Benchmarking Industrial Design Services

Marketing's lead role in total quality

The role of design and designers in new product development (NPD) has always been problematic and complex in its approach and in the extent of its involvement (Leenders et al., 2007; Murray and O’Driscoll, 1996; Veryzer and Borja de Mozota, 2005). As the industrial design profession seeks to confront the challenges of a recessionary environment, both the designer led ‘intuitive’ approach to NPD, and the marketer led ‘systematic’ approach become outmoded (Cross, 2001; Martin, 2007). There is shortcoming, even ambivalence, in the NPD and design management literature as to how design is involved in NPD (Cooper et al., 2003; Olson et al., 1998). Perks et al. (2005) suggest the designer’s involvement is moving from merely functional expertise to broader leadership activities. The research reported in this paper seeks to contextualise the fledgling position of design as NPD leader, and to understand the nature and level of design and designer involvement in NPD. Using a case study approach, the researchers sought to investigate these issues in Ireland’s largest industrial design consultancy. The firm, established 25 years ago, employs 30 design professionals. It handles projects for a range of well-known, international clients in mature, consumer product categories, for example, Palm, Terraillon and Logitech. The lead researcher spent six weeks embedded in the firm in summer 2009, carrying out quasi-ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews with designers and management. Further interviews were conducted at the European studio of an international consultancy to enable a broader comparison. The firm was found to be in a period of flux, moving from a situation where the client called the shots, often based on uni-dimensional market research, towards one where the design studio sought to win greater involvement in NPD. A studio in such a predicament has yet to be empirically examined in the literature. Reorientation from a passive, and often late, role in NPD towards one of fuller leadership and greater input is a central feature of this research. A significant amount of conventional design work was gradually gravitating towards business analysis and marketing conceptualisation. Designers engaged in a high level of analysis on product, user and brand, and offered direction to clients through a range of activities. In many regards, they embraced the language and craft of the marketer. The company’s new mantra was to “manifest our clients’ brand through great product design”. This shift marks the division between the designer’s role as a mere service provider versus design authority. The extent to which leadership could be successfully offered depended, in a large part, on the relationship between designer and client. This relationship determined the extent and timing of involvement of designers in NPD. Different types and intensities of relationships were observed. For example, constant dyadic communication facilitated intense relationships where typical design briefs were extremely informal. However, an asymmetry in consultancy-client relationship, provoking vulnerability and internal tension, was uncovered. This revealed the transitional ground that the studio currently inhabits. This study charts in detail a move by a well-established design consultancy to take greater ‘ownership’ of NPD. In shaping this process, the constellation of the designer-client relationship is critical. A model of designer-client involvement in NPD, hinging around project classification and designer input, is developed. This model is predicated on three important insights from the research: (i) a broadened designer remit; (ii) extensive and early NPD involvement on the part of designers; and (iii) increased ownership of the NPD process by the consultancy designers. As the design profession transitions, as designers increasingly sell a greater range of expertise and provide greater value to clients, it is suggested that the model provides relevant insight to both design consultancies and client firms in the NPD process.

A user-centred design (UCD) approach aims to design products suitable for their intended users by involving them in the design. This article describes an action research and development project where user-centred design techniques from the human-computer interaction field were applied to the work practice of ED-Design Ltd, Scandinavia's largest industrial design consultancy. The paper contributes to discussion on the practice of industrial design in companies today. It describes the goals, process and results of the project, and discusses the lessons learned. In the literature, the use and adaptation of methods is typically smooth and successful. How is it in real life? What happens when an industrial designer is asked to test his or her own designs with users?

The paper addresses the structure-agency dilemma of interactive learning in innovation systems, namely the structuration process of how macro-conditions shape micro-actions of firms and the agency process of how firms react to macro-structures. We argue organizational boundaries of firms are an important dimension to tackle the structure-agency dilemma of interactive learning. Specifically, we propose the structuration process can occur through a boundary-stabilizing mechanism while the agency process can happen with a boundary-changing mechanism. We investigate the newly established industrial design firms in China and find that industrial policies, a weak design education system, a fixed-price practice for industrial designs set up clear boundaries between industrial designers and manufacturers, which restrict their interactive learning. To the agency process, we observe a few industrial design firms upgrade by extending their organizational boundaries upstream or downstream in their value chains. Further, we suggest the structuration and agency processes can be context-specific.

This paper discusses the basic concepts of collaborative product design and application status, pointing out that collaborative innovation is to solve the current domestic industrial design common small-scale enterprises, an effective way of weak innovation capability. Effective industrial design industry collaborative innovation model is the internal collaboration, collaborative industrial design firms and manufacturing companies, the collaboration between the members of the industrial design industry chain integration.

정보기술 산업에서의 인수 유형별 인수 의도 분석

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify the essential elements required for innovation in the construction industry. To this end, the authors assessed the innovation at three levels: the firm growth account level, the firm behaviour level and the level of the firm’s experts. The factors influencing innovation at each level were identified and synthesised into guiding strategies for innovation.Design/methodology/approachThree methods were combined to develop a mode of thinking for innovation. First, at the semi-macro level, the authors identified the factors that influence the total factor productivity (TFP) by regressing the TFP across firms of the construction industry on a variety of extrinsic factors. Second, at the firm level, the authors extracted actual innovative firms from a large amount of public procurement individual data. The authors analysed the behaviours of these innovative firms. Third, the authors conducted a survey of expert-level personnel. In addition, a text analysis was performed to determine what was perceived by experts as a factor that leads to innovation.FindingsThe authors analysed the TFP, the behaviour of innovative firms and the perception issues between industry experts and stakeholders regarding innovation. As a result, two factors were identified. The first factor was the expectation of a positive solution to the problem through monopoly profits, future benefits and increased efficiency. The second factor was peer pressure from other organisations of a similar nature, peer pressure from users and technical information, as well as competitive conditions, e.g. recent environmental growth, including relevant innovations.Practical implicationsIn the context of innovation, static and dynamic thinking were important requirements. Static concepts were based on the accumulation of knowledge, such as patents and technological progress. Dynamic thinking involved a future outlook, including a competitive environment as a necessary condition. Actual technological innovation was driven by incentives and expectations.Social implicationsAccording to the results of this study, the authors make the following recommendations for enhancing the construction-industry innovation in Japan: do not rely on a patent policy to drive innovation, create an environment that encourages competition and develop an ongoing initiative that encourages and rewards innovation.Originality/valueThis study was novel, in that the nature of innovation was investigated at three levels: the TFP, firm behaviour and expert perceptions. The identification and extraction of the two resulting points – statically necessary and dynamically necessary elements – was a significant contribution of the study.

PurposeThe global economic downturn has greatly impacted the construction industry and architectural design firms (ADFs). Social media, however, provides a strategic avenue to enhance the visibility and resilience of ADFs. This paper aims to develop a framework integrating social media as an innovative marketing approach for mitigating the impacts of the global economic downturn on ADFs in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative and quantitative research approach was designed to accomplish four objectives. The literature review examined the global economic downturn and marketing ADFs. Three case studies investigated the role of social media in marketing ADFs during economic uncertainties. A survey questionnaire was conducted with a representative sample of ADFs to assess their perception and application of social media as a marketing approach. Based on the above, the research developed a framework integrating social media as a novel approach for marketing ADFs in Egypt to alleviate the impacts of the global economic downturn.FindingsThe research explored the causes and impacts of the global economic downturn, focusing on marketing strategies and the use of social media in promoting ADFs. Case studies demonstrated that ADFs that utilized social media effectively succeeded in navigating the economic downturn and enhancing market performance, reputation and profitability. Data analysis highlighted “generating leads” as the top marketing strategy, followed by “attracting potential clients.” “Instagram” emerged as the most widely used platform, with “analytics and reporting” identified as the most impactful tool. However, “limited resources” was recognized as the primary challenge in implementing successful social media marketing for ADFs in Egypt.Practical implicationsThis research developed a practical framework to navigate the impacts of the global economic downturn on ADFs in Egypt based on the findings of a literature review, case studies and a survey questionnaire. The framework practically detailed the objectives of the framework’s functions, activities, tools and techniques, involved personnel, needed resources and implementation mechanisms.Originality/valueThe research examined the causes and impacts of the global economic downturn, with a focus on how ADFs in Egypt use social media as a marketing tool and identified the implementation challenges. The study, which fills a gap in construction literature, developed a framework to help ADFs mitigate the global economic downturn effects. The framework offers a practical solution to improve the resilience and marketing of ADFs in Egypt by providing new insights into the architecture and construction sectors and adding significant value to existing knowledge.

Cultural heritage, tourism and regional competitiveness: The Motor Valley cluster

Ecodesign offers significant potential to reduce the environmental impacts of products. Whilst some integration of environmental considerations into design occurs in progressive companies when engineering the product, this only represents a small share of the possible design interventions to improve the environmental performance of products. For example, developing new product concepts to fulfill needs in a less environmentally harmful way and considering user related aspects offers a large, currently under-realized potential. This paper identifies industrial design (ID) consultancies as potential agents to tackle this issue on a strategic and operational basis. The extent to which this potential is currently applied was assessed by conducting a content analysis of websites of ID consultancies in Australia, China, and Germany. How ID consultancies represent their ecodesign practice is country-specific. Despite the differences, some ID consultancies in all countries announce and/or show the capability to develop completely new concepts and to influence user related factors to improve environmental performance. This shows their potential to address current shortcomings in ecodesign practice. As ID consultancies embracing that potential still are a minority, further research should be directed to a deeper examination of barriers and stimuli for ID consultancies to take up ecodesign.

This study investigates strategic decisions for Hukumonline, Indonesia's leading legal-tech company, to expand into Southeast Asian (ASEAN) markets through its regional platform, PT ABC. The research addresses three core questions: What business opportunities exist in ASEAN for Hukumonline? Which countries offer the most favorable conditions for entry? What entry mode strategy is most appropriate? Using a qualitative approach, the study integrates PESTEL analysis for macro-environmental assessment, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for country prioritization, Porter's Five Forces for industry competitiveness, and VRIO analysis for internal resource evaluation. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with 15 industry experts, legal professionals, and executives, complemented by secondary data from industry reports and government publications. DEMATEL weighting identifies technology readiness and legal certainty as critical success factors, while sociocultural adaptation emerges as a key enabler. AHP results rank Singapore as the top priority market (composite score 0.324), followed by Malaysia (0.261) and Thailand (0.198). PESTEL analysis reveals favorable regulatory environments in Singapore and Malaysia, while Porter's Five Forces indicates moderate competitive intensity with significant barriers to entry. VRIO analysis confirms Hukumonline's competitive advantages in proprietary legal databases, technological platform capabilities, and brand equity. The findings recommend a phased hybrid entry strategy: initial cross-border SaaS deployment for market testing and customer acquisition, medium-term strategic alliances with local law firms for enhanced credibility and local expertise, and long-term establishment of a regional hub in Singapore for coordinated ASEAN operations. This research contributes a structured decision-making framework for legal-tech internationalization and offers practical guidance for leveraging intangible assets in heterogeneous markets while managing regulatory, cultural, and competitive challenges.

Before an Analyst Becomes an Analyst: Does Industry Experience Matter?

Generative AI is increasingly being applied in the industrial design field. However, the existing AI design tools are still challenging due to complex operations and parameter settings. To solve these problems, we conducted comprehensive interviews with industry experts and proposed the MIX system. The system emphasizes image prompts and is designed to support designers for more efficient task completion. MIX incorporated both the IP-Adapter and the ControlNet control model with multimodal language models, making more natural interaction possible. It enables designers to quickly produce high-quality design renderings from target reference images. Through qualitative and quantitative user experiments, we found that the MIX system performs well in both efficiency and practicality in design development. Finally, we discuss about when it would be more appropriate to use text prompts versus image prompts in these different design scenarios. Available at https://mix.drafff.net.

The rapid growth of the Umrah and Hajj industry in Indonesia and globally presents both significant opportunities and competitive challenges for specialized travel organizers. This study examines the business strategy architecture at ESQ Tours (PT Fajrul Ikhsan Wisata), one of Indonesia's leading dedicated Umrah and Hajj travel agencies, established since 2005. The research aims to develop a comprehensive business strategy architecture aligned with the company's vision as a preferred and trusted halal tour operator in Southeast Asia. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed using a case study model, with data collected through direct observation, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, company annual reports, and literature reviews. Data analysis incorporated a multi-layered strategic framework, including foresight analysis, PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, VRIO, Activity-Based Management (ABM), SWOT, TOWS Matrix, and the A'WOT (AHP-SWOT) method to prioritize strategic choices. The External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix yielded a score of 2.860 and the Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) matrix scored 2.790, placing ESQ Tours in Quadrant V of the IE Matrix, recommending a "Hold and Maintain" strategy through market penetration and product development. Key findings reveal that ESQ Tours' primary competitive advantages lie in its unique ESQ 165-based meaning methodology and strong brand reputation, while its most critical weakness is the underutilization of the pilgrim waiting-period ecosystem. Three priority strategies were formulated: spiritual experience-based differentiation, strengthening unique value propositions, and service quality standardization. The resulting business strategy architecture for 2026–2030 is built upon two pillars—offensive differentiation and internal modernization—with a transformative shift from a transactional to a relational and sustainable business model through activation of the Hajj waiting congregation ecosystem.

At medium to high frequencies the dynamic response of a built-up engineering system, such as an automobile, can be sensitive to small random manufacturing imperfections. Ideally the statistics of the system response in the presence of these uncertainties should be computed at the design stage, but in practice this is an extremely difficult task. In this paper a brief review of the methods available for the analysis of systems with uncertainty is presented, and attention is then focused on two particular "non-parametric" methods: statistical energy analysis (SEA), and the hybrid method. The main governing equations are presented, and a number of example applications are considered, ranging from academic benchmark studies to industrial design studies.