Creative Platforms in Automotive: Collaborative Approaches and their Importance for Management and Marketing before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has entered the lives of everyone and has paralyzed many aspects of the day-to-day operations of companies in global and local markets. From the vision of a global citizen living, working and consuming goods and services across borders, we have become citizens of a hermetically sealed states almost overnight. Although the world is still in a coronavirus crisis, it also sees hope in drugs being developed, government measures to revive the economy and reopening borders. At the same time, the world has learned a lot. Even the biggest opponents of multi-user virtual systems, have to work with them during pandemic crisis on the daily basis. The development of technical competencies during the coronavirus period was maximal.
Multi-user virtual collaborative environments (MUVE), which can be described as a new medium for interaction between remote collaborators, are increasingly used for educational purposes and to support the development of professional virtual communities. Collaborative systems are systems that enable interactive collective collaboration between multiple users and serve to share, manage, and pass information between them. With the help of collaborative technologies, it is possible to create an environment for effective evaluating, criticising, obtaining important information, sharing work results, exchanging views, etc.

One of the practical examples of collaborative systems is the creative platform IdeaSpace, which is used and verified by practice in ŠKODA AUTO. It fulfills the above-mentioned characteristics and uses creative Crowdstorming techniques. This approach is also referred to as collaborative brainstorming. It is a symbiotic relationship between brainstorming and crowdsourcing, which has had a major impact on small and large businesses over the last decade. Crowdsourcing usually refers to the process of obtaining external opinions, whether in relation to a product or service. The simplicity of online review and the viral spread of word-of-mouth have contributed to the development of this approach. Crowdstorming then follows up on this with a joint effort focused on everything that is important for cooperation with all other stakeholders in order to achieve a higher goal. The element of "brainstorming" is crucial here, because those who turn to the crowd usually do so because there is a problem that needs to be solved. Thanks to this approach, it is possible to benefit not only from brainstorming, but also include important social factors.
The aim of the paper is to present the creative platform IdeaSpace in ŠKODA AUTO, to evaluate virtual cooperation and to compare the effectiveness of cooperation before and during the crisis associated with COVID-19. The method of qualitative marketing research - a case study - will be used for this purpose. The case study intensively studies one specific case or problem. It examines current phenomena in their depth and in their true context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not entirely clear. However, the case study has one extra bonus among the methods of qualitative research. It is not only a tool for expanding the theoretical background of numerous disciplines, but it can ideally serve as a tool for educating practical skills for students and experienced practitioners in the field. In general, it examines two types of phenomena - either it represents the most common phenomenon, or, on the contrary, a completely strange phenomenon, significantly different from the normal. The first type of phenomenon is suitable for education, as it offers an important generalization; the second draws attention to possible deviations from standard situations.
In order to achieve a relevant result, a clear structure for creating a case study will be followed. None of the important stages of creating a case study - plan, design, prepare, collect, analyze, share results - will be overlooked. In the first phase, research questions were identified, which this article will answer:
- What important benefits can the IdeaSpace platform bring to ŠKODA AUTO, and therefore to the automotive industry?
- How does virtual cooperation contribute to managing the Covid-19 crisis in ŠKODA AUTO?
- Does the effectiveness of cooperation in ŠKODA AUTO differ before and during the Covid-19 crisis?