THE CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITIES OF CROWDSOURCING WEB COMMUNITIES: AN ITALIAN CASE STUDY

The present study explored the impact of a crowdsourcing strategy on the firm’s inventive activities. To investigate this area, we drew on an exploratory qualitative case study using a Netnography approach to analyze the open innovation experience and crowdsourcing strategy of a large Italian company in the bakery sector, the Mulino Bianco. This paper has implications for future research on crowdsourcing, particularly regarding the effective use of collective intelligence in the innovation process.