Question

1. Why is Threadless so successful?

2. What competitive advantages do they have over comparable design firms using traditional strategies for product design?

3. What is the logic of crowdsourcing and why has it caught on in so many areas and for so many applications?

4. What are some potential traps and limitations of crowdsourcing efforts?

5. Identify at least two other businesses, or business functions, that you think could achieve breakthrough gains via the use of crowdsourcing.

Answer 1

1. Why is Threadless so successful?

Threadless is the biggest community-centred T-shirt online store where product control is very much in customer's hands. It is  one of the irst companies which adopted and succesfully ran a crowdsourcing business model at big scale. But gradually it started following community sourcing approach which made it successful. Customers opinion directed the work. It is a platform where artists share their work with everyone. The company has build a great community of loyal artists and customers. They use social media extensively for marketing and make use of gamification to drive motivation. All this has made Threadless so successful.

2. What competitive advantages do they have over comparable design firms using traditional strategies for product design?

The crowdsourcing business model they follow and the community centric approach makes them different from others. Their designs are created and bought by their only community and these designs are very people oriented and aligns well with their interests.

3. What is the logic of crowdsourcing and why has it caught on in so many areas and for so many applications?

Crowsourcing means outsourcing the work to the crowd. It happens when an organization outsources the work (which is supposed to be performed by the employees ) to big group with the help of internet.

It has caught on in so many areas beacuse it provides great flexibility and enables access to a large pool of experts available globally who can provide the required solution in best possible manner. This helps in creation of new concepts and ideas, enhance products nad services. Biggest example is You tube where people all over the world contribute their contents.

4. What are some potential traps and limitations of crowdsourcing efforts?

The biggest drawback of crowsourcing is that you can not keep your work confidential.  tHe competitors can always come to know what are you planning and it also can lead to someone else stealing your unique ideas over the internet.

Sometimes you have to deal with really poor quality of content as anyone has access to it.

There is always a risk of bad reputation if your reviews are bad due to some unhappy community members.

5. Identify at least two other businesses, or business functions, that you think could achieve breakthrough gains via the use of crowdsourcing.

• Education Provider Business
• Food Industry