Output details

Managing design-led innovation in Chinese SMEs

The Half-step Innovation (HSI) Process is a novel framework that helps small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) address their inability to connect company capabilities with market opportunities and to build a product and brand position within the market; and helps them to move from original equipment manufacturing (OEM) to own brand management (OBM) activities.

It addresses two key front innovation barriers to adoption of design-led innovation in SMEs: (1) their inability to connect with customers and consumers (customer insight); and (2) their over reliance on competitor activities as stimulus for product innovation (me-too-products). It provides a case study example that highlights how to use design as means of economic value creation for manufacturing industries, advocated by Heskett (2002) and the Cox Review (2006). Its originality lies in identifying the use of the “piggy back” growth strategy by SMEs that relies on using existing OEM clients intellectual property to build their own brands, that habitually leads to fracturing of relationships and a loss of core business.

It differentiates itself from other work by bringing together effective practices from design, management and engineering into a “practice based tool” that can be applied in a step-by-step manner.

This refereed conference paper was presented at the Tsinghua International Design Management Symposium which has established itself as the foremost conference in Asia on Design Management, attracting support from the Design Management Institute and involves leading academics on the advisory board such as David Hands (UK), Tore Kristensen (Denmark) and Lucia Rampino (Italy). The HIS Process training program has been delivered to 16 Chinese SMEs via the Hong Kong Productivity Centre over an 18 month period; and 24 UK SMEs through the SPARC Milton Keynes Technology Netwotk, resulting in the development of a licensed innovation tool that links capabilities to market opportunities for SMEs.