From tacit practice to structured function. The evolution of design and its implication in firms' strategy. The case of small and medium firms in Italy.

This paper aims at shedding light on how design is managed within the firm and its implications in terms of firm’s strategy. We decided to focus our research on Italian Small and Medium firms (SMEs), with a special interest on those coming from Italian Industrial Districts. Italian firms heavily invested in design for sustaining innovation and competitiveness in the global markets. The paper wants to contribute to the previous literature adding a more in depth analysis of design through a quantitative approach. To this end, we have analyzed the data collected by TeDIS survey that for over a decade has studied the evolution of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises. The results highlight three particularly significant issues: a) SMEs have a clearer design strategy than in the past and there is an important tendency to more structured management of design both within the firm and its relationship with external contributors (free-lance designers and studios); b) there is gradual convergence between innovation models based on technological innovation and those based on design; c) the capacity to invest in a more structured design and technological innovation functions enables companies to achieve positive results in terms of performance although there is not a strong correlation between innovation model and turnover growth and margins.