Background
framework

Background

We live in a society where the value of intangible goods (services) is emphasized more than that of tangible goods and the sharing economy is gaining global momentum. We are witnessing an unprecedented market environment in which brick-and-mortar retailers are closing their doors due to the increase in online shopping activities, while innovative element technologies such as AI, robotics, Internet of things (Iot), and big data are rapidly advancing. Under these current circumstances, new products and markets that will lead a new society are highly anticipate.

As the market environment transitions at a fast pace, some major companies are experimenting with open innovation approaches and co-creation projects as part of efforts to develop new products, services, and businesses; however, they have not yet been proven effective. Furthermore, most of new technologies adopted by companies are designed to improve existing products and only a handful of them are developing innovative products that are tailored to the needs of a new society.

The background of these circumstances includes (1) lack of experienced product/service developers due to the mainstream approach of copying competitors’ products or making improvements to existing products, (2) development framework that is often built around the technology development department, (3) lack of development know-how using design thinking required for developing new products and services, and (4) difficulty in managing a development project organization in cooperation with the marketing department and corporate planning department.

Product development is primarily core competence of the company, but due to the negative effects caused by the lack of cooperation between the departments over the years, many companies have become dependent on individual skills and increasingly siloed, failing to systemize business operations and accumulate the latest know-how, expertise, and technology. In addition, business efficiency has deteriorated because (1) marketing departments are not passing on the market/customer information, which is obtained through marketing activities, to the development of new products and services, (2) technology development departments are not forecasting element technologies that will lead the industry, and (3) corporate planning departments are not investing in market development.

Our mothership4marketers is a 
 crowdsourcing framework for providing marketing services to drastically change these circumstances by allowing marketers to connect, cooperate, and collaborate across different industries and organizations anytime and anywhere in the world. This makes it possible for organizations to find the right marketers for their project. The result is an increased success rate of development and accelerated production process, leading to significant management innovation.

Frameworks

The mothership4marketers services are comprised of three frameworks.

Connection Framework
The Connection Framework provides an open development community where external marketing specialists, designers, analysts, and IT engineers can take part in development projects.  Any full-time/part-time/temporary employees, freelancers, or independent professionals are welcome to join the community. The connection framework offers the following benefits to the registered members.

· Take advantage of skills and knowledge of the right marketing professionals in every phase of the development

· Receive objective unrestricted evaluation and reviews from a third party
· Collect and evaluate a wealth of unexpected data obtained through idea generation across organizations and industries
Cooperation Framework
The Cooperation Framework provides a process management environment in product development project organizations. The connection framework offers the following benefits to the registered members.
· Use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)  and a task-member assignment model
· Use online communication tools such as chat, shared file system, and electronic conference
· Use project management tools and receive Project Management Office (PMO) support
Collaboration Framework
The Collaboration Framework offers seminars on a variety of designing methods associated with every development process. The collaboration framework offers the following benefits to the registered members.
· Use a variety of templates for business/design methods
· Receive support for template customization
· Join the knowledge-sharing community to leverage knowledge accumulated though the applications of various methods