Just received this abstract: "Hacking Business Model, Hackers impact on innovation, how to deal with them", a thesis July 2006 Doctorate Business Of Administration (Newcastle Upon Tyne) by yannick chatelain which seems to be quite intriguing.

Hacking Business model MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATION, INTERNET AND DEVIANCE A typology for the integration of hacker logic by companies

This thesis thus offers an empirical analysis of the impact and the management of deviance in the so-called “new economy”. It analyzes the hand of game-players when faced with a certain type of deviance that occurs beyond corporate limits: “hacking” or “hackerdom” : a practice which has a deep impact on the entire economy in general, but to which certain sectors are more exposed than others. This thesis therefore pursues current research in innovation theory by further investigating methods for managing “externalized” deviance in a framework that has undergone considerable change owing to the evolution of its status during the 1990s. The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the affirmation of a theoretical trend that opted for a more direct approach to understanding and modeling collective creation processes. A vocabulary shift earmarked this evolution - “innovation management” became “project management” and “design”: terms that no longer qualified the result – innovation – but the collective activity that produces it – the project and the design process. This evolution was marked by a shift in vocabulary, switching from “innovation management” to “project management” and “design”: thus no longer qualifying the result – innovation – but the collective activity that produces it – the project and the design process. Moreover, deviance played a significant role within the collective innovation activity. Indeed, a number of authors highlighted deviance as an intrinsic component of the corporate innovation process in traditional, pre-internet organizations (Alter, 1990).

Why do I blog this? I'd be happy to read the thesis! I am interested in the relationship between hacking/modding and innovation (for some foresight purposes).