of electronic business and pro-fessor of marketing at the oss School of Business atthe niversity of Michigan, amaswamy has writtendozens of articles on the topic for top-tier business

journals and is the co-author ofTe Power of Co-crea-tion (2010) with Francis Gouillart.

In my research, I have not come across manytravel-related examples of co-creation projects such asthe Klaus K design hotel, says amaswamy. Tere areexamples out there on both the design and consumerengagement side, but the mindset shift from a tradi-tional service delivery to service experience co-crea-tion has not yet occurred, he says.

In his Te Power of Co-creation, the examples ofsuccessful co-creation initiatives include caf retailerStarbucks MyStarbucksIdea.com that was started totap into customers ideas, and ike Plus, the onlineplatform that grew from a social network of runners.

sing a ike armband, runners could log theirdistances and times and check their heart rates andcalories burned. ike employees also created a data-tracking sensor that allowed users to share their runs

online. After partnering with Apple, ike Plus mem-bership grew from 600,000 to 3 million people world-wide. Te platform increased ikes market share byten per cent in the rst year alone.

In addition to his work as an academic, amas-wamy also helps organizations conceive and executenew co-creation business ideas. He has been instru-mental in the executive development partnershipbetween global auto industry giant Mahindra & Mahi-ndra of India and the oss School of Business.

sing co-creation, Mahindras company culture hasbeen transformed by enabling the sharing of special-ised knowledge that had to be rolled out at high speedand no cost. Senior Mahindra management estimatedthat within 18 months, 50 learning and training mod-ules were created, with 400 to 500 employees benet-

ting. Its an achievement that would have taken tenyears using traditional classroom methods.

MARkEt RESEARCH

When Klaus Ks Marc Skvorc started consideringdierent renovation options for the hotel, namedFinlands leading hotel in 2012 by the World ravelAwards, he travelled to ew ork City and A, Istan-bul, Paris, and Moscow. Te ake block of buildingsthat houses the hotel in Helsinki has been in his wifesfamily for more than 100 years , and naturally theboard had to approve the half a million euro renova-tion budget and the concept.

I realised that when people travel for business,

whether four, ve or 150 times a year, they want aspace where they can relax, work, catch up on emailand socialise. Te distinction between work andleisure has become less dened, says Skvorc.

Te space should be stimulating but not overbear-ing, alone but together. People dont want to stay intheir hotel rooms alone, especially if theyre travellingfor business, regardless of how cool their room is.Being alone is not conducive to creativity, he says,adding that the new Klaus K ivingoom has a library,pool table, snack menu and replace. ocals arewelcome too, we are not a closed community, andpeople in the neighbourhood do come for breakfast,brunch, events, and get-togethers.

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mobile web and social media are among the forces thathave changed the way people think, act and work. Busi-

nesses can no longer aord to view customers and other

stakeholders as passive recipients of products and serv-

ices, and must engage them in dening and delivering

enhanced value.

According to The Power of Co-creation (2010) by

Venkat Ramaswamy and Francis Gouillart, co-creation

goes beyond listening and feedback. Its about redening

the process and how organisations engage individuals

customers, employees, suppliers, partners and stake-

holders by bringing them into the value creation processand engaging them in it. This engagement can then

achieve results such as designing new products and serv-

ices, lowering risks and costs, formulating new strategies,

increasing market share and loyalty.

An engagement platform comprises people, interfaces,

processes, and artefacts, which then evolve into value-

generating environments. The building blocks are dia-

logue, access, transparency, and reexivity. Ideas gener-

ated via co-creation become an integral part of a

companys decision-making process.

Future Klaus K Hotel projects include increasingthe current capacity of 137 rooms to 160 rooms andadding 400 square feet of solar roof panels. We willmost certainly use co-creation again in other initia-

tives, says Skvorc.

INNovAtIvE AIRpoRt SpACES

A similar sense of community and spirit of co-creationbrought about Helsinki Airports Book Swap, whichallows passengers to drop o books they ve nishedreading and pick up new ones.

It was launched in June 2012, arising out of Hel-sinki Airport and Finnairs Quality Hunters initiative.Tis project was started so that the airline and Hel-sinki Airport could receive concrete feedback on howto improve the passenger experience.

Te Book Swap has grown to be a small room withbookshelves and armchairs. Teres even a book swap

sticker where readers can record each books travels.

fUtURE pARAdIGMS

In the preface to professor amaswamys 2014 book,Te Co-creation Paradigm, co-authored with Kerim-can Ozcan, he says that, harnessing the creativity ofcustomers and employees is the heart of co-creation.Co-creation is much larger than just engagement. Itsabout bringing together dierent ways in which peo-ple can contribute. Its about the human experience,and I believe it has the power to change our future bycreating a better world environment around us, whichis badly needed in these times.

www.klauSkhol.oM

www.VkaRaM aSwaM.oM

WHAt IS Co-CREAtIoN?

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