Page 35 - Intangible value

Design expertise has become an important competitive factor as part of companies' busi- ness operation. The share of manufacture and assembly in the created economic value is decreasing and a growing part of value added in products is provided by activity that makes use of intangible capital such as product de- velopment, design, marketing, distribution and different services. Use of design is also spread- ing fast to different business sectors; software business is one example. At the same time, promoting design and its use has become an increasingly significant part of business and innovation policy in different countries.
The economic significance of design has tra- ditionally been estimated by the size of the design sector. According to OECD, the design sector accounts for a gross value added of €8.8 billion in the EU.28 The sector is clearly the biggest in the United Kingdom, followed by Italy and Germany. The largest design sec- tor in the Nordic Countries is in Sweden. The production of design services in Finland was over €44 million, which is considerably less than in our neighbour in the west.
TABLE 1
The Ministry of Employment and the Econo- my has commissioned a report from Ramboll Management Consulting Oy to examine the signi cance of design in some business sec- tors that take advantage of design in Finland. The report links utilisation of design and its impact on companies' business activity and competitiveness to a broader extent. To that end, an information content was developed for the survey as part of the project. In addi- tion to collecting information, the core con- tent of this pilot project was to test the func- tionality of this information content.
The percentage of responses in the electronic survey implemented for the report remained fairly low, for which reason the following pre- liminary results are at best only approximate.
THE STRATEGIC POSITION OF DESIGN IN THE COMPANY
The strategic position of design in the com- pany was the key category variable in the sur- vey. The companies in which design was part of the strategy and corporate culture, were the
ones most strongly committed to using de- sign expertise (level 3). Companies in which design was not included in the strategy but which had integrated product design in their product development and/or marketing pro- cesses, were on level 2. Companies that re- garded design merely as a way to improve the appearance or usability of the product were placed on level 1. Companies that took no advantage of design were placed on level 0.
INTENSITY OF EXPERTISE AND RDI LINKED TO DESIGN
The report found out that the most signi - cant factor explaining utilisation of design expertise was the general intensity of re- search, development and innovation activ- ities in the companies. On the other hand, it would seem that the strategic position of design did not depend on the size of the company, its growth-orientation or level of internationalisation.
Companies which take advantage of design invest in RDI more. Therefore design, like in-
SIGNIFICANCE OF DESIGN IN THE COMPANY'S BUSINESS ACTIVITY
LEVEL
0
NO DESIGN
LEVEL
1 APPEARANCE OR USABILITY
LEVEL
2
”DESIGN AS A PROCESS”
LEVEL
3
”DESIGN AS A STRATEGY”
FROM OUR COMPANY'S POINT OF VIEW, DESIGN EXPERTISE IS... (AT LEAST ONE OF THESE OPTIONS SELECTED)
THE COMPANY DOES NOT MAKE USE OF DESIGN EXPERTISE.
DESIGNING APPEARANCES OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
DESIGNING USABILITY OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
INCLUDED IN THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FROM THE START
PART OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
AN ESSENTIAL PART OF MARKETING
PART OF THE COMPANY STRATEGY
PART OF COMPANY CULTURE AND THE WAY OF THINKING
IN AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ALL OPERATION
14%
OF RESPONDENTS (N=29)
24%
OF RESPONDENTS (N=37)
22%
OF RESPONDENTS (N=35)
40%
OF RESPONDENTS (N=62)
35