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novation activities in general, should not be seen only as an operating practice of large companies only but rather as a part of the strategy and way of thinking of reform-ori- ented and innovative companies.
The companies that responded in the survey reported that marketing and communications as well as product design and development were the areas in which where they had used design most commonly. Design was com- monly made use of by companies in devel- oping their internal processes and activities as well as planning and developing their services.
INVESTMENTS IN DESIGN ON THE INCREASE
In the survey, respondents were requested to estimate the development of investments in design in the past three and the following three years. A large proportion of companies estimated that the signi cance of design had increased and believed that its signif- icance would continue to increase – espe- cially in those companies that had already taken advantage of design strategically.
Large companies employed design profes- sionals more often than small companies: almost 60 per cent of companies that em- ployed over 250 people employed at least one design professional. The corresponding gure in medium-sized and small compa- nies was over 30 per cent.
It is worth noting that the role of design in the strategy would not seem to depend on the size of the company but that the share of those who took advantage of design in their strategy seemed to be more or less the same in all sizes of companies. The ways design expertise is used would seem to be linked to the size of the company, but aims and sig- ni cance would not.
THE IMPACT OF DESIGN IN BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND COMPETITIVENESS
About 10–25% of companies which partici- pated in the survey estimated that taking ad- vantage of design had had signi cant effects in areas related to their growth and success.
About 40–75% of companies estimated that design had had at least some impact. It was estimated that companies' competi- tiveness was the area most affected by the use of design.
The direct effects of design on developing products and services would seem to be cre- ated primarily through both improving both the customer experience and the usability of the product or service or through developing new products or prototypes. Instead, for ex- ample improving scalability, lengthening the life cycle of the product or creation of pat- ents or copyrights was not as strongly visible in the material of this survey.
Utilisation of design would seem to have a signi cant impact on business, especially as regards marketing and sales through brand building and harmonising visual appear- ance, and on development of products and services. Especially improving the customer experience is emphasised in the latter.
CONCLUSIONS
Design would seem to have signi cant and recognisable positive effects on competitive- ness but only in companies in which design can be taken advantage of holistically and at strategic level. Instead, when used in a limited extent, the impact of design easily remains small – or at least it cannot be easily recog- nised. This observation supports the current principles of user-oriented innovation policy which emphasise the importance of design expertise and using this expertise strategically as a competitive factor in companies.
28 Statistics Finland: Value added (gross) is the val- ue created by a unit that takes part in production. NACE REV2:74.1) Art and design, Graphic design, Interior design, Industrial design, etc
The report will be published in its entirety in November 2015. More about the report in TEM/ Yrityskatsaus 2015 (MEE Business Review 2015, in Finnish).
Making use of design ex- pertise belongs rmly to the future. If e ciency is the most important competitive factor at the moment, utilisation
of design expertise can rise
to the same level in future if done in the right way. The signi cance of design in foreign markets is emphasised as a competitive factor in the long term.
A COMPANY IN FOOD INDUSTRY
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