Aftermarket as premarket for Breakthrough Usage Innovation

How suppliers can leap-jump their direct customers in order to develop Breakthrough Usage Innovations (BUI) that concern the end users and propose radically new usages? We argue that the aftermarket segment could be considered by upstream firms traditionally involved in BtoB activities as a fast track and low cost probe for BUI. This idea is supported by theoretical foundations and by a longitudinal retrospective approach on automotive communication systems (from auto radio to telematic systems) based on a series of interactive research studies. In this research we experiment this idea through a case study based methodology research located in a major First Tier Supplier that developed an innovative driving assistance device addressing the aftermarket segment. This case study allows us to identify the structural conditions under which the aftermarket could be considered as a premarket for a certain type of innovations and especially the connection between the aftermarket department and the R&D in order to organize efficient learning from these low cost probes.