Speaker(s): Roberto Verganti
Title:
Abstract:
Design-driven
innovation (an innovation that involves not only the functionality of a product,
but also its form, or better, its language and meaning) is increasingly deemed
as a source of competitive advantage in global markets.
Small
Italian enterprises such as Alessi, Artemide, and Kartell have set new routes in
the global design scenario. Notwithstanding their small size and limited
resources, these firms have achieved leadership in their industries thanks to
their unique capability to develop breakthrough design languages. They are
capable to understand, anticipate, and influence the emergence of new product
meanings and chose to compete on the semantic dimension of products, which makes
their advantage closely embedded in their brand and hardly imitated.
In a seminar given in HBS in 2002 Roberto described this peculiar innovation strategy of Italian firm. This year, after a short summary of the previous seminar, Roberto will focus on how these Italian Firms are able to implement this strategy successfully, i.e. how they manage their innovation process and resources.
The
seminar will discuss how these firms benefit from and participate to the local
process of generation of design knowledge. To this purpose, we will introduce
the concept of the “design
discourse”, i.e. “a
continuous dialogue on socio-cultural models (foreseen and desired) and its
implications on product languages occurring among several actors (firms,
designers, literate customers, schools, exhibitions) both in the global and
local setting”. The design discourse is developed in any territory and
country, although the discourse developed in Italy (and in the area around Milan
in particular) is highly regarded. Also, any company may theoretically profit
from and participate to the design discourse.
We
will show how Italian firms have increased their osmosis to the design
discourse, and therefore they have achieved a prominent position to (1) access knowledge
about new patterns of consumption (2) influence the emerging of new design
languages. Particular attention will be given to how these firm strategically
cooperate with designers, who act as brokers of knowledge about design languages
among different industries.
Evidence
to the seminar come from the research project Sistema Design Italia, that has
been awarded the Compasso d’oro 2001 (the most prominent design award in
Italy), and that includes 74 cases of management of design-driven innovation.
The seminar will be open to discussion, especially about (partial) transferability of management practices of these firms to corporations overseas.