Abstract
Recently many enterprises have been in need of design outsourcing services through which they can form creative ideas and innovations. In this respect, the innovation competency of design consulting firms is unprecedentedly regarded as a deciding competitive edge. This study examines the effects of design innovation competencies as personal innovation competency, organizational innovation competency, and technological innovation competency on the competitiveness of the design outsourcing service in meditating design innovativeness. Data were collected through a survey conducted among 392 design consulting enterprises by way of random sampling over seven regions in Korea. As a result of hypothesis verification, it turned out that the personal innovation competency of designers at design consulting enterprises and technological innovation competency, which represents their design methods and skills, had significant effects on design innovativeness. In contrast, organizational innovation competency showed no significant effects on design innovativeness. For a design consulting enterprise to become an innovative one with better outsourcing service competitiveness, it needs to pursue a strategic direction of strengthening designers’ personal innovation and technological design innovation.
Highlights
On viewing corporate environments today, much more emphasis is being put on developing marketing-centered business strategies in the area of production
This study aims to verify the direct effects of such innovation competency on design innovativeness improvement and outsourcing service performance
The analysis result shows that personal innovation competency and technological innovation competency manifested by designers at a design consulting enterprise contributed to improving the innovativeness of the design consulting enterprise as they improved the creativity and openness in the process of design development
Summary
On viewing corporate environments today, much more emphasis is being put on developing marketing-centered business strategies in the area of production. As the role of design is emphasized further in such a market-based customized production system, design strategies and specialty in design outsourcing are viewed as crucial for corporate competitiveness based on innovative design [5]. The number of design-utilizing enterprises reached 125,278, which indicates a 6.2% increase compared to 117,934 in 2016. This clearly shows that the demands for design in the industry sectors are increasing [6]. Such utilization of design goes beyond the level of mere support for design development in the past and often leads to the creation of innovative products and
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