Investigation into design management promotion in Europe

© University of Wales Institute, Cardiff 2009 1

Investigation into design management promotion in Europe

ADMIRE programme Objective 1.2

Darragh Murphy Dr. Andrew Walters Gisele Raulik-Murphy

The National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR) University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC)

April 2009


CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Introduction 3

Chapter 2 Hypotheses 4

Chapter 3 Methodology 5

3.1 Design management promotion profiling 6

3.2 Barriers to design management promotion 7

3.3 Indirect design management support 7

3.4 DME Award candidates’ use of design support centres 8

3.5 Sample 8

Chapter 5 Results and Analysis 10

5.1 Profiles 10

5.1.1 Design support centres’ profiles for design management promotion 10

5.1.2 Business support centres’ profiles for design management promotion 11

5.1.3 Consolidated design management promotion profiles 11

5.1.4 Overview of design management promotion profiles 12

5.2 Indirect design management support 15

5.2.1 Indirect design management support in design support centres 15

5.3.2 Indirect design management support in business support centres 15

5.3 Barriers to design management promotion 16

5.4 DME Award candidates’ use of design support centres 17

5.5 Opinions and feedback from respondents 18

5.5.1 Feedback from design support centres 18

5.5.2 Feedback from business support centres 18

5.6 Key findings considering the original hypotheses 19

Chapter 6 Conclusion 21

Appendix 22


Chapter 1 Introduction

The management of design is regarded by the

European Commission as a competency under the

innovation management umbrella. This is

recognition of the fact that companies using design

to respond to new market opportunities

demonstrate a competency for innovation. Good

design management practices in small and medium

sized enterprises (SMEs) are believed to enhance the

effective use of design and, therefore, exploit the

potential of design as an instrument for innovation.

The ADMIRE programme (Awarding Design

Management and Innovation in Rebuilding

Enterprises) is a collaboration of nineteen partners

with the primary aim of establishing a design

management award for Europe. Part-funded by the

European Commission’s PRO-INNO Europe

programme, the ADMIRE programme covers a wide

range of issues regarding design management and

it’s relation to innovation in Europe. Activities

include: the establishment of the Design

Management Europe (DME) Award, a pan-European

survey of design management capability, an

extensive series of workshops, research linking

design management capability with innovation

output, and, defining ‘state of the art of design

management’.

An important link identified in this extensive review

of design management in Europe, is the level of

promotion and support being offered to businesses

on the subject of design management. The aim is to

determine if the design management capability of

companies is being hampered by the lack of

expertise and willingness among the European

business support community to promote design

management.

The objective of this report is to investigate design

management promotion via design and business

support centre across Europe, and to discuss the

findings.

The scale of the exercise is indicated by the number of

design support centres in Europe, which is estimated

to exceed 60. However, because of the wide

geographical region being considered, face-to-face

interviewing was cost-prohibitive. Therefore, an on-

line survey instrument has been designed to address

elementary factors in promotion activities: promotion,

support, education and research. This exploration of

the extent of design management promotion among

business and design centres in Europe provides a base

from which larger and more in-depth investigations

can be planned.

Regarded as a cross over between the two disciplines

of management and design, the investigation also

attempts to identify on which discipline the focus of

design management promotion should be placed; i.e. if

should either business or design support centres take

the lead in developing design management promotion.

Fig. 1. The combination of design support and business support was piloted in the 2004 WINNOVATE programme in West Wales, UK.


Chapter 2 Hypotheses

In order to create a framework for this study, data

gathering was focussed on the testing of a number

of hypotheses developed through meetings with

panels of experts made up of: representatives from a

design support agency that has had extensive

experience of working with partner agencies across

Europe (Design Wales); representatives with

experience working in business support agencies

(Manufacturing Advisory Service); and researchers

with a particular interest in design management

(National Centre for Product Design & Development

Research). The hypotheses developed as a result of

the consultation with the experts’ panel were:

Hypothesis H1: Design support agencies do not

promote design management as a distinct discipline.

Hypothesis H2: Design support agencies indirectly

support aspects of design management by

supporting the use of design.

Hypothesis H3: Business support agencies do not

promote the management of design as a distinct

discipline.

Hypothesis H4: The promotion and support of design

management is under-represented given the

potential business improvements and returns that

effective design management has been shown to

influence.

Figure 1 visually represents the hypotheses listed

above in presuming that effective design

management activities are outside the scope of both

design and business support agencies. Therefore, an

opportunity exists to improve design management

support to companies from: design agencies

improvements in management promotion; business

support agencies improvements in the relevance of

their offerings to the exploitation of design;

collaboration between design support and business

support agencies; or some combination of these

options.

Fig.2. Visualisation of hypotheses


Chapter 3 Methodology

This work is concerned with the activities that

European support agencies undertake, and their

direct and indirect impact on the design

management capabilities of industrial partners.

In developing a strategy for data gathering, it

became apparent that design management

promotion could be split into four different factors:

Promotion: work to specifically promote the use

of design management;

Support: the provision of guidance or project

management on use of design management to

individual clients;

Education: efforts to transfer knowledge on

effective use of design management to clients;

Research: the development of new knowledge

on effective design management to feed into

the delivery of effective design management

tools.

To develop a strategy for data capture, two question

routes were identified. The first question route

intended to develop a design management promotion

profile (where design management was identified as a

delivered service) and an exploration into the barriers

and demand for developing design management

services. The second route was tailored to either

design support agencies or business support agencies.

The objective of this second line of enquiry was to

explore the extent of indirect promotion and support

for design management as a result of other client

interaction.

Fig.3. Question routes for data gathering


3.1 Design Management promotion

profiling

Using the four factors of design management

promotion indicated above (promotion, support,

education and research), a profile for respondents that

recognise their interaction with design management

can be developed. Figure 4 demonstrates the cyclical

nature of this process:

promotion, as an aspect of design management is

concerned with pure promotion that aims to

inform about the existence and benefits of design

management as a discipline;

support aims to help companies with design

management at the project level;

education builds upon support, ensuring

knowledge transfer that assists companies in

integrating design management into their

management practices;

research completes the cycle, through the

development of knowledge to inform and further

develop every other aspect of delivery.

Fig. 4. Relationship of aspect of design management promotion

The enquiries into each aspect of design

management promotion are formulated in four

questions. Positive responses to any of the questions

are an indication of some design management

promotion. The responses are cumulative, that is,

the more positive responses in each category, the

greater the design management promotion activities

of the respondent in that aspect. Table 1 presents the

formulated questions.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT PROMOTION FACTORS

PR

OM

OTI

ON

Do you promote the effective management of design?

Do you promote design management as a distinct discipline (separate to design)?

Do you promote design management at multi-party events?

Do you promote design management at individual level?

SUP

PO

RT

Is design management an aspect of your design support activities?

Do you guide design management at the project level during design support activities?

In design support activities, is design management supported as a distinct management activity?

Do you provide support for exclusively design management focussed projects?

EDU

CA

TIO

N

Through design projects, is there any knowledge transfer regarding design management to clients?

Do you provide educational material on design management?

Do you provide design management training courses for clients?

Do you develop bespoke training for clients?

RES

EAR

CH

Do you develop design management advice based on client requirements (market/user needs etc.)?

Do you analyse your design management interaction to improve your services?

Do you develop applied research from wider sources to assist clients?

Do you get involvement in collaborative research to improve design management?

Table 1. Table outlining design management profiling questions

A profile of respondents’ level of activity in design

management promotion could be generated using this

methodology. This profile highlighted differences in

individual respondents and could also be used to

categorise differences across types of respondents


(e.g. based on their core activities) or by other

categorisation (e.g. regional differences). Figure 5

provides an example of design management

promotion profile.

Fig.5. Design management promotion profile

In the example above, shaded boxes represent

positive answers. Therefore, in this simulation, the

respondent gave three positive answers to the

questions on promotion; two positive responses to

support; one positive response in education; and no

positive responses to research. For the hypotheses

to be supported, the profiles will show a majority of

respondents with many un-shaded boxes. The

respondent provided 6 positive answers to the 16

design management promotion factors listed in table 1.

If there is a high level of design management

promotion going on (and therefore much design

management support for potential clients) then

many of the respondents will have mostly full

profiles.

3.2 Barriers to design management promotion

A key element into researching the promotion of

design management practices among businesses is

identifying barriers to this opportunity. Table 2

shows the series of questions formulated to gather

data about this issue.

BA

RR

IER

S

What do you believe are the barriers to promoting design management?

- lack of expertise / knowledge

- lack of demand from customers

- lack of demand from government

- lack of promotion

- no financial support available to undertake such activities

- not our area of expertise

- inappropriate service

- need for DM promotion not identified

- not economically viable at a meaningful level

- other

AM

ELIO

RA

TIN

G F

AC

TOR

S

In your opinion, which factors could improve the promotion of design management?

- providing training to advisors

- developing collaboration with other parties (working with design or business support centres)

- funding

- tools

- external raising awareness of the issue / of the benefits of design management

- other

AW

AR

ENES

S O

F B

ENEF

ITS

OF

MA

NA

GIN

G

DES

IGN

- DSC: Do you believe there is significant value in applying specific management skills to design?

- BSC: Do you believe it is worthwhile to integrate design in other business activities?

Table 2. Barriers and ameliorating factors to Design Management promotion questions

3.3 Indirect design management support

In order to address the possibility of respondents being

unaware of conducting design management-related

activities, several control questions were added to the

questionnaire. The questions enabled the gathering of

a wider range of answers from the respondents, hence

reflecting accurately the current situation of design

management support in design and business support

centres.

The questions in tables 1, 2 and 3 were compiled into

two different questionnaires: one for design support

centres and the other for business support centres (see

appendix 1). The questionnaires were facilitated online

by a survey specialist website1. All design support

1 www.surveymonkey.com

Levels of activity in design management promotion

1 2 3 4

Promotion

Support

Education

Research


centres in Europe and many business support

centres identified across Europe were emailed with

an invitation to complete the questionnaire (see

appendix 2). In addition, ADMIRE partners across

Europe were charged with the responsibility of

encouraging their local business support centres to

complete the online questionnaire. The survey was

released on the 31 October 2008 and closed on the

31st January 2009.

3.4 DME Award candidates’ use of design support centres

Another method to review the contribution of

design support centres to the promotion and

development of design management was to ask the

entrants to the DME Award. Question 14 of the 2008

DME Award online application asked entrants if they

used a design support centre to assist them

developing their design capability. The online

application process was open from the 12 March

2008 until the 18th

June 2008. With this information,

it was possible to review the percentage of the

entrants who worked with design support centres

and if it translated to the winners and honourable

mentions short listed for the award.

DES

IGN

SU

PP

OR

T

- Do you recommend businesses to involve designers at an early stage of the development of a project?

- When consulted for a specific project, do you then recommend businesses to consider using design in other areas (e.g corporate identity, workplace design, promotional material, services, etc)

- Do you promote the use of structured tools / methodologies to make the most of the design resources (e.g. benchmarking, competitor and market analysis, focus groups, creativity techniques, etc)

- Do you encourage evaluation and monitoring of the design process?

BU

SIN

ESS

SUP

PO

RT

- Do you help businesses with the management of projects (new product development, service development)?

- Is design something you recommend businesses to consider?

- Do you promote the role of design as an enabling innovation?

- Do you promote design as a strategic business tool?

Table 3. Indirect design management support questions

3.5 Sample

The selection of design support agencies does not

require any particular parameter due to the small

number and common interest in improving the

application of design within companies. However, the

selection of appropriate business support agencies

requires much more careful consideration due to the

large number of such organisations with different

remits and sponsorship. In developing an effective

filter for selection, the major consideration is

sponsorship or funding. Private consultancies are ruled

out due to their requirement to vend products based

on their own expertise. In such a situation, the

development of design management tools is likely to

only be in response to demand. Therefore, should

companies be unaware of the potential benefits of

effective design management, then consultants are

unlikely to find such demand. To provide parity with

the potential design support respondents, the business

support agencies should be not for profit

organisations.

The initial target sample was 20 design and 20 business

support centres. A total of 29 design support centres

and 25 business support centres participated in the

survey. Although the sample number of design support

centres is small (n=29) it is significant, considering that

there are estimated to be around 60 design support

centres and organisations in Europe.


Fig.6: Sample distribution

Key:

■ Design support centres

■ Business support centres

Design Support Centres

Business Support Centres


Chapter 5 Results and Analysis

5.1 Profiles

All 64 responses to the online questionnaires were

recorded by the online survey website and

separated into two groups: design support (29

responses) and business support (25 responses). The

results were then translated into individual profiles

of each respondent.

Three of the 64 profiles where made void by an

incomplete set of answers. Empty profile grids

represent respondents who answered ‘NO’ to Q6, ‘Is

design management an aspect of the support that

you provide to your clients?’. Profiles are numbered

to preserve anonymity.

5.1.1 Design support centres’ profiles for design

management promotion

Key:

P = Design management promotion

S = Design management support

E = Design management education

R = Design management research

1 P 16 P

S S

E E

R R

2 P 17 P

S S

E E

R R

3 P 18 P

S S

E E

R R

4 P 19 P

S S

E E

R R

5 P 20 P V O I D

S S V O I D

E E V O I D

R R V O I D

6 P 21 P

S S

E E

R R

7 P 22 P

S S

E E

R R

8 P 23 P

S S

E E

R R

9 P 24 P

S S

E E

R R

10 P 25 P

S S

E E

R R

11 P 26 P

S S

E E

R R

12 P 27 P

S S

E E

R R

13 P 28 P

S S

E E

R R

14 P 29 P

S S

E E

R R

15 P

S

E

R


5.1.2 Business support centres’ profiles for

design management promotion

Key:

P = Design management promotion

S = Design management support

E = Design management education

R = Design management research

1 P 14 P

S S

E E

R R

2 P 15 P

S S

E E

R R

3 P 16 P

S S

E E

R R

4 P 17 P

S S

E E

R R

5 P 18 P

S S

E E

R R

6 P 19 P

S S

E E

R R

7 P 20 P V O I D

S S V O I D

E E V O I D

R R V O I D

8 P 21 P

S S

E E

R R

9 P 22 P

S S

E E

R R

10 P 23 P

S S

E E

R R

11 P 24 P V O I D

S S V O I D

E E V O I D

R R V O I D

12 P 25 P

S S

E E

R R

13 P

S

E

R

5.1.3 Consolidated design management promotion

profiles

The four profile factors (promotion, support, education

and research) for each group (design and business)

were counted and calculated as percentages. The

consolidated profiles of the two groups are

represented below in figures 7 and 8.

Design support centres

Fig. 7. The consolidated profile for design management promotion by design support centres.

Business support centres

Fig. 8. The consolidated profile for design management promotion by business support centres.


Figure 9 below illustrates the difference between the

two groups by simply representing the total profile

count as a percentage.

Fig. 9: Percentage of profile count for design support centres and business support centres.

5.1.4 Overview of design management

promotion profiles

The profiles were developed in order to give a visual

indication of activities related to the promotion of

design management by support organisations across

Europe. The departure point for this profiling was

that each subsequent factor of the profiles

(promotion, support, education and research) is

reliant on some activity in the preceding factor (see

cycle in figure 4). That is, support is a more in-depth

activity than promotion; therefore, an organisation

that provides support is likely to also undertake

promotion. Similarly, education (at least formal

education) is more in-depth than support and

research is reliant on proficiency in education. Of

course, this premise is reliant on each of the

organisations complying with similar definitions of

each of the factors.

The consolidated results as presented in figures 7

and 8 appear to broadly support this idea with both

design support and business support centres

identifying more activity in promotion than support;

and more support activity than education. However,

in design support centres there is marginally more

research activity than education; and, in business

support centres there is almost 50% more research

activity than education.

Tables 5 and 6, and figures 10 and 11 present the

numbers of organisations reporting each level of

activity in each of the profile factors (NB. figures may

not sum to 100% due to rounding).

Important to note here that the profiles were

generated from respondents from each group that

answered positively to Q6 of the survey ‘Is Design

Management an aspect of the support that you

provide to your clients?’. From the design support

cohort, 90% (26 participants) responded positively at

this point; whereas, in the business support cohort

only 56% (14 participants) indicated that design

management provided any aspect of their support

portfolio (see table 4).

Question 6: Is design management an aspect of the support that you provide to your clients?

DESIGN SUPPORT CENTRES

BUSINESS SUPPORT CENTRES

Yes 26 (90%) 14 (56%)

No 2 (7%) 9 (36%)

void 1 (3%) 2 (8%)

N=29 N=25

Table 4. Frequency of responses to question 6

Design support centres

Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

P 0 0 2 (8%) 11 (42%) 13 (50%)

S 0 6 (23%) 9 (35%) 7 (27%) 4 (15%)

E 1 (4%) 11 (42%) 2 (8%) 9 (35%) 3 (12%)

R 4 (15%) 3 (12%) 8 (31%) 6 (23%) 5 (19%)

N=26 (valid design support profiles)

Table 5. Design support respondent profile metrics (no cumulative)

PromotionSupportEducation

Research

1

2

3

4

Fig. 10. Cumulative frequency (%) graph of the design management promotion profile of design support centres.


Business support centres

Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

P 0 0 3 (21%) 7 (50%) 4 (29%)

S 0 3 (21%) 7 (50%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%)

E 2 (14%) 5 (36%) 3 (21%) 3 (21%) 1 (7%)

R 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 3 (21%) 5 (36%)

N=14 (valid design support profiles)

Table 6. Business support respondent profile metrics (no cumulative)

PromotionSupportEducation

Research

1

2

3

4

Fig. 11. Cumulative frequency (%) graph of the design management promotion profile of business support centres.

5.1.4.1 Promotion

Within the promotion factor of both cohorts, the

minimum reported level of activity was 2

(considering only companies that replied positively

to Q6). However, half of the design support centres

responded positively to all of the promotion

questions as opposed to 29% of the business support

cohort. The lowest reported level of promotion

activity (i.e. positive responses to two of the

promotion questions) was reported by 8% of the

design support group as opposed to 21% of the

business support group. Table 7 below demonstrates

the percentage positive responses to each of the

design management promotion profiling questions

for both groups of respondents.

% positive responses

Question DSC1 BSC2

Do you promote the effective management of design?

100 100

Do you promote design management as a distinct discipline (separate to design)?

70 47

Do you promote design management at multi-party events (e.g. at conferences and seminars)?

93 80

Do you promote design management at individual level (e.g. through client visits and meetings)?

78 93

N=26 N=14 1

DSC - Design support centres 2

BSC - Business support centres

Table 7. Promotion profile

All of the profiling respondents from both groups

believed that their organisation promoted the effective

management of design in some way; although, most of

the business support respondents did not feel that

such promotion included the identification of design

management as a distinct discipline. In addition, a

significantly larger proportion of the Design support

group were involved in promoting design management

at multi-party events (e.g. conferences and seminars).

However, in terms of promoting design management

to individual clients, the business support cohort

indicated significantly higher levels of activity than the

design support group.

5.1.4.2 Support

All of the profile respondents from both cohorts

reported some activity in the provision of design

management support. Similar percentages of each

cohort answered positively to all of the support

questions (15% of the design support group and 14%

of business support). However, a significantly higher

percentage of the design support group answered

positively to three or more support questions

compared to the business support group (43% as

opposed to 28%). Table 8 below demonstrates the

percentage positive responses to each of the design

management support profiling questions for both

groups of respondents.



Question DSC BSC

Is design management an aspect of the support that you provide to your clients?

93 64

Do you guide design management at the project level during design support activities?

62 60

In design support activities, is design management supported as a distinct management activity?

42 33

Do you provide support for projects exclusively focused on design management?

31 33

N=26 N=14 Table 8. Support profile

The only significant difference in the percentage

responses between the two groups was to Q6 of the

survey. However, it must be noted that this was used

as an entry question to the profiling section of the

survey. Therefore, the response percentage related

to the entire respondent population of the survey

(i.e. 29 design support and 25 business support

organisations as opposed to 26 and 14 centres

respectively for the rest of the profiling responses).

In addition, as this control question requires a

positive response for any organisation to be included

in the profiles, it is not possible for any of the

profiled organisations to report no activity in design

management support. However, it is interesting that

once through this ‘gate’ activity is at a similar level

for both groups. Where there is a noticeable

difference is in Q12, ‘In design support activities, is

Design Management supported as a distinct

management activity?’ It is interesting to note that

9% more of the design support cohort answered

positively.

5.1.4.3 Education

From an overview of the profile, generally higher

levels of engagement with design management

education can be seen in the design support

agencies. Approaching half (47%) of the design

support group answered positively to either three or

four of the Education profiling questions compared to

28% of the business support agencies. Table 9 below

demonstrates the percentage positive responses to

each of the design management education profiling

questions for both groups of respondents.


Question DSC BSC

Through design projects, is there any knowledge transfer regarding design management to clients?

96 79

Do you provide educational material on design management?

42 29

Do you provide design management training courses for clients?

39 29

Do you develop bespoke training for clients?

35 36

N=26 N=14 Table 9. Education profile

The most significant difference between the two

groups is in regard to knowledge transfer (KT) to

industry that specifically relates to design

management. That is, 96% of design support agencies

identified such KT, as opposed to 79% of the business

support group. The next most significant difference

concerns the provision of educational material on

design management, with 13% more of the design

support group providing a positive response and 10%

more of this group providing training regarding design

management.

5.1.4.4 Research

Very similar levels of both groups undertake no

activities regarding design management research (15%

design support and 14% business support); however, it

is interesting to note that a significantly higher

percentage (36%)of business support organisations

answered positively to all the Research profile

questions than design support agencies (19%). This

result appears to buck the trend of the profiling results

of the other factors of design management promotion.

Table 10 below demonstrates the percentage positive

responses to each of the design management research

profiling questions for both groups of respondents.



Question DSC BSC

Do you provide bespoke design management advice according to individual client project's needs (market analysis / user needs etc.)?

54 69

Do you review your design management interaction to improve your services?

62 62

Do you develop applied research from wider sources to assist clients?

39 54

Do you get involved in collaborative research to improve design management?

62 69

N=26 N=14 Table 10. Research profile

Table 10 shows that business support agencies are

engaging more in developing design management

support as a bespoke service based on client needs.

This is evident from both Q18 ‘Do you provide

bespoke design management advice according to

individual client project's needs (market analysis /

user needs etc.)?’ and Q20 ‘Do you develop applied

research from wider sources to assist clients?’.

However, in terms of self assessment of design

management support for future engagement, both

groups indicated the same levels of activity. It is

interesting that a slightly higher percentage of

business support agencies are getting involved with

other organisations in order to improve their design

management capabilities.

5.2 Indirect Design Management Support

In addition to the profiling, the survey presented four

questions to gather information regarding indirect

support for design management. These questions

differed for each cohort due to the relationship of

design management to the respondents’ core

activities. That is, for design support agencies, the

questions enquired about design management in

relation to design activity; whereas, for the business

support cohort the questions asked about design

management in relation to management activities.

5.2.1 Indirect design management support in

design support centres

The questions regarding indirect design management

support to companies were based on the principles of

early design engagement (as design has a significant

impact on both development cost and product

performance); structured product development and

creative methods; evaluation and feedback; and cross-

fertilisation. The design support agencies indicated

high levels of activity in encouraging these principles,

as can be seen from table 11 below.

Indirect design management question to design support centres


Do you recommend businesses to involve designers at an early stage of the development of a project?

100

When consulted for a specific project, do you then recommend businesses to consider using design in other areas? (e.g. corporate identity, workplace design, promotional material, services, etc)

100

Do you promote the use of structured tools / methodologies to make the most of the design resources? (e.g. benchmarking, competitor and market analysis, focus groups, creativity techniques, user needs analysis, etc)

71

Do you encourage evaluation and monitoring of the design process?

93

N=28 Table 11. Responses to indirect design management support from design support agencies


All of the design support centres indicated that

design should be introduced early in the

development of projects, and, all of the centres

reported that they would also recommend the use of

design in multiple business functions. It may be

surprising, however, that almost 30% of design

support centres do not promote the use of

structured tools or methods for the application of

design, especially as such tools are a common factor

in formal design education. In addition, 93%

encourage evaluation and monitoring of the design

process. One might assume that such evaluation

would be an aspect of formal development tools.

5.2.2 Indirect design management support in

business support centres

The questions regarding indirect support in business

support agencies seek to identify where design and

design management are referenced or considered in

business support projects. Table 12 below presents

percentage positive responses to this line of

questioning.

Indirect design management Question to business support centres


Do you help businesses with the management of design projects (e.g. new product development, service innovation, etc)?

82

Is design something you recommend businesses to consider?

86

Do you promote design as a strategic branding tool?

68

Do you promote the role of design in enabling innovation?

91

N=22 Table 12. Responses to indirect design management support from business support agencies

It might be expected that positive responses to these

questions would be lower than to the corresponding

questions posed to the design support agencies as

design might be presumed to be a smaller sub-set of

management activities than the management of

design is to design activities. Indeed, the positive

response rate bears out such an expectation.

5.3 Barriers to design management promotion

Each group of respondents was asked their opinions on

the barriers to promoting design management and

factors which could improve such promotion. Table 13

below presents the responses from each cohort.

% responses from each group

DSC BSC

Lack of expertise / knowledge 64 64

Lack of demand from customers 60 50

Lack of demand from government 43 27

Lack of promotion 32 36

No financial support available to

undertake such activities 57 59

Not our area of expertise 11 18

Inappropriate service 7 9

Need for design management not

identified 57 41

Not economically viable at a

meaningful level 14 23

Design support / Other comments: Lack of measurement Lack of understanding of what is design management, lack of professional development recognition of design manager professional profile

Business Support / Other comments: Other partners in our region take up this role. When we detect needs for design management, we bring our clients in contact with these partners. No awareness of the economic effectiveness of design among small and medium size businesses, and among most public decision-makers as well Prejudice about the meaning of 'design' - industry in [our geographical area] tends to associate design with 'just some nice and trendy shapes' and will therefore not easily understand the importance to see design as a management tool

Table 13. Respondents’ identification of barriers to design management promotion

The most commonly identified reason for both groups

not to provide design management promotion was a

lack of expertise or knowledge; this might demonstrate

the lack of cross-disciplinary knowledge of each group.

That is, design support groups do not have the

necessary management skills and business support

groups do not have design awareness. This might key

into another barrier that both groups face, lack of


access to financial support to deliver design

management services. In terms of an individual

organisation looking to fund design management

activities, how would they argue the necessary

competencies if they are not well versed in the

complementary skills of both design and

management? This suggests that collaboration

between design support and business support

agencies is required if design management

promotion is to have a positive impact on industry.

% responses from each group

DSC BSC

Availability of design

management training 57 36

Developing collaboration with

other parties (e.g. working with

business support centres)

71 55

Funding 61 41

Raising public awareness of the

benefits of effective design

management practice

75 86

Table 14. Potential amelioration of design management promotion barriers

Agreement that such collaboration could ameliorate

barriers to design management promotion can be

seen from the cohort of design support agencies

responses (see table 14), with over 70% identifying

collaboration as a factor that could improve

promotion of design management. However,

business support respondents were less enthusiastic

regarding collaboration. This may be expected as

from the point of view of a business support centre,

design is just one competency of many that must be

effective in order to facilitate business rewards;

whereas, for the design support community, the

effective management of design is required if their

core activities are to deliver to their maximum

potential.

5.4 DME Award candidates’ use of design support centres

Question 14 of the 2008 DME Award application asked

the following multi-choice question: ‘Which of the

following does your company exploit to maximise

design capability?’. Table 15 shows the responses to

option 7, stating that the respondent uses services

from a design support centre.

Question 14: Which of the following does your company exploit to maximise design capability?

‘We use a design support centre’

Yes 14 (8.6%)

No 138 (84.7%)

Null 11 (6.7%)

N=163

Table 15: Frequency of responses to question 6

The low representation of advice received from design

support centres in the table above, would indicate that

companies are either unaware or not interested in

using design support centres in maximising their design

capabilities.

Among the 14 positive responses to the question, five

of them received recognition (i.e. winner or

honourable mention) in the 2008 DME Award.


5.5 Opinions and feedback from respondents

The comments below were selected from responses

given to the open question available in the

questionnaire. Contributors and their locations are

not given in order to preserve anonymity.

5.5.1 Feedback from design support centres

‘A special award to recognise design management

will be presented at this year’s annual national

design awards.’

‘We are currently working together with the national

agency for innovation on a program for design

promotion in Xxxxxxx. This involves also design

management.’

‘The Xxxxxxx Club of Design Managers, a network of

design managers working in Xxxxxxx or with interest

in our city, thinking of opening a design studio

branch for example.’

‘A training programme on Design Management

targeting specific sectors will be delivered in spring

2009. Design Management topic will be continuously

raised during 1-1 meetings with SMEs. Design

Management services will be promoted to the 12

new Business Centres that were established in

different cities of Xxxx recently, regarding the needs

of the SMEs in their regions.’

‘Our organisation is still young and under

development. There is a lack of skills in the field of

design management, however, we are working on

developing new activities in which design

management will obtain a principal role.’

5.5.2 Feedback from business support centres

‘We promote applied research in the field of

Sustainability. Developing and applying in company's

methodologies of design for sustainability with the

integration of other methodologies, such as, Eco-

efficiency, Value Analysis, Cleaner Production,

Product Service systems, Environmental Management

and other activities.’

‘I am personally involved in promoting the exploitation

of design methods & design management via private

consultancies, and even the Xxxxxxxxx Federation of

Industry.’

‘In the coming year, we are planning to focus more on

design and also assist companies with development of

products, via Rapid Prototyping support together with

other Design related tools. In the past we have

organised Product Development training for our clients

and possibly we seek to continue this training in the

coming period.’

‘As manager of XXXX, I see the XXX(local design centre)

as a critical cog in the growth and development of the

start-up businesses we are working with, not just

during the period of time that the businesses are

located here, but also when they have graduated from

the centre. XXXX is about enabling entrepreneurs so

that they become successful companies. Entrepreneur

enabling is first about creating the conditions for the

entrepreneurs to emerge and then supporting these

entrepreneurs in appropriate ways. Start-ups benefit

enormously from access to the expertise, facilities and

equipment to be found in XXXX (local college). The

expertise of the XXXX (local design centre) is one of

these supports. Indigenous SMEs, particularly

technology or knowledge-based, are predicted to be

the most significant engine of economic and

employment growth in the XXXXXX economy over the

next decade. XXXXXX by providing the best possible

supports by using resources like the XXXX (local design

centre) will turn this prediction into a reality.’

‘During the last two years the Investment and

Development Agency of XXXXXXX has been extensively

working on fostering the innovative, sustainable and

profitable manufacturing in XXXXXXXX, emphasizing

the added value of design for the competitiveness of

products and services. To clarify the necessity of design

for manufacturing, identify the cooperation

opportunities between the designers and producers

and provide the consultations of competent experts

about developing the products design. In 2007 the

Agency started the project “Design development


support for manufacturing companies”. Within the

project’s framework, 15 small and medium

XXXXXXXX companies have participated in design

audit and received the individual consultations of

the design experts on developing the product’s

design. Supporting the implementation of design

audit’s results into manufacturing, in 2008 the

Agency has organized the second stage of this

project. The state support covered 50% of royalty of

the designers, who within the framework of the

project have worked for the manufacturers,

developing a design of a certain product.’

‘Large scale project 'humanisation' / seminar about

design management for B2B / individual consultancy

to companies / training / etc.’

‘We collaborate with XXXXX, in the 'XXXX Network

Innovation management'. Next to this 'learning

network', XXXXX organises a 'Learning Network

product development and design', together with

XXX(local design centre). Also, we just started a

project 'Innovation in the heart of Europe', together

with XXX and XXX, where we will promote innovative

products from the Euro region XXXX/XXXXXX.’

‘We promote design as part of innovation in co-

operation with high schools and innovation centre.

We target the entrepreneurs to the specialist.’

‘Design management is one of the items in our plans

for the creative industry. The main items for the

creative industy sector is to stimulate

entrepreneurship by designers and to stimulate the

use of design by SMEs.’

‘Our project will promote innovation over the

border. We strive to have more cooperation

between the north of XXXX and the South of XXX.

When companies want to innovate they don't have

to stay in the company itself but take also a look at

the design and innovation centres next to them and

also over the border.’

5.6 Key findings considering the original hypotheses


promote design management as a distinct discipline

This hypothesis is not supported by the research. Of

the respondent design support agencies 70% reported

that they do promote design management as a distinct

discipline (separate to design) and 100% of the

respondents indicated that the promotion of the

effective management of design forms some part of

their remit.


support aspects of design management by supporting

the use of design

This hypothesis is supported by the research, with all

of the design support agencies indicating some

activities that will promote design management. That

is, early phase design involvement and the use of

design across a range of business functions. In

addition, over 70% of the design support agencies

promote the use of structured tools for the facilitation

of effective design; and, 93% encourage monitoring

and evaluation of the design process.



discipline

The research demonstrates good support for this

hypothesis. From the sample of 25 business support

centres, just 14 (56%) answered positively to Q6, ‘Is

Design Management an aspect of the support that you

provide to your clients?’(see table 4) and then went

through the profiling process. Of those that were

profiled, only 47% answered positively to Q8, ‘Do you

promote design management as a distinct discipline

(separate to design)?’. Therefore, just 28% of the

business support respondents claim to promote design

management as a distinct discipline.


Hypotheses H4: The promotion and support of

design management is under-represented given the



influence

Figures 10 and 11 demonstrated the cumulative

design management promotion and support

responses from the 16 identified design

management promotion factors. These figures also

showed that design support agencies are

undertaking 58% of these activities and business

support agencies are undertaking 36% (figure 9).

These results demonstrate support for H4. This

hypothesis is supported for both design support

centres and business support centres. With 28 valid

responses from design support agencies, each

responding to 16 design management profile factors

gives a maximum level of support from the

responding population of 448 (16x28) factors;

however, the total cumulative positive responses

was 261 (58%). For the responding business support

population, the maximum level was 368 (23x16); the

total cumulative positive responses was 133 (36%).

The radar diagram in figure 12 visualises the areas in

which design management support is actively

delivered by each cohort. Although it is clear that

there are much greater levels of support in all areas

being delivered via design support centres, the

relative levels of support for each area appear

similar for both groups. The radar diagram

demonstrates that both groups promote design

management to a much greater degree than actually

supporting design management; yet lower levels of

activity are going on regarding design management

education and research.

Fig. 12. Profile factors for design support centres in comparison to business support centres


Chapter 6 Conclusion

This report set out to investigate design

management promotion in Europe. Through the

identification that such promotion was likely to be

delivered by either the design support or business

support communities; four hypotheses were

developed for testing:


promote design management as a distinct discipline.


support aspects of design management by

supporting the use of design.



discipline.

Hypothesis H4: The promotion and support of design

management is under-represented given the



influence.

The overall research departure point for these

hypotheses was that effective design management

activities are outside of the scope of both design

support and business support agencies. This is

because design support agencies lack management

knowledge; and, business support agencies lack

design competencies.

H1 was not supported by the research, as 70% of

design support respondents recognised design

management as a distinct discipline. The rest of the

hypotheses were supported. Although design

support agencies recognise design management as a

distinct discipline, there is a significant shortfall in

the levels of design management activity between

support agencies and industry. The analysis of the

results supports the overall departure point of

design management being outside of the scope of both

design support and business support agencies. There is

significant support for collaboration with business

support centres from Design Support centres to

address design management promotion; however,

access to funding for design management activities is a

barrier that both groups identified. This report

recommends that support is developed for active

design management collaboration between design

support and business support agencies to develop and

deliver design management support services. Further,

the recommendation is that such collaboration should,

in the main, be led by design support centres due to

the much higher levels of design management activity

already being developed by this group.


Appendix

Online questionnaire in design management promotion

Design support centres sent version A

Business support centre sent version B (in blue italics)

Reference

1. Name of Design Support Centre

1. Name of Business Support Centre

2. Country

3. Name of contact

4. Telephone number (please indicate code area)

5. Do you believe there is significant value in applying

specific management skills to design?

5. Do you believe it is worthwhile to integrate design in

other business activities?

Control question (also first question of ‘Support’ profile)

6. Is design management an aspect of the support that

you provide to your clients?

yes directed to question 7 (Design

management profiling)

no directed to question 22 (Indirect

design management support)

Design management profiling

Promotion

7. Do you promote the effective management of

design?

8. Do you promote design management as a distinct

discipline (separate to design)?

9. Do you promote design management at multi-party

events (e.g. at conferences and seminars)?

10. Do you promote design management at individual

level (e.g. through client visits and meetings?)

Support

11. Do you guide design management at the project

level during design support activities?

12. In design support activities, is design management

supported as a distinct management activity?

13. Do you provide support for projects exclusively

focused on design management?

Education

14. Through design projects, is there any knowledge

transfer regarding design management to clients?

15. Do you provide educational material on design

management?

16. Do you provide design management training courses

for clients?

17. Do you develop bespoke training for clients?

Research

18. Do you provide bespoke design management advice

according to individual client project’s needs (market

analysis / user needs etc.)?

19. Do you review your design management interaction to

improve your services?

20. Do you develop applied research from wider sources

to assist clients?

21. Do you get involvement in collaborative research to

improve design management?

Indirect design management support

22. Do you recommend businesses to involve designers

at an early stage of the development of a project?

22. Do you help businesses with the management of

design projects (e.g. new product development,

service innovation, etc?)

23. When consulted for a specific project, do you then

recommend businesses to consider using design in

other areas (e.g. corporate identity, workplace

design, promotional material, services)?

23. Is design something you recommend businesses to

consider?

24. Do you promote the use of structured tools /

methodologies to make the most of the design

resources?

(e.g. benchmarking, competitor and market analysis,

focus groups, creativity techniques, user needs

analysis, etc)

24. Do you promote design as a strategic branding tool?

25. Do you encourage evaluation and monitoring of the design

process?


25. Do you promote the role of design in enabling

innovation?

Barriers to DM promotion and ameliorating factors

26. What do you believe are the barriers to

promoting design management?

[ ] lack of expertise / knowledge

[ ] lack of demand from customers

[ ] lack of demand from government

[ ] lack of promotion

[ ] no financial support available to

undertake such activities

[ ] not our area of expertise

[ ] inappropriate service

[ ] need for DM promotion not identified

[ ] not economically viable at a meaningful

level

[ ] other

27. In your opinion, which factors could improve the

promotion of DM?

[ ] providing training to advisors

[ ] developing collaboration with other

parties (e.g. working with design or

business support centres)

[ ] funding

[ ] tools

[ ] external raising awareness of the issue /

of the benefits of DM

[ ] other

28. Please use this space to add more information

about any of the design management promotion

activities that are or will be taking place in your

support centre.


The National Centre for Product Design &

Development Research (PDR),

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC),

Western Avenue,

Cardiff,

CF5 2YB

UK

Tel: +44 (0)29 2041 6668

www.pdronline.co.uk

www.uwic.ac.uk

www.designmanagementeurope.com

The ADMIRE programme and DME Award are made possible with financing from the European Union through the PRO INNO Europe initiative.