Design and innovation in successful product competition

This paper presents results from a project entitled ‘MArket Demands that Reward Investment in Design’ (MADRID). Among other aims, MADRID seeks to identify the contribution of design and innovation to product competitiveness in different markets. The paper provides a conceptual analysis of the role of design and innovation in product competition. The concepts are employed to conduct an analysis of a sample of new and redesigned products using data from a previous study on the ‘Commercial Impacts of Design’ (CID). CID was a study of over 220 design and product development projects in British SMEs which had received government financial support for design. The key conclusions from this re-analysis of the CID data are: in commercially successful product development projects more attention had been paid than in the loss-making projects to genuine product improvements rather than just styling or costs; commercially successful product development projects involved a multi-dimensional approach to design with a focus on product performance, features and build quality and, where relevant, technical or design innovation. Loss-making projects tended to involve a narrow, often styling-oriented, approach to design with more attention paid to cost reduction than to performance, quality and innovation

The role of new product design in international competitiveness

In 2 volsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D89304 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Creative exporting The case of small firms

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:8425.03(SPRU-OP--30) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Design and innovation strategies within "successful" high-tech firms

Reports on an ongoing empirical study into the characteristics and strategies of “successful” technologically oriented UK firms. Using survey data from samples of winners of the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement and a comparative group of high-technology firms, the study establishes that few statistical differences exist between the two groups and between specific sizes of firms in each sample in relation to aspects of their design and innovation strategies. The issues raised in this paper include: the way in which technological success is conceptualised; the usefulness of awards such as the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement as a benchmark for innovative firms; and, the attitudes and activities of sample firms in relation to design and new product development strategies