Abstract

"Shaped by Metal – Objects As Company Co-creators"

Louise Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Copenhagen Business School (lks.mpp@cbs.dk)

What happens when the concept of co-creation is extended to include material objects? As a case, the presentation discusses how the 200-year-old metal merchant Grønbech has been shaped by its products from anchors and sheet piling to pumps helping cities to avoid flooding after cloudbursts. In a current anniversary project, such products are interpreted as the meeting point between the company and societal needs and not least, used as outset for writing the company’s history. The question asked is: What do we see and interpret differently, when we take an outset in non-humans instead of the humans that formed, owned and managed the company?