This thesis aims to compare the design innovation process in the furniture industry in Italy and Sweden, focusing the attention on the strategic approach towards innovation, on the phases of the innovation process and on the internal and external organization of companies involved in the occurring processes. After a theoretical part about the strategies of innovation, the innovation process and its organization, a reference model about Italian furniture industry has been developed, that had to be compared to the Swedish one. The Italian furniture industry has been analyzed referring to the already known case studies and scientific articles about it and it has represented the starting point for the research. After that, case studies about some furniture companies in Sweden have been presented and a reference model has been elaborated, in order to compare it with the one regarding the Italian reality. The main topics of the analysis and comparison have been the design innovation process (and in particular the meta-project phase and the new product development) and the internal and external organization of those companies carrying it out. Furthermore, the role of the designer and of the other external actors of the innovation process have been identified. The most relevant commonalities between the two businesses are represented by the fact that both Italian and Swedish furniture companies rely on external designers for their innovation process and they also are strictly related to different other suppliers of the supply network which allow them to use technologies usually exploited in other industries. Additionally business clusters are fundamental for developing new projects in a unique and exclusive geographical context. The first important difference concerns the strategic approach towards design innovation. Italian furniture companies carry out a radical innovation strategy, Swedish ones an incremental innovation strategy. Whereas Italian furniture approach is a knowledge research process, the Swedish one is defined creativity research process. Secondly, Italian furniture companies base their own innovation process on Design and Technological researches, that come before the concept generation process and they aim at generating new meanings and languages. Swedish furniture companies do not have a well structured meta-project research and their own innovation process basically starts with the concept generation phase. The company is interested in picking up only technical solutions and concept ideas from the network of interpreters of the design discourse, and not in elaborating radically new socio-cultural models and product languages. Moreover, Italian furniture companies rely on Design Driven Laboratories (DDL) and on the active participation of the designer in the first processes for the upstream phase of the innovation process. Those laboratories are independent identities from the furniture company and have their own internal organization. Swedish furniture companies, instead, elaborate every phase of the innovation process inside the company. They rely on the Design Council for the elaboration of the design concept and its components are internal members of the company and are exponents of the different departments. The designer has an active role only later on during the concept generation phase and, above all, during the new product development phase. Whereas in Italy they often build up a close and exclusive relationship with the company, in Sweden their collaboration is not exclusive. From this latter difference some important managerial implications in the management of the relationship between company and external designers and in the criteria of their selection have been derived.
Questa tesi si propone di confrontare il processo di innovazione di design nel settore dell’arredamento in Italia e Svezia, focalizzando l'attenzione sull’approccio strategico verso l'innovazione in entrambe le realtà, sulle fasi del processo di innovazione e l'organizzazione interna ed esterna delle aziende analizzate. Dopo una prima parte teorica riguardante le diverse strategie di innovazione, il processo di innovazione e la sua organizzazione, è stato sviluppato un modello di riferimento sull’ industria dell’arredamento italiana, da confrontare con la realtà svedese. L'industria italiana è stata analizzata facendo riferimento ai casi studio e articoli scientifici già a disposizione in letteratura e questa analisi ha rappresentato il punto di partenza per la ricerca. Successivamente sono stati presentati casi studio riguardanti alcune aziende dell’arredamento svedese ed è stato elaborato un modello di riferimento, al fine di confrontarlo con quello riguardante la realtà italiana. I temi principali affrontati nell’ analisi e nel confronto sono stati il processo di innovazione di design (e in particolare la fase di meta-progetto e lo sviluppo di nuovi prodotti) e l'organizzazione interna ed esterna delle aziende. Inoltre sono stati identificati il ruolo del designer e degli altri attori esterni del processo di innovazione. Le analogie più rilevanti tra le due imprese sono rappresentate dal fatto che sia le aziende italiane che svedesi si affidano a designer esterni per il loro processo di innovazione; inoltre tali aziende sono strettamente legate a diversi fornitori facenti parte del supply network che consentono loro di utilizzare tecnologie sfruttate usualmente in altri settori. La prima importante differenza riguarda l'approccio strategico nei confronti dell'innovazione. Le aziende di arredamento italiano attuano una strategia di innovazione radicale mentre quelle svedesi una strategia di innovazione incrementale. In secondo luogo, le aziende di arredamento italiane analizzate basano il proprio processo di innovazione sulla ricerca socio-culturale e semantica, con lo scopo di generare nuovi significati e linguaggi. Le aziende svedesi non dispongono di un processo di ricerca ben strutturato e il loro processo di innovazione comincia sostanzialmente con la fase di concept generation. Le aziende sono interessate ad applicare solo le soluzioni tecniche provenienti dalla rete di interpreti del design discourse, e non ad elaborare nuovi modelli socio-culturali radicali e nuovi linguaggi di prodotto. Inoltre, le aziende di arredamento italiane contano su Design Driven Laboratories (DDLs) e sulla partecipazione attiva del progettista nelle fasi a monte del processo di innovazione. Tali laboratori sono entità autonome rispetto alle aziende di riferimento e hanno una propria indipendente organizzazione interna. Le aziende di arredamento svedese, invece, elaborano ogni fase del processo di innovazione all'interno dell'azienda. Si affidano al Design Council per l'elaborazione del design concept e i sui componenti sono membri interni alla società, rappresentanti dei diversi dipartimenti in cui l’azienda si articola. Il designer ha un ruolo attivo soprattutto nella fase di sviluppo prodotto. In Italia spesso si instaura un rapporto stretto ed esclusivo, mentre in Svezia il rapporto tra designer ed azienda non è esclusivo ed è legato primariamente al progetto contingente su cui si concentra il processo di’innovazione. Da questa differenza, infine, sono state ricavate alcune importanti implicazioni manageriali nella gestione del rapporto tra azienda e designer e nei criteri scelti per la selezione di questi ultimi.
Design driven innovation : innovation strategies adopted in the furniture industry. The comparison between two leading countries : Italy and Sweden
SIGOLOTTO, DAVIDE
2009/2010
Abstract
This thesis aims to compare the design innovation process in the furniture industry in Italy and Sweden, focusing the attention on the strategic approach towards innovation, on the phases of the innovation process and on the internal and external organization of companies involved in the occurring processes. After a theoretical part about the strategies of innovation, the innovation process and its organization, a reference model about Italian furniture industry has been developed, that had to be compared to the Swedish one. The Italian furniture industry has been analyzed referring to the already known case studies and scientific articles about it and it has represented the starting point for the research. After that, case studies about some furniture companies in Sweden have been presented and a reference model has been elaborated, in order to compare it with the one regarding the Italian reality. The main topics of the analysis and comparison have been the design innovation process (and in particular the meta-project phase and the new product development) and the internal and external organization of those companies carrying it out. Furthermore, the role of the designer and of the other external actors of the innovation process have been identified. The most relevant commonalities between the two businesses are represented by the fact that both Italian and Swedish furniture companies rely on external designers for their innovation process and they also are strictly related to different other suppliers of the supply network which allow them to use technologies usually exploited in other industries. Additionally business clusters are fundamental for developing new projects in a unique and exclusive geographical context. The first important difference concerns the strategic approach towards design innovation. Italian furniture companies carry out a radical innovation strategy, Swedish ones an incremental innovation strategy. Whereas Italian furniture approach is a knowledge research process, the Swedish one is defined creativity research process. Secondly, Italian furniture companies base their own innovation process on Design and Technological researches, that come before the concept generation process and they aim at generating new meanings and languages. Swedish furniture companies do not have a well structured meta-project research and their own innovation process basically starts with the concept generation phase. The company is interested in picking up only technical solutions and concept ideas from the network of interpreters of the design discourse, and not in elaborating radically new socio-cultural models and product languages. Moreover, Italian furniture companies rely on Design Driven Laboratories (DDL) and on the active participation of the designer in the first processes for the upstream phase of the innovation process. Those laboratories are independent identities from the furniture company and have their own internal organization. Swedish furniture companies, instead, elaborate every phase of the innovation process inside the company. They rely on the Design Council for the elaboration of the design concept and its components are internal members of the company and are exponents of the different departments. The designer has an active role only later on during the concept generation phase and, above all, during the new product development phase. Whereas in Italy they often build up a close and exclusive relationship with the company, in Sweden their collaboration is not exclusive. From this latter difference some important managerial implications in the management of the relationship between company and external designers and in the criteria of their selection have been derived.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/5133