Design-Led New Product Development in Chinese SMEs

Abstract

Design-oriented new product development (NPD) Design-Oriented New Product DevelopmentDesign has received increasing attention by researchers exploring the management of New Product Development (NPD). Kristensen (1998) suggests that design should be institutionalised into the firm's strategic orientation, and that the firm's core values be infused by design ideas; while Perks et al. (2005) emphasise that design should be seen as process leader throughout the NPD process. Roper et al. (2012) discovered that companies where NPD strategy incorporates designleadership characteristics have better economic performance. These studies represent the increasing importance of design in NPD and suggest companies develop new product by implementing design-oriented NPD.Design-oriented NPD is considered to be beneficial for company growth and survival (Perks et al. 2005;Roper et al. 2012, Brondoni 2012). There appears to be potential benefit in bringing design-oriented NPD strategy to Chinese