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The integration of industrial design capability within UK SMEs: the challenges, opportunities and benefits
The paper presents a case to support the business of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) through the building of partnerships between universities and companies which foster and support the introduction of industrial design processes in the SMEs. The basis of the partnership is the use of the UK government's 'Knowledge Transfer Partnership' (KTP) schemes to initiate and develop in-house industrial design capability in the SMEs. The paper presents two case studies that raise design management issues and underline the value of industrial design expertise for SMEs. It discusses the positive and negative issues centred on the introduction of graduate-level in-house industrial design expertise for product innovation in manufacturing-sector SMEs. The paper demonstrates that through the discipline of industrial design and the mechanism of a well-managed KTP programme, SMEs can improve their commercial performance and operate successfully in global markets. Copyright © 2009, Inderscience Publishers.
History
School
- Design
Citation
WORMALD, P. and EVANS, M.A., 2009. The integration of industrial design capability within UK SMEs: the challenges, opportunities and benefits. International Journal of Product Development, 9 (4), pp. 343 - 356Publisher
© Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Version
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publication date
2009Notes
This article is closed access.ISSN
1477-9056eISSN
1741-8178Publisher version
Language
- en