Abstract

For most companies, the main problem concerning new product development is integrating industrial design process in NPD. Although its definition and scope is not noticed fully, increasing importance of design for company is a fact and there are respectable amount of different practices to create a structure for design in the company to support and strengthen the corporate vision and long-term competitive advantage.

Design integration within a firm requires changes in decision rules or routines. As the routine changing processes are themselves routine guided, first, awareness at top management should be constituted for the highest level strategic decision. Selection between developing a new routine itself and adopting an existing one depends on industry type, company size, ownership for design and type of competitive competence, however much of learning in design is imitation of existing ones and vicarious by engaging with consultancies.

On this account, this paper is an attempt to bring insights into this debate first by positioning industrial design in innovation strategy and explicating topic by using different and potential design integration types within various firms. The study interested in explaining different design integration forms, and specifically in understanding what, if any, connections there are between different level of design integration in various firms and organizational routines in innovation management literature.


 Keywords:  Innovation, new product development, industrial design, organizational routines.

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