KLU Research Wins JPIM Best Paper Award
A research article by Prof. Dr. Christina Raasch, co-authored with Stephanie Preißner and Tim Schweisfurth, has received the Thomas P. Hustad JPIM Best Overall Paper Award. The prize honors the best article published each year in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, one of the leading journals in the field of innovation management. The award was announced on 13 September 2025 at the JPIM Research Forum in Chicago.
The winning article, “When necessity is the mother of disruption: Users versus producers as sources of disruptive innovation.” (JPIM, Vol. 41, Issue 1, 2024), analyzes 60 cases of disruptive innovation. The study shows that about 43% of such innovations were initiated by users – particularly in markets with rapidly changing customer needs. While innovations with high functional novelty are more often user-driven, those with high technological novelty tend to come from producers.
A bridge to management practice is provided by the article “Clayton Christensen vs. Eric von Hippel – der Wettstreit der Innovationsgurus”, published in Harvard Business Manager (Issue 11/2024). It contrasts two of the most influential thinkers in the field of innovation and demonstrates how recent research – including the award-winning study – sheds new light on their theories.
“I am truly grateful for this recognition. I am fascinated by the question of where groundbreaking innovations originate – from users or from producers – and what we can learn from this for good management,” explains Prof. Dr. Christina Raasch.
This award highlights KLU’s commitment to academic excellence and underlines the international impact of its research for both academia and business.
More information:
Preißner, S., Raasch, C., & Schweisfurth, T. G. (2024). When necessity is the mother of disruption: Users versus producers as sources of disruptive innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41(1), 62–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12709
