مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد منابع طراحی و برتری طراحی به عملکرد بازار

مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

A growing body of research has demonstrated that integrating design in the innovation process can contribute to enhanced business performance. The value of design as an element of product innovation is widely acknowledged (e.g., Gemser and Leenders, 2001; Hertenstein et al., 2005), while design in the context of service innovation is less well understood, although there is some work that suggests the value of design in this context (e.g., Candi, 2010a). The aim of this research is to examine how design contributes to market performance in technology-based service innovation. Design is a vague term, fraught with a wide range of interpretations, and therefore, this research takes a holistic view that entails including design resources, design emphasis and design excellence in one research model.

Technology-based firms are generally viewed as key sources of innovation (Autio, 1994; Dolfsma and van der Panne, 2008; Spencer and Kirchhoff, 2006; Bollinger et al., 1983) and, even if a common stereotype has to do with the development of ever more technologically advanced ‘widgets’, technology-based firms also develop new services. Furthermore, technology-based firms are often (albeit sometimes only stereotypically) seen as bastions of engineering and technological emphasis with little attention paid to design (Okudan and Zappe, 2006; Candi and Saemundsson, 2008). Thus, technologybased service firms are a particularly interesting context in which to study the value of design for service innovation.

Two trends are worth noting when examining innovation in technology-based firms and the role of design, namely servitization of products and productization of services (Baines et al., 2007). The trend towards servitization has been driven by the realization that services often account for a greater share of profits than products, even in manufacturing firms (Pawar et al., 2009). Servitization commonly requires new business models and new perspectives on ownership as well as new approaches to design, where the focus broadens to include not just the design of physical objects, but also to the design of service experiences. The productization trend is commonly seen in professional service firms, such as software development firms, and also calls for new business models. In these instances firms are faced with the limits to profitability imposed when selling their services based on a ‘time and materials’ model. These firms strive to find ways to standardize and package their services as products, which can be sold and resold with minimal customization. Here, whereas design might not have been at the forefront during service development, the recognition of the potential importance of design comes up when faced with redefining a service as product, which might, for example spur efforts to counteract intangibility with design (Ma et al., 2002; Candi, 2007). Together, these trends of servitization and productization result in a seemingly seamless continuum between products and services, the middle of which is referred to as PSSs (Product-Service Systems), defined as “systemic solutions including products and services” (Morelli, 2003, p. 73). This continuum blurs the boundaries between product design and service design. Nevertheless, research on design as an element of service innovation has lagged behind, with the prevailing emphasis being on design in product innovation.