In industrial product development with customers, it is well‐known that lead userness is associated with novel and commercially attractive products. We take a next step by analyzing if lead userness is related to product development that potentially affects industry‐level practices. Our main hypothesis is that lead userness results in the pursuit of Schumpeterian product opportunities: disequilibrating, radical, rare, and based on new knowledge and creative activities. In contrast, at low lead userness, more Kirznerian product opportunities are expected—which maintain industry standards. The hypothesis is supported by data from 139 high‐tech small firms. Next, we anticipate that factors related to the selection of lead users, and the effective processing of their inputs, moderate the connection between lead userness and Schumpeterian opportunity. As for selection, we find a stronger connection when firms collaborate with “new” customers. Conversely, when involved customers have been business partners already for a long time, the pursuit of Schumpeterian opportunities is mitigated. Also, tentative evidence is found that the connection between lead userness and Schumpeterian opportunity amplifies when involved customers are less dominant market players. Finally, when it comes to processing lead users' input, we report tentative evidence that firms' R&D intensity should be higher (indicating ability to process lead users' inputs and make continued development efforts). Our findings help to explain why lead users have been associated with industry dynamics, and provide guidance to identify “relevant” lead users when firms seek product opportunities that potentially disequilibrate their industry.

中文翻译：

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将领先用户作为熊彼特机会来源的工业产品开发

在与客户一起开发工业产品时，众所周知，领先的用户体验与新颖且具有商业吸引力的产品相关。我们下一步将分析潜在客户用户是否与可能影响行业实践的产品开发相关。我们的主要假设是，领先用户会导致追求熊彼特式的产品机会：不平衡、激进、稀有，并且基于新知识和创造性活动。相比之下，在铅使用率较低的情况下，预计会有更多的 Kirznerian 产品机会，从而维持行业标准。这一假设得到了 139 家高科技小型企业的数据的支持。接下来，我们预计与主要用户的选择及其输入的有效处理相关的因素会调节主要用户性和熊彼特机会之间的联系。至于选择，我们发现当公司与“新”客户合作时，联系会更紧密。相反，当相关客户已经是长期的业务合作伙伴时，对熊彼特机会的追求就会减弱。此外，初步证据表明，当涉及的客户是不太占主导地位的市场参与者时，领先用户和熊彼特机会之间的联系就会放大。最后，在处理领先用户的输入时，我们报告了初步证据，表明公司的研发强度应该更高（表明处理领先用户的输入并做出持续开发努力的能力）。我们的研究结果有助于解释为什么领先用户与行业动态相关，并为企业在寻求可能导致行业失衡的产品机会时识别“相关”领先用户提供指导。