Nederlandse ontwerpers in Italië - een studie naar strategieën om succesvol de Italiaanse markt te betreden

Abstract

This is a brief summary of a research which has been commissioned by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Rome in collaboration with the Technical University in Delft about the opportunities for designers from the Netherlands on the Italian design market. This research is conducted in 4 sectors in which Italy has an important position: The automotive sector, the yacht sector, the furniture sector and the household appliances sector. In order to find the opportunities and threats for designers from the Netherlands, a theoretical framework is constructed. The theory is the basis of 26 interviews with leading Italian and Dutch designers or design critics. The result of the research is a list of recommendations for designers from the Netherlands and the Dutch government, concerning design activities and perspectives on the design market in Italy. 2. Theoretical framework 2.1 Design in New Product Development Design is more and more recognized by companies as a differentiating factor. Especially in hard economic times companies are looking for new strategic differentiators. Previous research indicates that design has a positive effect on companies’ performance. (Gemser and Leenders, 2001) Innovative companies have a higher percentage of international employees. (Dell’Era and Verganti, 2009) This implies opportunities for designers from the Netherlands with a desire to enter the Italian design market. The biggest chances for them can be found in high tech and design minded companies. (Ravasi, Racotti en Stigliani, 2008) Some Italian companies use a different approach to innovation than other companies. The strategy they use is called Design Driven Innovation. (Verganti, 2009) 2.2 Innovation strategy Design driven innovation According to the Design driven innovation theory (Verganti, 2009), product innovation can follow from 3 types of information: Technology, user needs or product language. When the innovation is based on a technology it is called technology push. When it is based on user needs it is called market pull. When the innovation is based on the product language it is called design push. A user gives meaning to a product. This meaning is transferred from the product to the user by product language. The meaning is not just based on aesthetics of the product. It is also based on functional and symbolic or emotional values. Design driven innovation is innovation on the level of product language and it based on the translation of socio-cultural knowledge. 2.3 Typology Traditionally there is a dichotomy in the design world. There is a group of artistic designers and a group of market oriented designers. The difference between these two is visible in the end product as well as their approach to design. The most important differences are listed in table 1. Artistic designer Market oriented designer Niche products Mass products Artistic products Practical products Less market research More market research Design centered User centered Design Academy Eindhoven Technical University Delft 3. Methodology This research is divided in a qualitative and a quantitative part. The quantitative part contains figures about the 4 sectors, in Italy. For the qualitative part of the research 26 interviews are performed; 17 face-to-face interviews, 7 interviews by telephone and 2 interviews by mail. These interviews are the basis of the answers to the research questions and the verification of pre-assumptions. 4. Recommendations Based on the interviews the following recommendations for the Dutch Government and designers from the Netherlands are formulated. 4.1 Government 1. Focus promotion of the design sector in the Netherlands on the background of design from the Netherlands instead of focusing on the end products or on a few important designers which are connected to the Dutch Design label. 2. Focus the attention of design promotion in Italy on Milan and especially during the Milano Design Week. This is by far the most important moment in Italy to promote design products. This week is dedicated to the interior and household appliances sector. 3. The production clusters in Italy are very interesting to designers from the Netherlands for producing prototypes. This concerns designers who have their own production. (Mostly artistic designers) It is also interesting for Dutch production companies. 4. Improve the connections between the Italian and the Dutch parties in the design world. This could be done by supporting networking activities on fairs and supporting trade missions. 5. Focus the attention of the activities and the promotion of the Dutch design sector on the relevant industrial clusters. These clusters are most interesting for organizing activities. 6. Develop special programs specifically for the support of the design sector from the Netherlands in Italy. Such a program should be focusing on interior design and yacht design because these two sectors are best accessible and promising. The program should focus on the cooperation between Italian clusters and designers from the Netherlands and on Milan preferably during the Salone del Mobile. 4.2 Recommendations for designers 1. Study contextual design methods. In this way you can find a better connection to the Italian way of dealing with design problems. The Vision in Product Design (Loyd Hekkert & van Dijk 2006) or the Design driven innovation strategy (Verganti 2009) are interesting theories to look at. 2. Be sure to integrate in the Italian culture. Not only the language but also the way of doing business and organizing and implementing projects is crucial for the chances of success. 3. Italy has very important industrial clusters in which very high quality products can be produced. This is a very interesting possibility to produce prototypes. It is less interesting to larger scale production quantities because labor costs are relatively high. 4. It is important to present yourself in the right way in Italy. Make a strategic choice of presenting yourself as an architect, a designer or an engineer.