Success Activities for Design Management – A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine, analyse and verify possible success activities for Design Management. Based on mapping out the development of the New Product Development process and its design sub-process it is hypothesized that New Product Development success activities which promote product success are also the central activities for a Design Management process that leads to successful products. Resulting from this a list of New Product Development success activities is established. Further, it is hypothesized that the most frequently referenced activities are also the most important. In a subsequent analysis of the DME Award company dataset, the elaborated activities are verified and analysed against the established list of activities promoting success. Results show that companies which are recognized for good Design Management address this set of success activities in their Design Management process. However, the second hypothesis that the most referenced success activities are also the most important is not supported.