AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPL ICATION OF

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Ministry of EconomyEconomy Development Department–Plac Trzech Krzyży 3/5 00-507 Warszawa tel.: +48 22 693 42 61 faks: +48 22 693 40 84 e-mail: sekretariatdrg@mg.gov.plhttp://www.mg.gov.pl–Report prepared by Institute of Industrial Design,Research and Development Division–Authors:Beata Bochińska – President of the Board of Institute of Industrial Design(Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego Sp. z o.o).Dr Iwona Palczewska – Director of Research and Development Division in IWPAnita Putkiewicz – Head of Department of New Product Development in IWP–Expert’s revision:Prof. Jerzy Ginalski – Expert in Department of New Product Development in IWP–graphic design & dtp:Zdanowicz & Pawrowskifoto:Archives of Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego and the manufacturers’ own materials

Ministry of Economy

AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPLICATION OF

INDUSTRIALDESIGN

IN POLISH

COMPANIES

Warsaw, December 2007

Table of contentsExecutive Summary 6

1. Objective of the Report 8

2. Key Findings 10

3. Author’s Recommendation 16

4. Industrial Design 20

5. Supporting Design Development in Poland 24

6. Intellectual Property Protection 38

7. Design in selected European Union countries 48

8. Analysis of the degree of use and development of industrial design in Polish enterprises

– IWP quantitative and qualitative research 58

9. Results of the quantitative research 74

10. Results of the qualitative research 116

11. Good practices – Case studies 148

12. Designing as a method for running own business 160

13. Methodology of report preparation 164

14. Bibliography 166

15. Report distribution and contact 170

16. Limitation of the author’s liability 172

17. The Institute of Industrial Design 174

List of picturesSample distribution 1 | Percentage distribution of subjects according to the sector. N=301 63

Sample distribution 2 | Percentage distribution of subjects according to the region. N=301 63

Sample distribution 3 | Percentage distribution of subjects according

to the number of employees. N=301 64

Sample distribution 4 | Percentage distribution of subjects according

to the size of town/city. N=301 64

Sample distribution 5 | Percentage distribution of subjects according

to the company’s age. N=301 65

Sample distribution 6 | Companies’ distribution according

to sector in individual regions. N=301 65

Sample distribution 7 | Sex of people under research 66

Sample distribution 8 | Education of people under research 66

Sample distribution 9 | Status of people under research 67

List of tablesTable 1 | Creative industry in EU countries 56

Table 2 | Realized sample distribution 61

Table 3 | Companies’ sample distribution – industrial sector and size of the company 70

Table 4 | Average number of new designs launched – by sector 77

Table 5 | Average number of designs launched – by company size 78

Table 6 | Average number of new designs over the last 12 months – by sector 79

Table 7 | Average number of new designs over the last 12 months – by company size 79

Table 8 | Importance of internal factors influencing economic success of the company 90

List of figuresFigure 1 | Industrial Design; J. Ginalski 22

Figure 2 | Design ladder 54

List of photographsPhoto 1 | LEO PLASTIC heater (produced by Flowair) 151

Photo 2 | ON chair (produced by PROFIm) 155

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This report, based on detailed quantitative and qualitative research, is the first attempt to be made at an analysis of the application of industrial design in Polish companies operating within a market economy. To date, independent, systema­tic research on the application of industrial design for the representative sample of the national companies have not been carried out in Poland.The scope and the scale of the conducted research is comparable to research car­ried out in other European Union countries, including those leading in the area of design development, such as the Nordic countries, for example. The template for the preparation of the research is the research programme led by the Design Council in the UK.The scope of this report does not include the comparison of the results of the application of design in Poland with the results from other countries’ results, as this would require an additional workload in order to unify the research me­thods and standardize the results.The results of the research prove that among Polish companies, regardless of sector, there is a large and constantly increasing awareness of the role of indus­trial design in product promotion and achieving competitive advantage, as well as in company development. A group of design leaders has emerged in every sector; companies which consciously invest more often than others in design.The research indicates a great potential for growth in the enterprises applying design­based innovations. At the same time, Polish companies need the tools to evaluate and apply design, the methods and procedures to implement new products, skilled personnel and organisation, the tools supporting new product development management and proven, specialist advisers and design service providers. These shortages result from the fact that Polish companies used to be sub-suppliers benefiting from foreign patters.The key project of promoting design and business environment development, prepared by the IWP and carried out under the POIG (Operational Programme for Economic Innovation), as well as other projects covered by the IWP’s statuto­ry activities, are intended to support creation within companies of a professional environment in the area of design. Just as in most European Union economies, these activities are subsidised from public resources, as they are in those com­panies where the application of design is more stable and influences their profit­ability and competitiveness.

Executive Summary

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1.Objective

of the Report

FOUR SEASONS vasedesign: Marzena Wolińska

manufacturer: KROSNO S.A.Good Design 2004

Objective of the Report

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This report has been drawn up by the Institute of Industrial Design for the pur­poses of the Ministry of Economy upon the request of the Economy Development Department.The main objective of this paper is to analyse the application of industrial and utility design in Poland (in Polish enterprises) in order to obtain the following results:

A description of the status of design application in Poland.

An evaluation of the rate of return on investment in design (in companies ap­plying design).

The degree to which skilled human capital (designers, design studios) is uti­lised.

Recommendations for companies, design studies.

Recommendations for those public institutions taking action towards eco­nomic innovation and the development of background business organization.

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1. Objective of the Report

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WODNIK Duo Plusvacuum cleaner with water filter

design: Ergo Design, Zelmer design teammanufacturer: ZELMER S.A.

Directors’ Award from the Institute of Industrial Design 2002, Good Design 2002

2.Key Findings

Key Findings

010

The authors of the report wish to draw particular attention to the following con­clusions, drawn from the analysis of the research conducted:

Most of the Polish companies which were the subjects of the research per-ceive both a significant role and potential benefits resulting from the appli-cation of design for the purpose of product promotion and achieving com-petitive advantage:

76% of the companies believe that design plays a key or important role in their development, while 27% has seen a significant influence on the part of design within the recent times.

86% of the companies believe that investment in design pays off (98% of the leaders).

78% of the companies declare that they are working on new design.

Large companies in particular invest in the design.

The enterprises, and especially the design leaders1), appreciate the benefits of design application within the scope of:

The improvement of product competitiveness – 86% of the companies (to a large extent – 34%); leaders – respectively 71% and 51%.

The significant increase (over 25%) in the product price – 27% of the compa­nies (leaders – 59%; and 22% of the – over 40% of the price).

Consumer satisfaction – to a large extent, 51% of the companies (60% of leaders).

Awareness of design value is dependent on the sector:

Design is especially appreciated within consumer products sectors, such as interior furnishings, households articles, clothing and accessories, ceramics and illumination.

Design is not that popular within the areas of investment products or means of transport (this does not apply to motorisation).

1) A design leader is a company which consciously invests in design to the extent significantly over the average. The

definition of design leader used in this report is given in Chapter 9 – “The result of the quantitative research”.

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2. Key Findings

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Perception of design is proportionate to the sector’s competitiveness.

At the same time, the companies define the modification of both their own or other patterns as investment in design, which poses the risk of plagia-rism:

Over half of the companies modify other companies’ patterns, claiming that they are involved in design application.

Only every tenth company implements exclusively new pattern, while the vast majority of the companies introduce new and modify already existing patterns (proprietary or other).

Every twelfth company states that it does not make use of designers and ex­clusively modifies other companies’ patterns or receives ready-made patterns from its partners.

The research indicates a lack of the resources and specialist knowledge on design management and methods for the evaluating the efficiency of design in business development, among both the enterprises’ in-house design pro-fessionals and external design service providers:

Only half of the companies have a separate post or unit in charge of product pattern development.

Most companies, especially small and medium sized ones, do not carry out consumer preference research; the evaluation of a design is intuitive, carried out on the basis of employees and distributors’ opinions.

Barely 5% of companies are capable of evaluating the return on an investment rate and the risk of investment decision­making with regard to design.

The expectations of the enterprises towards designers exceed the shaping of the product’s form and functionality and involve areas relating to mar-keting, sales, logistics, distribution and customer service:

56% of the companies expects the designer to cooperate at each stage of pro­duct development, vis­à­vis 41% oriented exclusively towards acquiring the external form of the project (styling),

Although most of the companies benefit from designers’ services, be they in-house or external, they consider their own preparation to be fully sufficient.

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Relatively often (in the opinion of the companies), there are discrepancies between the pattern which is supplied and the enterprise’s expectation, or between the relatively high price of design and its value.

The Internet and the specialist press constitute the basic source of knowledge with regard to designers, while, apart from their own experience, the compa­nies have little possibility of verifying this information.

There is growth in the readiness of the enterprises to outsource designwork, both by means of employing professional design studios and by acquiring licenses:

Every third company occasionally cooperates with external designers, every seventh – constantly.

69% of the design leaders employs external designers and 46% benefits from the services of external designers, depending on the situation.

9% of the companies acquire licenses.

The companies believe that a barrier to investment in design is the financial outlay required and, at the same time, the difficulty in evaluating the rate and the risk of return on the investment:

38% of the companies believe that the lack of access to resources enabling the evaluation of an investment’s return and risk constitutes a barrier to invest­ment.

Four out of ten companies believe design projects to be too expensive, at the same time declaring relatively low outlay on design, as compared to turnover (most of them do not disclose this information).

At the same time, some enterprises do not know the costs of acquiring the design projects.

To date, support from public institutions for design development, including that of the institutions of state administration and the business environ-ment, has been limited:

To date, the regulations have not allowed the financing of investment in new design from resources earmarked for innovation development.

The breakthrough in this matter may be the POIG 2007­2013 programme, which provides for both business environment development resources and in­vestments on the part of enterprises.

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In the area of education, there is a lack of specialist studies and courses for design management as a business tool for professionals, both in the uni-versities educating business executives for the enterprises and in project service providers:

Designers of patterns study almost exclusively in the Academies of Fine Arts and are insufficiently oriented towards the economic aspects of design and cooperation with industry (no business practice).

There is a shortage of institutions other than the AFAs providing courses or second­stage studies in design management and new product development.

In conclusion, what is worthy of note is the great development potential for design in Polish enterprises, which results from an increasing awareness, competitive pressure and, most often, from the enterprises’ own positive ex-periences.Design leaders who compete on the international markets, have noted both the opportunities presented by design to increase the attractiveness of their own products and the ensuing potential of high return on their investment.On the other hand, the evaluation competence of entrepreneurs and design service suppliers indicates a significant lack and shortages in terms of mana-gement skills and the resources to define and implement an effective strategy in order to achieve a competitive advantage arising from design. As a result, the machines and technological know-how is not fully used.

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Puff lampsdesigner and manufacturer: Puff-Buff Design

Prof. Jerzy Sołtan’s Award 2007 (from the Faculty of Industrial Design at The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)

distinction in Design Management Europe Award Competition 2007finalist of PRODECO 2007 and the Good Design Competition 2006

3.Author’s Recommendation

Author’s Recommendation

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The following measures are necessary in order to make effective efforts to sup­port design development and thereby increase innovation and the competitive­ness of the economy.

3.1. Recommendations for public institutions undertaking measures to-wards economic innovation development and the organisation of the business environment:

Covering the design area with a systematic research programme, the result of which will be available to administration and enterprises alike. This re-search ought to be entirely comparable (standardised) within the European Union.

Making financial support tools available for the purpose of the implemen-tation of innovative design projects, including the application of ergonomic requirements and copyrights protection.

Entering into international cooperation within the European Union on the design development programme.

Undertaking studies of design effectiveness and making their outcome available to enterprises and project services suppliers.

Development of the existing specialist education in accordance with market needs, including the preparation of second-stage studies for graduates of fine arts, technical and managerial universities, in order to secure skilled personnel.

Development of a nationwide Polish business environment and regional in-stitutions in order to provide professional design services and popularize new product design implementation methodology, including the exchange of experience and the promotion of best promotion.

Following the example of other European countries and emerging econo-mies by entrusting the coordination of development strategy and design promotion to a professional institution working to the order of the Ministry of Economy in order to observe that standards are appropriate.

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3. Author’s Recommendation

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Incorporating design promotion into programmes promoting the country as a whole, (e.g. EXPO), in order to present the competence and opportunities inherent in the Polish economy.

The implementation of the selected activities has been initiated by the Institute of Industrial Design with the cooperation with the Ministry of Economy in the form of this research and the IWP key programme for business environment de­velopment being carried out with resources from the POIG 2008­2011.

3.2. Recommendations for enterprises and Project services suppliers

Systematic growth in competence within the scope of design management, by such methods as personnel education, design management processes review and modification and monitoring of the best national and foreign patterns.

Development and implementation of the strategy to invest in design in or-der to enhance product competitiveness, improve the results achieved and, at the same, increase the enterprise’s value.

Development of a new product implementation methodology, including the evaluation of the investment in design and methods for preparing and car-rying out the project.

Making use of accessible public resources (e.g. the POIG) for investment in design and minimizing an enterprise’s own business risk.

Increasing outlays on consumer preference research in order to optimize the return on investment and minimize the investment risk of a new pattern project.

Cooperation with institutions in the business environment having compe-tence in the area of design application and design effectiveness evaluation.

The proper selection of professional partners and design service suppliers in order to achieve optimal effectiveness and prevent plagiarism.

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_mohohej!DIA rugdesign: Magdalena Lubińska, Michał Kopaniszyn

manufacturer: Moho Design Sp. z o.o.Wallpaper Best Textile 2006, Silesian Icon 2005

“1 of 20 best design projects of last 5 years” award (“2+3D” 2007)

4.Industrial Design

Industrial Design

020

ICSID

ICSID (The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) is an inter­national ‘non-profit making’ organisation promoting industrial design develop­ment throughout the world. ICSID has been operating since 1957 and has its headquarters in Montreal (Canada). Currently, ICSID has over 150 members from approximately 50 countries, representing over 150 thousand designers.ICSID members include professional associations, government institutions and enterprises, as well as institutions promoting education and organisations aim­ing at industrial design development.In 2007, ICSID appointed a chapter granting the title of World Design Capital to the cities submitting applications; the first is Turin (2008) and the next one will be Seoul (2010). On ICSID application, from 2008, 28th June will be celebrated annually as World Design Day.In Poland, the members organizations are the Association of Industrial Desig­ners (Stowarzyszenie Projektantów Form Przemysłowych) (since 1964)2) and the Institute of Industrial Design (since 2007).

The definition of industrial design according to ICSID

ICSID defines industrial design by its aims and tasks.

AimDesign is a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi­faceted quali­ties of objects, processes, services and their systems in the whole life cycles of products and services. Therefore, design is the central factor of the innovative humanisation of technologies and the crucial factor of cultural and economic exchange.

TasksDesign seeks to discover and assess structural, organisational, functional, ex­pressive and economic relationships, with the task of:

Enhancing global sustainability and environmental protection (global ethics).

2) The Association of Industrial Designers (www.spfp.diz.pl).

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4. Industrial Design

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Giving benefits and freedom to the entire human community, individual and collective final users, producers and market protagonists (social ethics).

Supporting cultural diversity despite the globalisation of the world (cultural ethics).

Giving products, services and systems those forms that are expressive of (semiology) and coherent with (aesthetics) their proper complexity.

Design concerns products, services and systems conceived with the tools, organ­isations and logic introduced by industrialisation–and not only when produced by serial processes. When applied to design, the adjective ‘industrial’ must be related to the term ‘industry’, either in its meaning of a sector of production or in its ancient meaning of ‘industrious activity’. Thus, design is an activity involving a wide spectrum of professions, in which products, services, graphics, interiors and architecture all take part. Together, these activities should further enhance, chorally with other related professions, the value of life. Therefore, the term de-signer refers to an individual who practices an intellectual profession, and not simply a trade or a service for enterprises3).

Other design definitions

In the opinion of Sir George Cox, the chairman of the Design Council UK, de­sign combines creativity and innovation, shaping ideas to become practical and attractive propositions for users or consumers.Design may be defined as a creativity implemented in a form of particular final result4).However, design does not include the visual aspect (aesthetic, artistic) of the product or service (as it is often misunderstood as doing) but integrates various areas such as science and technique (Figure 1).A properly designed product takes into account both market conditions (consum­er requirements, the economic situation, competition), a company’s business ob­jectives and the nature of the brands. It proposes new (innovative) solutions and technologies, adding the new value for the user or streamlining the production process or, in accordance with the recent trends, being environment friendly.

3) www.icsid.org.4) Cox G., Cox Review of Creativity in Business: building on the UK’s strengths; 2005.

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Figure 1Industrial Design; J. Ginalski5)

5) Ginalski J., Industrial Design, presentation for IWP; 2007. Text in Polish.

INDUSTRY

ART

TECHNIQUE

SCIENCE

INDUSTRIALDESIGNMARKET

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BIRDScollection of coordinated home textiles

by DECORADORdesign: Ewa Szyszka-Oczkowska

manufacturer: GlobalDom Sp. z o.o.Good Design 2006

5.Supporting Design

Developmentin Poland

Supporting Design Development in Poland

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5.1. The impact of industrial design and innovation development on the competitiveness of the economy – current status, opportunities and threats

SWOT analysis prepared by the Institute of Industrial Design

Strengths

The Polish economy is largely dependent on the production sectors, which will continue to have a significant share in creating the GDP in the forthcom­ing years – benefits from design application are crucial due to economies of scale in these sectors.

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Poland has a well­established design tradition and advanced education in this area.

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A large group of project service providers, with both national and foreign ex­perience, is present on the market and ready to cooperate with enterprises.

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Polish enterprises are prone to taking risks in order to secure further develop­ment.

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Weaknesses

The relatively low innovation degree of Polish enterprises. >

Market leaders have built their position on the basis of patterns ordered by foreign contractors, hence they have limited experience in creating their own products and thus appreciate the importance of design.

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To date, design as an innovation development factor has not been appreciated by the state administration.

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There is no practice as well as the copyright awareness (copying patterns).>

The education of project service providers in the Fine Art Universities is, to a certain extent, set apart from economic issues.

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Polish enterprises receive little benefit from consumer research.>

No research on design application and effectiveness, lack of European stan­dards for application monitoring and design effectiveness.

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5. Supporting Design Development in Poland

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Opportunities

Opportunity to compete with well designed products on the markets of West­ern Europe and other well­developed countries (good quality­to­price ratio).

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Favourable attitude of national enterprises to design application.>

Utilisation by enterprises of the design development resources available within the POIG, including the IWP key project.

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Making use of experience in design implementation drawn from the Western European countries.

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Treating design as an important innovation factor and making the resources for innovation development accessible (investment in machinery or know­how).

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Employing the design faculties of Fine Arts Universities of to meet increasing requirements in the area of design services.

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Making use of design for the promotion of the Polish economy abroad.>

Threats

Increasing competition from developing countries enjoying cheap production, such as China, Korea, India, Brazil etc., developing designs for their own products.

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The limitation of the role of design to the level of superficial product styling.>

The waste of public resources – unprofessional coordination of development strategy and design promotion (e.g. lack of competence in the allocation of resources from POIG).

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5.2. Design in the Operational Programme for Economic Innovation

The Operational Programme for Economic Innovation 2007­2013 includes ac­tivities which are intended to support Polish enterprises in carrying out design projects. The aforementioned activities include:

activity 4.2 R&D Activity: the stimulation of enterprises and support within the area of design,

activity 1.4­4.1 Support for special projects and the implementation of R&D outcomes,

activity 5.2 Innovation promulgation,

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activity 5.4 Intellectual property management.(Note: Information regarding the specific programmes has been prepared on the basis of draft documents and may be amended upon the launch of the Activities, scheduled for 1st quarter of 2008).

Activity 4.2�)

R&D Activity: the stimulation of enterprises and support within the area of design

Within the scope of this activity, the enterprises may obtain support for carrying out R&D work and support for the implementation of new products making use of industrial design as a source of competitive advantage. This programme will be used by micro, small, medium and large companies. It allows an entrepreneur to request a grants in a case where he wishes to acquire the right to an industrial or utility pattern and to create such a pattern himself (unless he can give proof in his application that he has the relevant human and technical potential). One of the criteria to be met in order to be granted financing will be the implementation, by a given enterprise, of the production of a particular pattern. The project will also be evaluated in terms of profitability and compliance with Union law.Expenditures qualified within Activity 4.2 involve:

the acquisition price or the costs of production of new assets related to carry­ing out research and development works or the entrepreneur’s development and production implementation of the industrial or utility pattern,

the acquisition price of intangible assets in the form of patents, licenses and unpatented technical knowledge,

instalment payments of the initial value of fixed assets or intangible assets by the user, as due to the financing party under a leasing agreement leading to the transfer the ownership of those assets to the user, excluding sale and lease back,

expenditure on the acquisition of specialist training related to the acquisition, production, or leasing of fixed assets or intangible assets as specified in fore­going the points, to a sum not exceeding 10% of the total qualified expendi­ture (the amount supporting the training may not exceed PLN 1 million),

6) Developed on the basis of the Information package, activity 4.2 R&D Activity: stimulation of enterprises and support

within the area of design; PARP, Research and Development Team (Zespół Badań i Rozwoju)/Institutional Support

System Team (Zespół Instytucjonalnego Systemu Wsparcia); Warszawa 2007; www.parp.gov.pl and Gralec W. (PARP),

Design project support from POIG; 2007. Text in Polish.

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the entrepreneur’s purchase price for the preparatory analyses and advisory services related to the investment, to an amount not exceeding 50% of the actual expenditure incurred to this end; however, these services may not form an element of the entrepreneur’s permanent or periodic activities or be re­lated to the entrepreneur’s current operational expenditure,

the purchase price for the ownership right or perpetual usufruct right to land up to an amount of 10% of the qualified expenditures,

the purchase price of the ownership right to a building or construction, pro­vided that, apart from meeting the general conditions, the entrepreneur shall submit a construction expert’s opinion confirming that the property may be used for a specific purpose complying with the objectives of the project to be supported, or defining the scope of necessary changes and improvements,

the purchase price of construction work and materials,

instalment payments of the initial value of lands, buildings and constructions, as made by the user and as due to the financing party under a leasing agree­ment, up to their initial value on the date of signing the leasing agreement, and incurred until the date of the investment’s completion, excluding sale and lease back,

the purchase price for used assets, in the case of micro, small and medium­sized entrepreneurs and for an investment related to the acquisition by an independent investor of the company’s assets, which have been closed down or would be closed down if the purchase failed.

The intensity of the support depends on the size of the enterprise and the loca­tion where the investment is carried out (in accordance with the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers, dated 13 October 2006, on the regional aid arrange­ment). The value of the support under activity 4.2 is amounts, respectively, to:

micro and small enterprises: 50­70%,

medium enterprises: 40­60%,

large enterprises: 30­50%.

In the case of expenditure on training, separate intensity levels of support have been set out. The value of the qualified expenditures for the training section may amount to a maximum of PLN 1 million and, respectively, for:

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micro and small and medium enterprises – a maximum of 45%,

large enterprises – a maximum of 35%.

Expenditure on preparatory analyses and advisory services in the case of small and medium enterprises may financed up to 50%. In the case of large enter­prises, assistance granted for advisory services may amount to up to 50% of the costs incurred and constitutes the de minimis aid.The minimum value of qualified costs for the investment part amounts to PLN 400 thousand, while the maximum value amounts to PLN 21 million.

Activity 1.4 – 4.17)

Support for special projects and the implementation of R&D outcomes

Within the scope of this activity, projects will be implemented in two stages. The first phase will include the carrying out of industrial research and development work under activity 1.4.

Activity 1.4 (Support for special projects) is implemented within the 1. priority axis, concentrating on an increase in the meaning of the education sector in the economy by means of research programme implementation for enterprises.This activity aims at supporting projects including technical, technological and organisational enterprises (industrial research and development work).Industrial research denotes planned research oriented towards adapting new knowledge for the enterprise’s purposes This knowledge may be subsequently be used while developing new products, processes and services or may contri­bute to a significant upgrade of existing products and services. The outcomes of such research may not be translated into the application of upgrades to specific products (goods and services) or the introduction of new products.Development work consists of the utilisation of available knowledge for the pur­pose of production planning and the design of new products or services. This work may include the preparation of all the documentation necessary to imple­ment the production of research results, including the preparation of the project and plans, the development of an equipment prototype and the conducting of any necessary tests.As part of Activity 1.4, financing shall cover:

7) Developed on the basis of the Information package; activity 1.4­4.1: Support for entrepreneurs in terms of research

and development work; PARP, Research and Development Team (Zespół Badań i Rozwoju) / Institutional Support

System Team (Zespół Instytucjonalnego Systemu Wsparcia); Warszawa 2007. Text in Polish.

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research projects, including the carrying out of the research (on their own accord or commissioning it from an external unit), along with the necessary advisory element,

the direct costs of carrying out of the research and development work, such as:

remuneration and the related remuneration costs for the persons directly in­volved in the implementation of the project, as well as the persons in charge of managing the project,

the acquisition of equipment and apparatus utilization costs,

building amortization costs for the period of their use for the purpose of the project, etc.,

the acquisition of the research, advisory services and the acquisition of in­tangible assets.

Creating a prototype as a result of research and development work is the final stage of the expenditure qualification period under activity 1.4., while within the research projects the creation of a prototype for commercial purposes is not permitted. The commercialisation of the research outcome is the subject­matter of the project under activity 4.1.

Activity 4.1 (Support for R&D works outcome implementation) is the follow­up of research and development works under activity 1.4. Because this activity is realized under the 4th priority axis, it focuses on a practical application of the research works’ results in the entrepreneur’s business operations. A condition that needs to be met in order to continue the operations by the entrepreneur within the activity 4.1 is the presentation of the report confirming finalization of industrial works and development works covered by the support, as well as submission by the entrepreneur of the economic analyses and market research confirming the advisability of works’ outcomes implementation. Proper realiza­tion of the project’s research part is a condition for moving to second phase of the project which is the research’ results implementation into an enterprise.Assuming that all of the projects ought to consist of both research and implemen­tation part, it shall be taken into account in the application documentation. If the conducted research, however, will not provide the expected results or market research will prove that an implementation of marker result in not profitable for the entrepreneur, the investment activities foreseen for the second phase will

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not be financed. In such cases, however, entrepreneur will not be obliged to return the resources achieved for the purpose of research works implementation within the first research stage.The support within the Activity 1.4 and 4.1 will be granted to micro, small, me­dium and big enterprises.The maximum amount of financial aid for the purpose of research works (within the frames of activity 4.1) is EUR 7,5 million, and in case of the second stage of the project (implementation of the carried out research’ outcomes into the pro­duction) the financial aid is – PLN 20 million.

Activity 5.2�)

Diffusion of Innovation

Activity 5.2 concerns supporting the institutions within the business environ­ment, providing pro­innovation services and their networks of over­regional im­portance. It aims at making it easier for the entrepreneurs on the territory of the entire country to access the complex business services of high quality, which are necessary in terms of carrying out the innovation activities.Moreover, it is expected to strengthen the business environment institutions and their networks of over-regional importance, acting for the benefit of enterprises’ innovative activities, among others, within the scope of technology transfer, use of industrial property protection rights, running cooperation activities and making use industrial design.The budget of the activity amounts to EUR 65,7 million and its beneficiaries in­clude the institutions of the business environment and the networks thereof.Types of projects:

preparation and development of the service package of pro­innovation nature (consisting of advisory services, educational services, information services and services of network searching for partner) aiming at increasing the in­novation of the entrepreneurs operating on the territory of Poland,

funds granted for the provision of the selected and named services for entre­preneurs,

funds granted for the functioning of the institutions belonging to the IOB net­work and all­national institutions providing pro­innovation services as well

8) Elaborated on the basis of the information presented on www.fundusze­ue.com.pl and thanks to help of the PARP

Institutional Instruments Implementation Team (Zespół Wdrażania Instrumentów Instytucjonalnych PARP). Text in

Polish.

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as funding for common enterprises undertaken by the institutions covered with the network,

funding the operations of the unit coordinating the network’s activities (of network front office nature),

funds granted for construction and development of IT system including the information on innovations, which services the unit coordinating network’s operations (inter alia: innovation sources, innovative undertakings at vari-ous development stages: research projects, R&D works, prototypes, etc., the list of the entities involved in the innovation activities – among others: uni­versities, research and development units, technological incubators, techno­logy transfer centres, entrepreneurs – cooperation links),

support for the use of industrial design among the entrepreneurs.

Activity 5.4�)

Intellectual Property Management

Within the scope of this activity, entrepreneurs will be able to apply for the fund­ing for acquiring legal protection for the utility and industrial patterns.The aid shall cover:

costs of preparing the application by the professional proxy who is entitled, under the provisions in force in a particular country, to appear before the competent body granting the protection,

official fees for submitting the application for invention/utility pattern/ indus­trial pattern,

costs of proceeding before the competent body in order to receive the protec­tion,

translation costs,

representation costs for the professional proxy appearing before a particular body of industrial property.

Covering the industrial property with the protection on the territory of the Re­public of Poland will be possible under the condition of using the international application mode within the frames of which the territory of the Republic of Po­land is not the only territory under the application for protection.

9) Gralec W. (PARP), Support for design projects from POIG; 2007. Text in Polish.

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5.3. Research and development units’ participation in the innovation management by means of design and design transfer into the enter-prises – using the example of IWP

The environment of research institutes, research and development centres, cen­tral laboratories includes over 20 thousand people, including 5 thousand scien­tists. It is significant researching, experimental and production potential. With­in this units, various innovation elaborations, solutions and implementations are performed within the various economy areas, however the dominant are the works in the technique and technology field.The Industrial Design Institute is the only state institution carrying out its ope­rations for the benefit of innovation and competitiveness stimulation of Polish enterprises by means of design.In Poland, contrary to other EU countries, the networks of regional design coun­cil type (DC) centres in charge of promotion and information tasks, which would have the objective to generate demand for professional design services, are not operating. Two centres located in the south and in the north of the country (Si­lesian Castle of Art and Enterprise, Pomeranian Science and Technology Park), launched in 2006, operate independently, and due to the their resources and competences, their operations is limited to the region10) and exclusively informa­tive function.While implementing its statutory objectives, IWP tries to look for the most effec­tive cooperation methods between the industry, designers and science zone at the same time it tries to work out such cooperation standards by carrying out:

research and development activities, implementation management,

propagating, exhibitory and editorial activities,

advisory and training activities

within the scope of design, ergonomics and new product development of great economic and social significance.The subject matter of research works includes design, ergonomics and bio­me­chanics management for the purpose of expert’s bases supporting development of a new product, shaping work’s and human’s life environment as well as creat­ing industrial design as an important element in the social and economic stra­tegy of a country and national culture.

10) Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Miszczak M., Economic effectiveness of design application (Efektywność eko­

nomiczna aplikacji wzornictwa); Works and Materials of IWP, 18; Warsaw 2006. Text in Polish.

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Cooperating with the state and self­governmental administration, the Institute elaborates the and expert’s report and reports supporting development of aware­ness with regard to design significance among the decision-makers as the one of the most effective mechanisms enhancing enterprises’ competitiveness on the market.Very design is often erroneously associated only with some superficial “cosmet­ic” of the product. Innovation of the form is closely connected with the techni­cal innovation and one may say it even overtakes it. Real innovative features of a product may be achieved by considering design as an integral part of the entire design process. According to J. Ginalski: innovative management (management by means of innovation) is not design but manager artistic operation. It is a way of companies’ management in which innovative policy is the main development tool. The greatest and the most long-lasting successes is assigned to those compa-nies in which innovative management is charged to people who are educated and experienced within the area of industrial design, supplemented with additional, specialist studies and practice within the scope of management11).The institute is searching for the most effective cooperation form with the en­terprises and pattern designers within the scope of new product development and knowledge transfer. Apart from traditional form of support like, for exam­ple, participation in the specialist, research, development designs financed from the budget resources by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, it also realizes direct bilateral and multilateral agreements, license agreements, com­bined projects including full development process of a new product: from the concept to the assumptions, through market research, defining the target group, by means of research and development works, prototyping up to implementation of the product into the market and promotion activities.The activities aimed at design promotion among the enterprises may be obliga­tory both directly and indirectly. The Institute has started to cooperate with the territorial government’s units in order to create the conditions for economy sec­tors’ development related with design, e.g. such as creative industry sector, by means of properly oriented strategies for cities or regions’ development.The development of the Institute’s operations with regard to knowledge trans­fer, is carried out by organising trainings and workshops for the entrepreneurs, managerial staff, persons managing science marketing as well as by organising exhibitions, competitions, conferences and seminars pointing at design’s role as the factor which positions the product on the market and enhances its competi­

11) Ginalski J., Liskiewicz M., Seweryn J., New product development; ASP Krakow; 1995. Text in Polish.

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tiveness. In the Institute’s opinion, very promising way to popularise knowledge within the scope of design management are the studies, organised in coopera­tion with universities, postgraduate education and participation of institute’s employees as the universities’ tutors in the designers’ education process.IWP operations oriented towards broadening the knowledge within the scope of monitoring and implementation of product innovation, while using professional design, is included as a priority issue in government’s programmes with regard to Poland’s joining in building knowledge­based global economy (GOW) and activities supporting innovation in Polish enterprises included in:

National Development Strategy for 2007­2015, Priority number 1 – Increase in economy’s competitiveness,

National Cohesion Strategy for 2007­2013; Operational Programme Innova­tive economy, Priority number 5 – Diffusion of innovation,

National reform Programme for 2005­2008; Priority number 3 – Improvement of the Enterprises’ Innovation,

National Strategic reference Framework 2007­2013,

National Health Programme for 2006­2015,

Operational Programmes of the Ministry of Regional Development and in the Regional Operational Programmes monitored by the voivodships’ govern­ments (Regional Innovation Strategies), including the draft of the Regional Operational Programme of the Mazowieckie Voivodship for 2007­2013 (PRO WM), Priority number I. Creating the conditions for innovation and entrepre­neurship potential development within the area of Mazowsze.

The scope of matter touched on by the institute concentrates on the areas in­cluded in the strategy document of the Ministry of Economy: Directions for im-proving economy’s innovation for 2007-2013 in which the industrial design has been considered as the source of competitive advantage serving the purpose of increasing the innovative solutions transfer to the enterprises (direction: Intel­lectual property for innovation).The institute specializing in the area of new products’ development and introduc­tion of new products into the market, including intangible products and services as well as brands’ creating and positioning, perceives the scientific research as an important product requiring innovative and professional marketing and sales methods. A significant issue is the selection of a relevant medium in order

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to reach an adequate target group, which is to receive a cooperation offer or a knowledge transfer. Nowadays the Internet is perceived as such a medium.The service www.iwp.com.pl run by the IWP is currently the richest base of information about design in Polish and is gradually expanded. E­bulletin is the quarterly published by the Institute of Industrial Design on the following issues: industrial design, new products implementation and design management. It is targeted at enterprises, designers, managers of the products, marketing depart­ments and is free of charge in on­line version.

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FADO armchairdesign: Tomasz Augustyniak

manufacturer: Com40 PRODECO 2002

Exhibitions: Polish Paths 2007, Design PL 2006„Polish Designers” Fuori Salone – Milano 2005

„Made in Poland” Museum für Angewandte – FrankfurtDesign on Tour 2003

�.Intellectual Property

Protection

Intellectual Property Protection

03�

�.1. Methods of intellectual property protection in Poland

Intellectual property are the rights protecting all the intangible goods. The areas protected as the intellectual property have their own regulations in na­tional, international and regional legislation. In Poland, protection of intellec­tual property is governed, inter alia, by the following legal acts: act dated 30 March 2000, Industrial Property Rights (Journal of Laws of 2003, No 119, item 1117 as amended), act of 4 February 1994 concerning Copyright and related rights (Journal of Laws of 2000, No 80, item 904 as amended) and act of 16 April 1993 concerning the law against unfair competition (Journal of Laws of 1993, No 47, item 211). It may say stated, that these acts somehow complete each other by governing some protection matters. It ought to be stressed that these are the provisions of Industrial Property Rights act that, on the basis of the Directive No 98/71/EC, finally made the industrial patterns an independent protection object. Formerly, their protection was not harmonised.Industrial design was defined in detail in article 102 of the act on Industrial Property Rights. In accordance with the article in question – industrial design is a new form of a product of an individual nature or its part, attributed to it in particular by the features of contour lines, shape, colour, structure or material used for create the product as well as its ornamentation. According to this de­scription an industrial design is “a form of a product”, that is, it is not a form and appearance but the product itself. However, according to the act 2, the product is every good produced in an industrial or craft manner and consists of package, graphic symbols, topographic writing style. The form of the product, in order to be qualified as the design subject to protection, must be new and unique. In­dustrial design is deemed to be new if before the date, according to which the priority due to registration to get protection is marked, an identical design had not been made publicly available by normal use, exhibition or display in other way with reservation of act 2. The design is deemed to be identical with the one that has already be made public if the difference is a small item. The design is not deemed to be made public, under article 1, if it could not be noticed by the interested persons professionally working within this area.A design is of an individual nature, under the article 104 of the Industrial Pro­perty Act, if the general impression it makes on the relevant user is different

�. Intellectual Property Protection

03�

from the impression made by the design which had already been made public before the date according to which the priority is marked. In order to qualify a given solution to a group of industrial designs, both aforementioned premises, that is new and unique nature, must be met simultaneously.Another solution protected under the Industrial Property Act is the utility pat­tern. The utility pattern, in accordance with the definition under article 94 of act 1, is a new and usable solution of technical nature in terms of shape, construction or specification of the product having firm form. However, first of all the utility design ought to be a new solution. It means that before the date of application in the Patent Office, an identical solution could not have been made available anywhere else in a form of verbal or written description, by means of exhibition, application or in any other way. It is not important whether the significant group of people could be familiarized with this solution. It is enough that a possibility has occurred in which the information on the solution could leak out (within the scope which reveals the details about the construction) to the third parties. The protection period covering the utility design is 10 years old of the applica­tion date of such design in the Polish Patent Office. The scope of protection law is defined by the protection restrictions which are read in connection with the figures. It ought to be stressed that the scope of protection right is quite narrow, hence relatively small modification of utility design may cause the design not to be covered with the protection which again causes opportunities for the compet­ing entities to use it.The exclusive right institution, granted for the utility design, is not included in the category of intellectual property protection which is commonly recognised in the world. In many countries such protection does not exists at all, in other countries the requirements concerning the premises on granting the exclusive right to the utility design. Due to the above, it is not possible to apply for regional exclusive right to the utility design, as it is in case of common industry design (one application is due to apply for the protection on the territory of the entire European Union). It is possible, however, to gain the regional protection to the solutions concerning the equipment, apparatus, tool, construction, personal use or home article defined by its construction and purpose of use, on the basis of the regulations concerning application and granting the patent protection, e.g. regional protection resulting from the European patent. It has to be stressed, however, that an additional requirement is imposed on the new solution of tech­nical nature – that is the inventory level, i.e. a requirement stating that the solu­tion may not result (in the opinion of expert) from the technique condition, i.e.

040

from the information available before the date of application in the European Patent Office.The duration period of the exclusive right from the European patent is 20 years of the application date. The territorial scope of protection covers all these coun­tries – parties to the Convention on the European patent, which were indicated in the course of patent proceedings. Since 1 March 2004, the indicated country may also be Poland. It is then also a way to gain the protection not only with regard to the European countries, but also with regard to Poland.The Industrial Property Act has regulated in detail the issues of exclusive rights protection granted by means of awarding protection right for utility design or the right of registration for industrial pattern as well as the possibility to claim these rights. In the light of the act, it is possible to claim the rights even before infringement of law. It has to be noticed that the provisions relating to patent are applied in parallel to industrial patterns and to utility patterns. Pursuant to article 287, the beneficiary of the patent whose patent has been breached, or a person authorised under the act, may demand that the person breaching the patent restrain from breaching, give out unlawfully gained benefits, and in case of being guilty of infringement, also compensate for the damage.

Demanding to restrain from breaching is undoubtedly the most important claim as continuing infringement may cause an irreversible situation. An important novelty, introduced recently into the Industrial Property Act are the provisions governing the proceedings on the protection of evidence and providing the in­formation, which are necessary to assert the rights. These are the provisions which aim to facilitate and assert the rights.Industrial Property Act, similarly to the provisions of the act on the copyright and related rights as well as Civil Proceeding Code, provide for the protection of au­thors’ personal and property rights. The subject of the copyright is every mani­festation of creativity of unique character, determined in any form, regardless of value, purpose and means of expression (work). In particular, the subject of the copyright are the works: expressed by word, mathematical symbols, graphi­cal signs (literary, journalistic, scientific, cartographic and computer software): plastic; photographic; violin­making; industrial design, architectonic, architec­tonic and urban planning, and urban; musical and music and poetry; theatri­cal, theatrical and music, choreographic and pantomime; audiovisual (including film)12).

12) The act on the copyright and the related rights, Journal of Laws of 2000 r. No 80, item 904 as amended; art. 1,

section 2. Text in Polish.

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The fact that the utility patter is also considered as the work was confirmed by the ruling of the Appellate Court in Warsaw in which it was assumed that the utility pattern is a work if it fulfils the requirements posed by the regulations of the act on the copyright and related rights.Items qualified as the intellectual property solutions such as, for example, indus­trial patterns or the utility patterns, except that they are subject to the protection defined informally as temporary or incomplete resulting from the very applica­tion in the Polish Patent Office, or they are covered by the protection resulting fro the granted right so the exclusive right to use a given solution on a specific territory or they are the works as understood by the copyright act, and at the same time they are subject to the protection from the time of determination of the work even if it is not finished, may also be subject to the protection under the provisions of the Act of 16 April 1993 on the law against unfair competition. Special attention should be paid to product imitation, defined as slavery imita­tion, regulated in detail in the article 13, which provides that an unfair competi­tion act is imitating the final product, which is about copying an external form of the product with the use of technical reproduction means, if it may mislead the customers as to the identity of producer or product. Imitating the product’s functional features, in particular the construction and form ensuring its utility, does not constitute an unfair competition act.It has to be noted that both industrial patterns and utility patterns are very fre­quently the subject of imitation. The important thing is whether a copied prod­uct may mislead a customer as to the identity of the producer or the product because such an activity bears the general hallmarks of an unfair competition act as it threatens or infringes the customer’s interest. As a rule, the customer is interested in the source of origin of goods and even if he/she decides to buy a product being an imitation, he/she wants it to be his/her decision and does not want to be misled.The issues of the intellectual rights protection on the territory of Poland are regulated by the Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property, while all costs relat­ing to granting and maintaining the protection of industrial property on the ter­ritory of Poland are determined and regulated in detail by the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 29 August 2001 on the fees for protection of inventions, utility patterns, industrial patterns, trademarks, geographical signs and topog­raphy of integrated circuits (Journal of Laws No 90, item 1000), as amended by the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 2 March 2004 on the change in fees for protection of inventions, utility patterns, industrial patterns, trademarks, geographical signs and topography of integrated circuits (Journal of Laws No

042

35, item 309), which is an executive document to the aforementioned Act. This Ordinance defines the detailed rules of fixing, payment and the fees for protec­tion of, among others, utility patterns and industrial patterns. It has to be em­phasised that the official fees for granting as well as maintaining the protection of industrial property, are split into one­off fees and periodic fees.The Community’s industrial patterns are registered in the European Union on the basis of the Ordinance of the Council (EU) 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on the Community’s patterns. The Community’s industrial pattern, similarly to the national Polish industrial pattern, is given the protection for 25 years split into 5­year time spans. An important element, characteristic of the application of the Community’s industrial patterns, is the possibility to submit so called group applications including even up to 200 Community’s applications under one application. This system considerably facilitates applying for the protection of Community’s industrial pattern in larger number of patterns.The two above systems – national and Community’s – are two systems allow­ing to acquire a protection right for industrial pattern on the territory of Poland. However, acquiring a right of registration for utility pattern with regard to Po­land is possible only within the national system. There is no equivalent of the European application for utility pattern such as the application system of Com­munity’s industrial pattern, so one application effective with regard to a particu­lar region. The only possibility to acquire the protection for utility pattern with regard to the European states’ territories is to apply for a solution fulfilling the criteria of invention.It has to be noted that on 13 September 2007 the Draft Ordinance amending the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 2 March 2004 on the fees for the protection of inventions, utility patterns, industrial patterns, trademarks, geo­graphical signs and topography of integrated circuits (Journal of Laws No 90, item 1000 and from 2004 No 35, item 309), issued on the ground of Art. 222 sec. 3 of the Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property. Amendments result prima­rily from continuing IT system implementation in the Patent Office. Pursuant to the Draft, significant amendments would affect the fees for both the application process for the utility and industrial patterns as well as the fees for maintaining the protection for utility patterns. For example, the application fees for utility pattern would remain unchanged only upon the condition that an application would be submitted in an electronic form. A traditional application would be more expensive.Another change resulting from the Draft amending the Ordinance of the Coun­cil of Ministers is to increase the fees for the protection for 10­year time spans in

043

case of utility patterns. The costs of litigation proceedings before the Polish Pa­tent Office would also increase incommensurably as compared to previous costs of litigations before the Polish Patent Office.

�.2. Possibility of refunding of costs related to acquiring the industrial property rights protection in patent offices

In 2007, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development launched a programme Support for industrial property protection for micro, small or medium entrepre­neurs with their seat within the territory of the Republic of Poland. The pro­gramme was a non-returnable financial support for acquiring the industrial property rights protection, granted in accordance with provisions of the ordi­nance of the Minister of Economy of 2 December 2006 on granting financial sup­port by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development not related to operational programmes (Journal of Laws, No 226, item 1651 as amended) within the acti­vity of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development aiming at the increase of competitiveness of micro, small and medium entrepreneurs and the support for innovative activity. The support for industrial property protection was in a form of a refund of expenses actually incurred and documented by the applicant and eligible to be covered by the support. It was granted with an aim to cover the costs of application for invention, utility pattern, industrial pattern or trademark, submitted to the competent body in order to acquire the protection granted by national, regional or international bodies for the industrial property rights pro­tection, with reservation that the support for industrial property protection could not be granted to cover the costs of application for invention, utility pattern, in­dustrial pattern and trademark, submitted to the Polish Patent Office in order to acquire the protection on the territory of the Republic of Poland.The budget planned for Support for industrial property protection amounted to PLN 500 thousand. It was a small amount. The amount of PLN 4000, envisaged for one application for granting support, was a prohibitive amount because it covered only the official fees related to only one item of application. The amount was very high as compared to the official fees that are usually spent on the appli­cations for industrial property items. For example, the applications for industrial patterns would have to include a good deal of types of industrial patterns in one application so as to conform to the criteria of the programme floor amount.One of the disadvantages of the Support for industrial property protection pro­gramme, in force from 22 August 2007 to 31 October 2007, was a limitation in the form of an exclusion from the qualified expenditures of all fees for applica­tions in the Polish Patent Office in order to acquire the protection on the territory

044

of the Republic of Poland. Moreover, the proxies’ remuneration, whose aid was indispensable, was not covered by the qualified expenditures.In the nearest future, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development is plan­ning to introduce another programme related to the industrial property protec­tion. The objective of the new programme will be a significant lowering of the threshold of amount related to one application so that it is not the prohibitive amount, as well as taking into consideration the costs connected with the pro­xies’ remuneration. Let’s hope that the activity 5.4 Intellectual property manage-ment within The Operational Programme – Innovative Economy (its launching scheduled for I quarter of 2008) will fill the insufficiencies of the Support for industrial property protection programme. Within the scope of the activity 5.4, the representation costs for the professional proxy appearing before a particu­lar body and the costs of preparing the application by the professional proxy are planned to be returned. One should only hope that the return floor amount would not be a prohibitive amount for many entrepreneurs. A similar postulate should concern the lowering of the floor amount related to the official fees for submitting the application for invention/utility pattern/industrial pattern or the costs of proceeding before the competent body in order to receive the protection of a given solution. Unfortunately, this programme just as the Support for indus-trial property protection programme does not envisage the possibility of applying for a subsidy on a project related to the application for invention, utility design or industrial design to the Polish Patent Office in order to acquire the protection on the territory of the Republic of Poland. Covering the industrial property with the protection on the territory of the Republic of Poland will be possible under the condition of using the international application mode within the frames of which the territory of the Republic of Poland is not the only territory under the application for protection. Undoubtedly it is a disadvantage, especially when taking into consideration the fact that e.g. the Support for industrial property protection programme, in force in 2007, was aimed at micro, small and medium entrepreneurs for whom the floor amounts were the prohibitive amounts and the applications did not cover the protected solutions only with reference to the ter­ritory of Poland. It would seem that the programme aimed at the aforementioned groups – micro and small entrepreneurs – should concern the issues connected with acquiring and maintaining the protection on the territory of Poland. Fail­ure to include this issue in planned activities is a clear drawback.The remaining activities presented in POIG, e.g. the Activity 4.2 that envis­ages the financial support for entrepreneurs related to, among others, working out the industrial and utility patterns, the Activity 5.2 that envisages the use of

045

industrial property protection rights and the use of industrial and utility design, or the Activity 5.4 that concerns borrowings and grants on covering the costs of proceeding related to acquiring industrial protection rights, advisory services related to the industrial property rights protection, support for the institution or organization managing the intellectual property rights in order to facilitate the technology transfer process, unfortunately do not bring closer the problem of costs refund in a form of a detailed guidelines specification for the applicants. Without this, it is impossible to determine both the advantages and disadvan­tages of the introduction and functioning of the planned Activities. As of today, the provided information is formulated in a too general way.

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XEON furniture collection design: Piotr Kuchciński

manufacturer: Fabryka Mebli BALMA S.A.PRODECO 2005, Meble Plus - Product of the Year 2004

7.Design in selected

European Union countries

Design in selected European Union countries

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7.1. Results of foreign research within the scope of the use of industrial design

Results of the model research conducted in other countries are presented below. Great Britain and Denmark were selected as countries with long traditions and significant successes within the scope of design implementation.

7.1.1. Study and surveys conducted in Great Britain13)

In 1990­1992, the Design Innovation Group (the Open University) together with the Institute of Science and Technology (University of Manchester) conducted research in order to evaluate the effects in the use of the grant on working on the designs of products’ new patterns and to make design expertise in modernised products14). 209 enterprises of different sectors (among others, textile, furniture, footwear, electronic, household, packages) that had received government subsi­dies on employing a professional design adviser were subject to research. The distribution of research scale by the number of the employed was as follows:

43 companies (21% of the respondents) employing up to 20 persons,

82 companies (39% of all) employing from 20 to 99 persons,

76 companies (36% of the respondents) employing 100­499 persons,

8 companies (4% of the respondents) employing more than 500 persons.

More than half of companies under research used the received grant and pro­vided full­time employment to designers in research and development teams. 30% of companies spent the grant on the support of (consultancy) project activity conducted by engineering­technical employees who did not have formal quali­fications in this respect. About 10% of enterprises decided to entrust external professionals when developing the designs of new products.The effects of supporting design projects in enterprises were significant. About 2/3 of the developed designs were implemented. About 60% of all designs and

13) Extensive passages from: Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Miszczak M., Economic efficiency of design applica-

tion (Efektywność ekonomiczna aplikacji wzornictwa); Works and Materials of IWP 18; Industrial Design Institute;

Warsaw 2006. Text in Polish.14) Roy R., Potter S., The commercial impacts of investment in design, Design Studies, Nr 2; 1993.

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7. Design in selected European Union countries

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about 90% of the implemented ones were the manufacturers’ economic success (increase in turnover and profit). The following benefits obtained by companies were found to be the most important:

increase in competitiveness of manufactured products,

possibility to enter new markets (concerned 28% of respondents) or increase in shares in already existing markets (30% of companies),

increase of exports of design modernized products (15% of enterprises),

change in some producers’ attitude towards design and, most of all, aware­ness of its role in the struggle for clients; as a result, about 50% of surveyed companies decided to continue employing designers,

aid in acquiring design team management skills.

Other researches conducted by the British Design Council in 2000­2001 covered the following issues:

role of industrial design in enterprises,

design introduction practice,

influence of design implementation on the company’s condition,

the use of design services and the aid provided by the Design Council15).

17% of surveyed companies attributed a significant and integral role in the com­pany’s activities to design, 24% indicated its restricted role and 42% of surveyed companies did not notice any role of design in the company. Large enterprises more often noticed the importance of design. The results of research were influ­enced by the fact that the survey was conducted not only among industrial en­terprises, but also in agricultural undertakings, extraction industry companies, hotels, restaurants, wholesale businesses, etc., that do not use the services of industrial designers systematically, although they might be interested in differ­ent design projects.Currently the Design Council conducts such surveys periodically (the National Survey of Firms) on large samples of British enterprises. These surveys are con­ducted in order to monitor the way the companies use and understand design and to find the influence of design on the company’s economic efficiency.

15) National Survey of Firms 2002, a report prepared by PACEC on behalf of Design Council (G.Britain), London 2003,

(Internet: www.pacec.co.uk).

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The National Survey of Firms conducted in 2005 covered 1500 enterprises from different regions in Great Britain16). There were conducted telephone interviews with managers of companies employing 10 and more people. Additionally, on the basis of research results, a group of companies called “design alert” was separated from the surveyed ones. Some of the companies in this group high­lighted a significant impact of design on their competitiveness, market shares, volume of business and employment. The group was also asked more detailed questions concerning the way of using design in their companies and its transla­tion into business benefits.

The research proves that design has a direct and significant translation into the improvement of sale results, turnover volume and the company’s development. Enterprises, who are aware of the role of design and use it in practice, gain com­petitive advantage over other companies. Almost half of surveyed companies consider that during the last 10 years, design has become an important factor that facilitates competitive advantage.More than 3/4 of the companies where design constitutes an integral part of process stated that due to design their competitiveness and turnover volume had increased. These enterprises have to compete on price more rarely than enter­prises that do not use design (less than 1/2 towards 2/3 of companies).Fast developing companies mention design as a key factor in success three times more often than other companies. They perceive design as an integral part of business almost six times more often than the others. Additionally, they are more prone (two times) to increase design expenditure and 1/3 of them has already done this in recent time.The results of analysis of the survey data for the group of “design alert” compa­nies were as follows:

on average, due to the use of design the companies increased their market share by 6,3%,

every 100 pounds invested in design resulted in turnover increase of 225 pounds and profit growth of 83 pounds.

16) Design in Britain 2005­2006; Design Council, (internet: www.designcouncil.org.uk).

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7.1.2. Danish Design Centre research17)

In 1995, the Danish Design Centre conducted research on the use of industrial design in production enterprises. One of the main objectives of the research was to define the role of design in shaping the product strategy. The survey covered 276 enterprises that employed more than 20 people and had the annual turnover not less than 1 million Danish Krone. The surveyed covered not only the SME sector but also larger enterprises. They were from the following sectors:

electronics,

industrial machinery,

medical technical equipment,

computers, office machinery,

furniture,

lighting equipment,

household and garden furnishings.

In terms of design, the selected companies accounted for about 50% of demand on design services in Danish industry18).About 60% of surveyed companies recognized design as an important element of marketing strategy aiming at the product and the company’s success on do­mestic and foreign markets. More than 80% of respondents highlighted a deci­sive role of professional product design in shaping its quality. They agreed that in case of high quality products, the aesthetic features as well as production organization, sale conditions and other factors create the so­called industrial production philosophy that shapes the company’s image and defines its competi­tive position.The following factors stimulating design progress were considered particularly important:

high production technique and technology; modern raw materials and mate­rials used in production allow to obtain better product’s patterns that increase the product’s innovation,

17) Extensive passages from: Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Miszczak M., Economic efficiency of design applica-

tion (Efektywność ekonomiczna aplikacji wzornictwa); Works and Materials of IWP 18; Industrial Design Institute;

Warsaw 2006. Text in Polish.18) Bernsen J., Design in small and medium size companies. Danish Design Centre, (Internet: www.ddc.dk).

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use of various marketing strategies promoting design activity, including in­tense advertising campaigns carried out by publishing houses, databases and data banks on the issue of broadly defined industrial design,

law and financial regulations supporting the introduction of new product pat­terns into the market (grants on design services),

expansion of the society’s education system within the scope of the role of design in social, economic and cultural development.

According to many producers, design investment is profitable. Costs of a design project usually account for a minimal (few percents) part of costs of research and development works, costs of starting production and launching of a product.In 2003, the Danish Design Centre continued to study economic benefits of us­ing design. The research allowed the evaluation in the level of activity of design companies19). The companies were divided into 4 groups depending on the acti­vity classified as follows:

no design used,

design as a styling,

design as a process (work method),

design as a strategy – is of key importance in the company.

Survey results showed that Danish enterprises investing in design increased their gross income within 5 years. Their income was 22% higher than the in­come of companies that did not invest in design.According to the survey, the companies that had invested in training of full­time designers or used the services of external designers had gross income 40% higher than the companies not investing in this field.The use of designers’ services allowed the companies to export on average 34% of production (the companies not using design exported 18% of manufactured products).The survey also revealed a positive correlation between the use of design and the employment. Within 5 years, total profit increase of the companies that used design services was 58 billion Krone higher than of those companies that did not use design services20).

19) Ramlau Hovgaard U., In Denmark, Design Tops the Agenda; Design Management Review, Fall 2004.20) Danish Design Centre, 2004, the Economic Effects of Design. Denmark: Copenhagen, (Internet: www.ddc.dk).

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7.2. International design research cooperation

In 2005, institutions/organizations engaged in design established an interna­tional group called the International Research Collaboration (IRC). The group’s objective is cooperation in developing a common approach to the way of studying design in business and sharing the experiences in this field (“good practices”).The following organizations joined the group:

APCI (France),

Centre for Design Innovation (Ireland),

DDC Danish Design Centre (Denmark),

DDI Spanish Agency for Design & Innovation (Spain),

Design Austria,

Design Council (Great Britain),

Design Vlaanderen (Belgium),

National Institute of Design (India),

Norwegian Design Council (Norway),

Premsela (Netherlands),

SVID Swedish Industrial Design Foundation (Sweden).

Poland, represented by the Industrial Design Institute, joined IRC group at the end of 2007.Questions included in the research conducted by IWP were worked out and de­fined by IRC members. One of the key questions helps to define the company’s awareness in using design (enterprise “design maturity”). On the basis of the answers given by companies, one can draw a “design ladder” that indicates the degree of maturity of the company’s approach to design.IRC group has already made first attempts to compare research results from several countries – Great Britain, Dane, Spain and Norway. The task turned out to be dif­ficult due to different sizes of samples, sample structure and differences in asked questions. Works on data comparison are continued. The group’s general conclu­sion is the necessity of agreeing on common questions and establishing comparable samples to order to compare data from different countries in the future.The issue of design research standardization in companies is also emerging on Polish market. The area of design in enterprises is becoming an object of interest

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cons

ciou

snes

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0 Design

4. design as an element of the company’s strategy

3. design as a process

2. design as a “styling”

1. lack of design

and, as a consequence, initiatives with an aim to study this area are being un­dertaken. One of such initiatives are the surveys conducted at the end of 2007 as part of the pilot project “Industrial design in Małopolska” being the element of the European project called “Enhancing Regional Innovation Strategy in Małopolska – RIS Małopolska (InnoRegioMałopolska). The project is executed under the Sixth Framework Programme with an aim to support the implementation process of Re­gional Innovation Strategy for Małopolska Region for 2005-201321).In 2007, under InnoRegioMałopolska there were conducted researches among Małopolskie enterprises on their knowledge and interest in design area. The results of this interesting undertaking are unfortunately not fully comparable with the research conducted by IWP in that year. It results from a different sam­ple construction and a different approach to asked questions and the way of conducting research.Two groups of enterprises were studied under InnoRegioMałopolska:

Micro, small and medium size enterprises that received financial means from the EU funding under the Sectoral Operational Programme – Improvement of the Competitiveness of Enterprises, years 2004­2006, measures 2.1, 2.2.1 and 2.3. The research covered enterprises of various business profiles, e.g., advisory companies, law firms or companies providing dentist services. 90 companies filled the sent questionnaires.

21) Mamica Ł., red.; Industrial Design in Małopolska – companies’ and students’ expectations; Design Center in Kra­

kow; Krakow 2007. Text in Polish.

1.

Figure 2Design ladder

055

Enterprises applying for additional funding under the Integrated Regional Ope­rational Programme, years 2004­2006, measures 3.4 and 2.5, mainly young companies, only few years on the market, which results from both aforemen­tioned priorities of the IROP. 87 companies filled the sent questionnaire.

One of the interesting initiatives under the project were trade meetings. They were organized in order to support scientists from Małopolskie universities in their cooperation with business partners and to facilitate to the entrepreneurs an access to scientific-research potential of Małopolskie universities and research & development units22). Trade meetings were held by the Centre of Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Development (CITTRU). During the meet­ings, the entrepreneurs had an opportunity to present the problems they face as part of their business activity (and which scientists could solve). At the same time, the scientists had a chance to suggest specific solutions for a company in a given sector. 2 meetings of casting sector and footwear sector were held as part of the project. Unfortunately, the trade meeting on industrial design initially planned for January 2008 was called off due to lack of funds.

7.3. “BEDA” report on creative industry in the EU countries

creative industry turnover volume (in million EUR )

percent GDP number of designers

Austria 1 560 0,67 9 500

Dane 591 0,30 11 000

Estonia 40 0,40 2 000

France 2 400 0,15 12 000

Greece 10 0,01 8 500

Spain 817 0,09 21 200

the Netherlands 2 600 0,57 46 000

Ireland 600 0,40 8 000

Luxembourg 36 0,14 900

Germany 6 900 0,32 80 000

Norway 350 0,16 2 100

Poland 57 0,02 6 000

22) Działek J.; Pilot project “Małopolskie Trade Meetings”; CITTRU; Jagiellonian University; 2007.

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creative industry turnover volume (in million EUR )

percent GDP number of designers

Switzerland 1 700 0,60 12 000

Sweden 838 0,31 10 000

Great Britain 16 700 0,99 185 500

Italy 900 0,07 14 800

Table 1Creative industry in EU countries

In 2007, “BEDA” (The Bureau of European Design Associations), an all-Euro­pean organization functioning on behalf of the societies connected with creative industry, prepared a short report on creative industry (European Design Re­port) as part of the first initiative. The report presents data on creative industry (including industrial design) such as turnover volume, share of this industry in gross domestic product and the number of designers in a given country (Ta­ble 1)23). The presented values are for 2006. They were created on the basis of accessible reports and estimates from different countries. In 2008, NACE code 74.10 Specialized Design Activities is going to be introduced in the International system of activity classification, which will enable measurements that are more precise and, consequently, more precise comparisons. Still, due to the aforemen­tioned report it is possible to compare the number of designers from different countries and to evaluate the impact of their activity on the national economy. The report concerned professional designers, including designers in the field of industrial design, interior, multimedia and graphics.

“BEDA” estimates show that more than 447 thousand designers in Europe gener­ate the annual income in the amount of more than EUR 36 billion.Great Britain is an undisputed leader in the number of designers (more than 185 thousand) as well as in generating creative industry income (EUR 16 700 million).In terms of creative industry turnover, Poland (EUR 57 million) is in a simi­lar situation as Estonia (40 million) or Luxembourg (36 million). Polish crea­tive industry still accounts for a small percentage of gross domestic product (0,02 percent), which places Poland on the second position from the end, before Greece (0,01 percent). In terms of the number of designers, Poland (6 thousand) surpasses Luxembourg (0,9 thousand), Estonia (2 thousand) and Norway (more than 2 thousand).

23) European Design Report; BEDA; DesignAustria; 2007.

057

HIDDEN modular furnituredesign: Tomek Rygalik

manufacturer: IKERfinalist of the Good Design Competition 2006

�.Analysis of the degree

of use and developmentof industrial design in Polish

enterprises – IWP quantitative and qualitative research

Analysis of the degree of use and development of industrial design...

05�

The next two chapters present the results of quantitative and qualitative re­searches conducted in the third quarter of 2007 by a research company Ipsos commissioned by the Industrial Design Institute and in cooperation with it.

�.1. Quantitative research – object of research and research methodology

8.1.1. Defining research issues

The research discussed in this report concerns the following issues:

Use of design by surveyed enterprises.

Terms and conditions of design management in enterprises.

Design evaluation in the sector represented by the surveyed company.

Perceived impact of design on the company’s development and business ef­ficiency.

Methods used to acquire design projects (sources of information on designers, the way of getting offers, designer’s position in the organization).

Determining motives and barriers to obtaining and implementing new design projects and their introduction into the market.

Organization of the process of new product implementation and its introduc­tion into the market (way of organizing process, procedures, ways of verifying the product potential and minimizing the market risk, perceived difficulties).

Evaluation of design added value to the company development, brand posi­tioning, product market potential, company competitiveness in the country and abroad.

Methods of intellectual property protection and evaluation of their effectiveness.

Number of new products/designs implemented in production and introduced into the market in 2006.

Financial data of surveyed enterprises (turnover in 2006, expenditures on industrial design in 2006, share of expenditures on design in R&D costs).

Attempt to identify sectors and enterprises leading in design use.

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�. Analysis of the degree of use and development of industrial design in Polish enterprises – IWP quantitative and qualitative research

05�

�.1.2. Research sample

301 industrial enterprises representing 8 selected sectors were surveyed. The initial list of sectors included “new media” category, however, due to a small representation of such companies and difficulties with contacting/getting into touch with them, the sector was not included in quantitative research. HBI sur­vey was a source of companies’ addresses. It is one of the larges databases avail­able on the market that systematically verifies and updates its data.Enterprises/people conforming to the following recruitment criteria were sub­ject to the research:

Companies with industrial realizations – during the last 3 years they imple­mented new designs in production24).

People responsible for implementation and new products development in the company.

Criteria differentiating the respondents:

Size of enterprises where the respondent works:

small – employing 10­49 people,

medium – employing 50­249 people,

large – employing 250 and more people.

Represented sector:

domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers, multimedia equip­ment, peripheral devices,

investment products (machinery and tools),

means of transport,

furniture and interior furnishings,

ceramics and glass,

clothing, fabrics, accessories, footwear,

lighting equipment,

sports equipment/goods.

24) This criterion was used due to the main research purposes: finding answer to questions concerning the whole

design management process in Polish enterprises.

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Region of the country:

Central Region (Mazowieckie, Łódzkie voivodships),

Southern Region (Śląskie, Małopolskie voivodships),

Eastern Region (Podlaskie, Lubelskie, Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie voivod­ships),

North­West Region (Zachodnio­Pomorskie, Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie voivod­ships),

South-West Region (Dolnośląskie, Opolskie voivodships),

Northern Region (Pomorskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodships).

The surveyed companies for individual GUS regions were selected in proportion to their share in the base.To sum up, the research was conducted on a quota sample with identified quotas for the sector, the region and the size of the company.

lp. realized sample

301 100%

Sector N %

1 domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers, multimedia equipment, peripheral devices

38 13%

2 investment products (machinery and tools), 40 13%

3 means of transport, 36 12%

4 furniture and interior furnishings 44 15%

5 ceramics and glass, 40 13%

6 clothing, fabrics, accessories, footwear 39 13%

7 lighting 27 9%

8 sports equipment/goods 37 12%

GUS region

1 Central 61 20%

2 Southern 61 20%

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3 Eastern 42 14%

4 North-West 58 19%

5 South-West 28 9%

6 Northern 51 17%

Size of the company

1 small (10-49 employees) 115 38%

2 medium (50-249 employees) 134 45%

3 large (250 and more employees) 52 17%

Table 2Realized sample distribution

The realized sample differed from the projected sample to a small degree due to the difficulty in conducting interviews in some enterprises in time assumed for the research realization. In order to make up the total number, additional in­terviews were conducted in sectors, regions and size categories for which it was feasible. Divergence between the projected sample and the realized sample does not significantly influence the results value.While analysing the results in individual categories, one should remember about small numbers in particular research samples. The results for regions that are strongly dependent on the sector structure of enterprises located there should be treated with reserve. That is why, the results for individual regions were not presented in this report. Consequently, these researches should not be treated as a field study. To generalize the results and consider them fully representative, especially within selected categories (region, sector, size of the company), it is necessary to conduct research on a larger sample so that the units of enquiry (e.g. region, sector, size of the company) had a relatively great number of repre­sentatives in the research.Since the fractions were not numerous, no balances/weights were used while working out the results because it could distort the real situation.

�.1.3. People under research

The interviews with the representatives of company management or people re­sponsible for the development/introduction of new products were conducted un­der the research.

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�.1.4. Research method

The research was conducted by means of direct personal interviews because of the wide scope of research and difficult access to respondents. The interviewers conducting research possessed a covering letter signed by the directorate of the Industrial Design Institute and Ipsos Polska, which, in many cases, resulted in a more positive attitude of the respondents to the interview. In general, the re­search realization gave rise to many difficulties. The respondents often refused to participate in the research giving the lack of time as an excuse. On numerous occasions, the respondents did not want to be interviewed, although they had arranged the meeting, and they set another date. It also turned out that a signifi­cant part of the companies did not comply with the eligibility criterion, i.e. the implementation in production and introduction into the market of at least one, new and own design during the previous three years. Some of the companies failed to introduce any new designs, others introduced someone else’s designs e.g. handed over by other companies, the head office or a foreign partner (the last cases were predominant). Leaving aside the problems with arranging the meetings and many refusals to participate in the research, the respondents rath­er positively approached the research. They usually understood the goal of such undertakings. The fact that the research was commissioned by the Industrial Design Institute worked to its advantage since many respondents considered the Institute trustworthy. There were also critical voices. Talking about financial matters was the main problem to many respondents. They considered it too “in­trusive”. Many respondents refused to answer questions on financial indicators. Others felt uncertain whether or not they were entitled to provide information on company finances.

�.1.5. Characteristics of enterprises under research

This part of report presents basic characteristics of subjects under research ac­cording to such features as sector, region, number of employees, size of the town/city where the company is located and the company’s age.

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Sample distribution 1

Percentage distribution of subjects according to the sector. N=301

0 3 6 9 12 15

sports equipment

lighting

clothes, fabrics, footwear

ceramics and glass

furniture, interior furnishing

means of transport

investment and finishing products

domestic appliances and audio/video devices,computers, multimedia equipment 13%

13%

12%

15%

13%

13%

9%

12%

Sample distribution 2

Percentage distribution of subjects according to the region. N=301

0 5 10 15 20 25

Northern

South-West

North-West

Eastern

Southern

Central 20%

20%

14%

19%

9%

17%

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Sample distribution 3

Percentage distribution of subjects according to the number of employees. N=301

0 10 20 30 40 50

250+ employees

50-249 employees

10-49 employees

17,3%

44,5%

38,2%

Sample distribution 4

Percentage distribution of subjects according to the size of town/city. N=301

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

more than 500.000 inhabitants

from 300.001 to 500.000 inhabitants

from 200.001 to 300.000 inhabitants

from 100.001 to 200.000 inhabitants

from 50.001 to 100.000 inhabitants

from 20.001 to 50.000 inhabitants

town to 20.000 inhabitants

village 6%

3,3%

8,6%

8%

36,5%

11,6%

13,3%

12,6%

0�5

Sample distribution 5

Percentage distribution of subjects according to the company’s age. N=301

0 5 10 15 20 25

>30 years

21-30 years

16-20 years

10-15 years

<10 years 18,3%

19,9%

24,3%

15,0%

16,6%

Sample distribution �

Companies’ distribution according to sector in individual regions. N=301

domestic appliances and audio/video devicescomputers, multimedia equipmentinvestment and finishing products

means of transport

furniture, interior furnishing

ceramics and glass

clothes, fabrics, footwear

lightingsports equipment

16,4

%11

1,5%

9,8%

11,5

%11

,5% 13

,1%

13,1

%13

,1%

16,4

%11

,5%

9,8%

13,1

%

13,1

% 14,8

% 16,7

%11

,9%

9,5%

19%

21,4

%14

,3

7,1%

1,6%

0%

10,3

%17

,2%

8,6%

15,5

13,8

%

17,2

%

14,3

%

14,3

%

11,8

%21

,6%

21,6

%

11,8

%

15,7

%

3,6%

3,6%

0%

2%

7,8%

7,8%

21,4

%

17,9

%

8,6%

8,6%

19,7

%

0

5

10

15

20

25

NorthernSouth-WestNorth-WestEasternSouthernCentral

25%

0��

Sample distribution 7

Sex of people under research

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

female

male

28,9%

71,1%

Sample distribution �

Education of people under research

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

refusal of answer

higher education

secondary education

vocational education 2,3%

22,9%

72,4%

2,3%

�.1.�. Characteristics of people under research

0�7

Sample distribution �

Status of people under research

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

refusal to answer

other

manager/product manager

owner/co-owner

other member of management board

strategy director

production director

marketing director/manager

vice-president/assistant manager

president/general manager 12,3%

15,9%

4%

3%

3%

26,6%

18,3%

7,6%

7,6%

1,7%

�.2. Qualitative research – research object and methodology

�.2.1. Research objectives

The objective of research was to find out the degree of the use of design and de­velopment in enterprises from different sectors and of different sizes, which will determine the present state of design, its influence on companies’ efficiency and competitiveness and prospects of design development in Poland.Issues explored in research:

Terms and conditions of design management in enterprises.

Use of design by enterprises.

Perceived significance of design to business and the company’s development and its influence on business efficiency.

Way of estimating costs and expenditures on design.

Methods of cooperation within the scope of acquiring design projects (sour­ces of information on designers, way of winning offers and designer’s position in the company).

Determining motives and barriers to acquiring and implementing new de­sign projects.

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Organization of the process of new product implementation and its introduc­tion into the market (way of organizing process, procedures, ways of verifying the product potential and minimizing the market risk, perceived difficulties).

Evaluation of design added value to the company’s development, brand posi­tioning, product market potential, company’s competitiveness in the country and abroad.

Methods of intellectual property protection – evaluation of their effectiveness, fears.

�.2.2. Research methodology

During the qualitative research, detailed individual interviews lasting about 1 h were conducted.

�.2.3. Number of interviews

There were realized 30 interviews (including 18 conducted during the meeting with a respondent, 12 – on the phone).

�.2.4. Date of research

The research was conducted in October and November 2007.

�.2.5. Selection of sample

The selection of sample was purposeful with the criteria listed below being taken into consideration.

�.2.�. Criteria of sample selection

The following people were invited to take part in the research: people with the highest positions in the company in the field of management, decision making on the new design development and implementation, people who have industrial accomplishments to their credit – supervised/coordinated the implementation of at least one new design to production in a given company.

�.2.7. Respondents

13 people employed on directorial position, including:

3 Managing Directors,

5 Development Managers,

9 heads of product development department,

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5 brand managers (heads of marketing department),

3 heads of construction departments participated in the research.

�.2.�. Characteristic of enterprises under research

The following companies were covered by the research:

small (10­49 employees),

medium (50­249 employees),

large (250 and more employees).

9 large, 12 medium and 9 small companies participated in the research.The interviews were conducted with the representatives of companies from the following 9 sectors:

domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computer and multimedia equipment, peripheral devices,

investment products,

means of transport,

furniture,

ceramics and glass,

new media,

clothing, fabrics, accessories, footwear,

lighting,

sports equipment.

In the sectors:

domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computer and multimedia equipment, peripheral devices – 5 interviews were realized;

clothing, fabrics, accessories, footwear – 4 interviews were realized,

investment products, means of transport, furniture, ceramics and glass, new media, lighting and sports equipment – 3 interviews in each sector.

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Sample distribution that takes into consideration the criterion of the company’s size and the industrial sector is presented in Table 3.

sector/company size small10-49

employees

medium50-249

employees

largemore than 250

employees

interviews/surveys

total

domestic appliances, audio/video devices, computers, multimedia equipment, peripheral devices

1 – multimedia equipment

1 – domestic appliances

1 – audio/video devices

1 – computer equipment

1 - domestic appliances

5

investment products 1 1 1 3

means of transport 1 1 1 3

furniture 1 1 1 3

ceramics and glass 1 1 1 3

new media- 1 2 – 3

clothing, fabrics, ac-cessories, footwear

1 1 2 4

lighting 1 1 1 3

sports equipment 1 1 1 3

interviews/surveys total 9 12 9 30

Table 3Companies’ sample distribution – industrial sector and size of the company

Enterprises from the following Polish regions took part in the research:

Mazowieckie – 12 interviews,

Łódzkie – 5 interviews ,

Śląskie – 4 interviews,

Wielkopolskie – 3 interviews,

Kujawsko­Pomorskie – 2 interviews,

Lubelskie – 1 interview,

Małopolskie – 1 interview,

Dolnośląskie – 1 interview,

Podkarpackie – 1 interview.

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�.2.�. Method of conducting interviews

Detailed individual interviews constituted the research technique in this project.All interviews were conducted according to schedule.The majority of interviews with people in the company responsible for the pro­cess of new product development were conducted in the form of direct interview­meeting. 6 interviews were conducted on the phone.

073

SLIM sofa design: Towarzystwo Projektowe

(Jerzy Porębski, Grzegorz Niwiński)manufacturer: NOTI

Exhibitions: Design PL, Colour Days

�.Results

of the quantitative research

Results of the quantitative research

074

The survey results discussed below tell us whether and how Polish companies make use of design, how they assess its role and prospects, and what difficulties they encounter. For the purposes of the analysis, in addition to other basic vari­ables, such as business sector, region and company’s size, we have constructed a “design leaders” variable, which enables a comparative presentation of results for the group of companies defined in this way and for the companies not clas­sified into this group.Design leaders are defined through the following features:

they have over 20 new products/designs launched over the last 3 years,

they have over 5 new products/designs launched over the last 12 months,

they consider design to be key or to play an important role in the company,

they have used new design in at least half of the products launched over the last 3 years.

The above group represents 45 out of the 301 companies surveyed, which equals to 15% of the overall amount.Note:Diagram numbers, which are referred to by the authors when discussing results, are shown in brackets. The figures presenting graphs with data from the survey have been placed in a separate annex – The Analysis of Application of Industrial Design in Polish Companies. Annex – Diagrams of Survey Results.

�.1.1. Use of design by the surveyed companies

Under current market conditions, more and more Polish companies realize the importance of design and its impact on both, the company image and on product sales. Of course, there are business sectors where design plays a greater role and sectors where it is of lesser importance. The main dividing line runs along the

“light industry – heavy industry” divide.However, being aware of the role of industrial design is one thing, but using it in practice is something else altogether. A lot of companies do not use design too intensively, or apply it using economical methods, believing that this is costly and there is a risk that an investment in design will not pay for itself. However,

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�. Results of the quantitative research

075

an increasing number of companies, who are fully aware of the risk, take it with the conviction that without it the company will stop developing, and its com­petitiveness in the market will become weaker and weaker. The areas where the companies make use of professional design are also expanding

�.1.2. Areas where design is used

The companies’ use of design is usually not limited to just the design of their own products (which is used by 67% companies). Over the last year, most of the surveyed companies have also used industrial design in projects related to communication and brand (59%), including multimedia (61%), as well as with interiors and exhibition activities (38%) (Diagram 1).As to the own products/designs, professional design has been used most often by companies from the “clothing/fabrics/footwear”, “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers”, “investment products”, as well as “ceramics and glass” sectors (Diagram 2).Large companies have used professional design more often than small or me­dium ones in all the areas analysed here, especially those related to multime­dia. With respect to product and industrial design, the size of the company is of less significance, when it comes to differences in the level of design utilisation (Diagram 3). However, companies in the “design leaders” group have used pro­fessional design in various areas of their activity much more often than other companies (Diagram 4).

�.1.3. Role of industrial design of in Polish companies

Though most surveyed companies recognize the role of industrial design as key or of significant importance (76%), yet almost every fifth company sees it as ei­ther limited or not important at all (Diagram 5). The key role of professional de­sign in developing new product designs has been pointed out more often by the companies from the “clothing/fabrics/footwear” and “ceramics and glass” sec­tors than by those from other sectors. A limited or unimportant role of design is mentioned most often by representatives of companies from the “means of trans­port” sector, as well, though less frequently, of companies from the “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers”, “investment products”, “furni­ture and interior furnishings” (Diagram 6) sectors. The growth in the company’s size is accompanied by a growing tendency to describe the role of industrial design as key. However in general, the differences are not large (Diagram 7).

“Design leaders” more often than other companies describe the role of profes­sional design as one of key importance in developing new designs of company

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products (38% compared to 11%). This follows from the definition of this category itself (Diagram 8).The surveyed representatives were also asked about the importance of industrial design in a more expanded way. They were to indicate a statement which best characterizes the role of design in their company. Most often, representatives of the surveyed companies admit that professional design is essential in develop­ing new designs within their own companies, but it is not the main element of the process. Over 1/5 of the companies’ representatives, claim that design is not something consistently used by the company – design is used there on occasion. At the same time, over 1/5 of them admit that industrial design is one of natural, strategic tools for company management (Diagram 9). The strategic importance of design is clearly perceived more often by representatives of companies classi­fied as “design leaders” in the survey (Diagram 10).Entrepreneurs are aware of the growing role of industrial design in Poland: 60% of the surveyed companies believe that its role is growing. The importance of a good, professionally developed design is appreciated more and more. Com­panies are increasingly aware that without investing in design, they will not achieve long­term success (Diagram 11). The clear growth in the importance of design within the company over the last years is mentioned especially often by representatives of companies from the “furniture and interior furnishings”,

“clothing/fabrics/footwear” and “ceramics and glass” sectors (Diagram 12). Simi-larly, the belief that the role of design is clearly growing is expressed more often by representatives of large companies than of small and medium companies (Diagram 13). Once again, the “team leaders” distinguish themselves in their claims, in light of other companies and are three times more likely to indicate a clear growth in the importance of design (Diagram 14).Most surveyed companies (65%) believe that in the next few years they will ex­perience growth in the use of design within the company. Every fifth surveyed company expressed a general conviction that the role of design will be visibly growing over the next few years (Diagram 15). Companies from the sectors where the importance of design has particularly, visibly increased over the last few years (clothing/footwear, ceramics and glass, furniture and interior furnish­ings) more often than other companies, expect a future visible increase in that role (Diagram 16). Also in this case, large companies are convinced more often than small and medium ones that the importance of design in their businesses will be growing in a visible way over the next few years. This can be a sign of poorer economic conditions and lower awareness of the importance of industrial design in small and medium companies in Poland (Diagram 17). “Design lead­

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ers” expect a visible growth in the importance of design in the coming years, three times more often than other companies (Diagram 18).

�.2. The number of new products/designs implemented into production and launched over the last 3 years

The surveyed companies vary strongly in regards to the number of new designs launched over the last 3 years. A large part of them have implemented only a few designs – 22% of the companies have launched no more than two new products over the last 3 years, and less than 10% of the companies have over 50 new designs to their credit (Diagram 19). Please take note that the survey has not covered the companies which have not launched any new product in that period, and the information passed by the persons carrying out the survey show such companies are not few or far between.The leaders, with respect to the number of new designs launched over the last 3 years include the “clothing/footwear”, “ceramics and glass” and “furniture and interior furnishings” sectors, which boast the greatest number of companies having over 50 new implementations (Diagram 20).The average number of designs launched over the last 3 years is 19. There is a strong internal differentiation with respect to this in each sector, which is shown by the large values of standard deviations (Table 4).

sector average number of new designs over 3 years

standard deviation

1 domestic appliances and audio/video de-vices, computers, multimedia equipment

8.8 15.5

2 investment products and finishing 7.6 7.8

3 means of transport 10.4 15.6

4 furniture and interior furnishings 21.9 36.6

5 ceramics and glass 19.5 28

6 clothing, fabrics, footwear 58.6 116.8

7 lighting 9.8 19.3

8 sports goods 11.2 12.3

Table 4Average number of new designs launched - by sector

25)

25) High value of the standard deviation means that the companies representing particular sectors are highly diversi­

fied in terms of the number of new designs introduced into the market within the last 3 years. The greater the standard

deviation is the greater differences occur among the companies of a given sector.

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Together with the growing size of companies, the percentage of companies hav­ing over 50 new implementations to their credit over the last 3 years is also growing. At the same time, large companies less often than small or medium ones, declare the minimum level of new implementations, which includes 1­2 new products. However, we should stress out that medium­sized companies are only slightly surpassed by large companies with respect to the average number of new designs (Diagram 21). Again, the standard deviations for individual aver­ages are large, which outlines the existence of strong differentiation within the analysed categories (Table 5).

company size average number of new de-signs over the last 3 years

standard deviation

1 10–49 employees 13.6 23.2

2 50–249 employees 21.7 59.6

3 250+ employees 23.3 58.5

Table 5Average number of designs launched – by company size

By definition, design leaders distinguish themselves clearly from other compa­nies. Half of them have launched more than 50 new designs over the last 3 years. They have on average 89.8 new designs to their credit, while the other surveyed companies – 7.1 designs (Diagram 22).The companies which consider the role of design as key for their business, have over the last 3 years, launched on average 4 times more new designs than other companies (54% compared to 13%). Similarly, companies which consider the com­petition in their sector to be very strong, have over the last 3 years, launched on ave­rage 2.5 times more new designs than other companies (33% compared to 13%).

�.3. The number of new products/designs implemented in production and launched over the last 12 months

Similarly as in case of the number of new designs launched over the last 3 years, which clearly differentiates the surveyed companies, as is in the number of new designs launched last year. A considerable part of companies have very modest achievements in that area. Every third surveyed company has launched only one

26)

26) High value of the standard deviation means that the companies representing particular size categories are highly

diversified in terms of the number of new designs introduced into the market within the last 3 years. The greater the

standard deviation is the greater differences occur among the companies in a given size category.

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new product within that period, and every tenth has not launched any products at all. On average, 6 new products have been launched over the last 12 months (Diagram 23). Similarly as in case of the number of designs launched over the last 3 years, the leaders are in the “clothing/fabrics/footwear”, “ceramics and glass” and “furniture and interior furnishings” sectors (Table 6 and Diagram 24).

sector average number of new designs over the

last 12 months

standard deviation

1 domestic appliances and audio/video de-vices, computers, multimedia equipment

3.4 7.1

2 investment products and finishing 2.4 2.4

3 means of transport 5.1 9.5

4 furniture and interior furnishings 8.2 14.3

5 ceramics and glass 8.8 15.3

6 clothing, fabrics, footwear 14.3 27.7

7 lighting 3.3 7.7

8 sports goods 4.2 6.3

Table �Average number of new designs over the last 12 months - by sector

Also, the achievements in the last year confirm the result that large companies have more new designs to their credit, than small and medium ones. However, medium­sized companies are only slightly outdistanced by the large companies (Table 7 and Diagram 25).

company size average number of new de-signs over the last 12 months

standard deviation

1 10-49 employees 5.1 10.4

2 50-249 employees 6.9 15.6

3 250+ employees 7.2 15.9

Table 7Average number of new designs over the last 12 months – by company size

As is in this case, the design leaders, by the definition of that category itself, visibly distinguish themselves in a positive way from the other companies. On

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average, they have produced 29.7 new designs during the last 12 months, com­pared to 2.9 designs for other companies (Diagram 26).Almost eight out of ten surveyed companies claim that they are in the progress of working on subsequent, new design/designs. Nevertheless, over 20% of com­panies do not carry out such work (Diagram 27). In most of the surveyed sectors, the frequencies of such claims look similar. However, they appear slightly less often in the “lighting” and “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, com­puters” sectors than in the other ones (Diagram 28).Large companies are more active in that area than small and medium­sized ones. Currently, such companies are in the progress of working on new design/designs (Diagram 29). Design leaders are not only characterized by a larger out­put with respect to the number of new designs/products launched over the last 3 years or 12 months, but also by actively working on new designs more often (Diagram 30).Surveyed companies are currently carrying out work on new designs equally often as they are planning to commence such work (on subsequent designs) in the nearest future. Only every fifth company fails to claim such plans for the coming 6 months (Diagram 31). The “lighting” and “clothing/fabrics/footwear” sectors claim such plans more frequently than in other sectors. It should be stressed that the latter sector also distinguishes itself positively with respect to the frequency of claiming that current work is being carried out on new designs (Diagram 32).Large companies are more active than small and medium ones with respect to planned works on new designs (Diagram 33). Design leaders also surpass the other companies in that respect (93% compared to 77%) (Diagram 34).

�.4. Self-assessment of company’s position with respect to the use of de-sign

Most surveyed companies are of the opinion that they follow the prevailing and changing trends in industrial design. Approximately one out of seven surveyed companies considers themselves design leaders, and only a few companies find it difficult to keep up with the prevailing design trends (Diagram 35). In their own assessment, companies from the sectors of “furniture and interior furnishings”,

“lighting” and “ceramics and glass” had a tendency to classify themselves among the leaders more often than others. A difficulty with following design trends is reported most often by companies from the “means of transport” sector (Diagram 36). The companies’ self­assessment concerning their position with respect to the use of industrial design does not vary in a significant way across small, me­

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dium and large companies (Diagram 37). Companies defined as design leaders for the purposes of the conducted analysis, assess themselves as leaders three times more often than other companies (Diagram 38).When comparing themselves to other companies from the same sector, as many as 84% of surveyed companies are of the opinion that they distinguish them­selves from them positively with respect to the use of design. Almost every fifth believes that it distinguishes itself clearly favourably, and only a few tend to admit that others are better than them, and that they themselves are lagging behind (Diagram 39). The conviction of their own domination particularly of­ten characterizes companies from the “furniture and interior furnishings” and

“ceramics and glass” sectors (Diagram 40). Large companies are more likely to admit that they distinguish themselves favourably with respect to the use of industrial design, than the small and medium ones. Without a doubt, this is as­sociated with the fact that they possess larger funds, which they can allocate to design (Diagram 41). Design leaders express their conviction that they distin­guish themselves decidedly favourably from other companies in the same sector 3.5 times more often than other companies (Diagram 42).

�.5. Principles and terms of industrial design management in companies

Atmosphere in the company related to design

Companies from the surveyed sectors are aware of the importance of industrial design in relation to the market position of the company. This translates to the fact that for most of them, there is a climate, which is favourable to design (77%). Only a few of them (7%) signal a lack of an appropriate, stimulating climate (Diagram 43). A positive attitude to design is mentioned most often by represent­atives of the “ceramics and glass” sector, as well as of the “clothing/fabrics/foot­wear” sector, where no responses indicated the existence of any unfavourable climate (Diagram 44). There are no visible differences between small, medium and large companies with respect to the frequency of declaring a climate very fa­vourable to design, while a generally favourable climate characterizes more often large rather than small or medium companies. A climate, which is unfavourable for design, occurs slightly more often in small companies (Diagram 45). The De­sign leaders are 3 times more likely to claim that their companies posses a very positive culture in regards to design, than the other companies (Diagram 46).

Position of industrial design in the organizational structure of the company

Just over half of the surveyed companies possess a department or position dedi­cated to industrial design, and a little under half of them employ their own

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designer. Regular cooperation with an external designer is claimed by every seventh of the surveyed the companies, and occasional cooperation – by every third. The representative of every twelfth surveyed company admits that in fact their company does not make use of industrial design. These are most often companies that prepare new designs based on observing the market or receive ready­made designs from foreign or external partners (Diagram 47). The exist­ence of a department or position dedicated to industrial design, most often char­acterizes companies from the “ceramics and glass”, “clothing/footwear” and

“furniture and interior furnishings” sectors. Such departments/positions can be found least often in companies from the “means of transport” sector, as well as from “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers “lighting” and

“sports goods” sectors (Diagram 48). Companies from the “ceramics and glass” sector are also in the lead when it comes to employing their own designer. They are among the leaders as well with respect to the frequency of regular use of ex­ternal designers’ services, and are only slightly outdistanced in that respect by the companies from the “investment products” sector. Most claims on not using industrial design appear in the “means of transport” sector, which is the only one to deviate in a statistically significant way from the “furniture and interior furnishings” sector, characterised by the least number of such responses.The larger the company, the higher the probability that it possesses a department or a position dedicated to industrial design and that it employs its own designer. Large companies are also 2.5 times more likely to make constant or regular use of external designers’ services, than small and medium ones (Diagram 49).Design leaders are companies which clearly more often than others: possess de­partments/positions dedicated to industrial design, employ their own designer, make constant or regular use of external designers’ services, as well as to occa­sionally employ external designers, depending on their needs (Diagram 50).Almost half of the companies, which claimed the existence of departments/posi­tions dedicated to industrial design, did not employ more than two people in/at them. Over a quarter of such companies employ 5 or more people at positions dedicated to industrial design (Diagram 51). As we could expect, the number of staff employed at positions dedicated to industrial design is clearly related to the size of companies. In small companies, there are most often (76%) one or two people employed at such positions. In medium­sized companies, this varies across the companies. There is a rather large part of companies (43%), which similarly to small companies employ no more than two people at those type of positions, but equally frequently (41%) we encounter companies, which employ more than four people. Of course, large companies are leaders in employing

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a larger number of staff at positions related to industrial design. Without a doubt, this is associated with the more frequent presence of whole departments dealing with matters of design in such companies (Diagram 52). In general, design leaders dedicate more positions to industrial design than other companies (Diagram 53).

Strategy of using industrial design in work over new product designs

Different companies use industrial design in different ways and also manage it in different ways, according to their needs, preferences, as well as capabili­ties. Over the last 3 years, only one in every ten of the surveyed companies uses new industrial design exclusively, when working on new product designs. Most companies have modified existing designs to a smaller or greater extent. There is also a small group of companies (3%), which have exclusively modified al­ready existing designs (Diagram 54). The leading sectors, which have used new industrial design exclusively most frequently, are: “ceramics and glass”, “cloth­ing/fabrics/footwear”, “investment products”, as well as “furniture and interior furnishings”. The “means of transport” sector is one of the companies where the existing designs are in most cases modified exclusively (Diagram 55).There is a small tendency indicating that it is small and medium size companies that use solely new design more often than the large ones (Diagram 56). How­ever, the observed differences are small and insignificant statistically, and their verification would require survey based on a larger scale. At the same time, over the last 3 years only the small and medium sized companies have solely modi­fied existing designs. Generally, large companies use new industrial design more intensively – they claim more often than small and medium companies that for the most part, they use new designs either exclusively (41% compared to 34% and 29%, respectively).Design leaders decidedly deviate in a positive way from other companies with respect to the “intensity” of using new industrial design when working on new product designs. Obviously, this is related to the way we have defined this cate-gory. However, we should stress out, that over the last 3 years, design leaders have used new designs 4 times as often when working solely on new product designs (Diagram 57).

�.�. Assessment of the role of industrial design in the company’s sector

Most companies that wish to maintain or strengthen their market position are aware of the importance of industrial design. The competition forces the com­panies to follow the constantly changing consumer tastes and trends. Of course, the situation looks somewhat different in different sectors. There are sectors

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where changes in industrial design are imposed on faster and such where the product designs remain “current” for longer. Most of the surveyed companies are of the opinion that the role of industrial design in their sector is significant, and 3/4 of them claim that role as an important or even a key one (Diagram 58). The conviction of the key role of industrial design in their sector is expressed most clearly by companies from the “ceramics and glass”, “furniture and interior furnishings” and “clothing/fabrics/footwear” sectors. A limited or insignificant role of design most often appears in the opinions expressed by companies from the “sports goods”, “investment products” and “means of transport” sectors. The occurrence of “sports goods” here is surprising and can only be explained by the specific companies surveyed from this sector (Diagram 59). The companies de­fined as design leaders are much more likely than others to underline the role of industrial design as key in this industry – there are no mentions of the insignifi­cance in regards to the role of industrial design at all among them (Diagram 60).Representatives of the surveyed companies have been asked to evaluate possible changes in the role of industrial design in their sector over the last few years. Most of the surveyed companies (65%) are convinced of the growth in the impor­tance of industrial design. Only very few of them (2%) mention a decrease in that importance (Diagram 61). A clear increase in the importance of design in the sector is mentioned especially often by companies from the sectors of “furniture and interior furnishings”, “ceramics and glass” and “clothing/fabrics/footwear” (Diagram 62). Companies from the design leaders’ category, express a belief in a visible increase in the role of design in the sector over the last years, much more often than other companies (53% compared to 24%) (Diagram 63).Representatives of the companies have also been asked to assess the forecasted future role of design in their sector. Over 2/3 of the surveyed companies think that the role of design in their sector will be growing over the next few years, with about a 1/4 of them estimating that the growth will be considerable (Dia­gram 64). Similarly as in the case of assessing the change in the role of industrial design over the last few years, so is in case of the changes expected over the next few years, the companies from the “clothing/fabrics/footwear”, “furniture and interior furnishings” and “ceramics and glass” sectors distinguish themselves in light of others. It is their representatives who most often expect a clear increase in the importance of industrial design (Diagram 65). And again, in comparison with other companies, design leaders are decidedly more likely to expect a visi­ble growth in the role of industrial design in their sector (Diagram 66).

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�.7. The impact of industrial design on company’s development and ef-fectiveness of the business. Assessment of the added value of design

Only a few companies (6%) hold a common belief that it does not pay to invest in industrial design. Most representatives of the surveyed companies (86%) are of the opinion that this is a profitable investment, and 1/3 of them think that it is de­cidedly profitable (Diagram 67). A decisive belief that it pays to invest in design is particularly frequent in sectors like: “clothing, fabrics, footwear”, “furniture and interior furnishings” and “ceramics and glass” (Diagram 68). Hence, these are also the exact the sectors, which make intensive use of industrial design, generally recognise the important role of industrial design and are aware of the increase in this role. Additionally, we also have the companies representing the “investment products” sector here. Though that sector is lagging behind the others with respect to making use of industrial design, a significant part of its representatives realize that investing in design pays off. The most doubts about the profitability of investing in industrial design are expressed by representa­tives of the “sports goods” and “means of transport” sectors. An especially sur­prising fact is questioning of that profitability by the first of the above-mentioned sectors. As we have already mentioned, this can follow from the fact of including specific companies representing that branch in the survey, as well as from the very strong competition from the world leaders and cheap Asian goods, due to which even the companies investing in industrial design find it difficult to ope-rate in the Polish market. The companies belonging to the category of design leaders are twice more often convinced than other companies that it decidedly pays to invest in industrial design (Diagram 69).When assessing the impact of industrial design on various areas of their acti­vity, the surveyed companies most often perceive its significant importance to consumer satisfaction (43%), and secondly – to the company’s image (36%), its competitiveness (34%) and profit growth (32%). The responses relatively least often confirmed the fact that the industrial design used translates to increased employment in the company (14%) (Diagram 70).

Below we discuss in detail the results showing the impact of industrial design on the individual areas of companies’ activity.

Impact of industrial design on the company’ export

Every fifth of the surveyed companies perceives clear benefits associated with the fact that the design used over the last 12 months translates into companies’ export (Diagram 71). Companies from the “ceramics and glass” sector, mention

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a significant impact of industrial design on their export, more often than com­panies representing other sectors. The impact of design used on the export vol­ume is perceived least often by companies from the “means of transport” and

“domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers” sectors (Diagram 72). In large companies, the use of industrial design has translated in a significant way to the volume of export over the last 12 months, twice as often than in the small and medium sized companies (Diagram 73). Companies specified as de­sign leaders in the survey confirm the fact of a significant translation of the design used to the company’s’ export, over three times more often than other companies (Diagram 74).

Impact of industrial design on the company’ image

90% of surveyed companies expressed the opinion that over the last 12 months, the industrial design they have used has influenced the company’s image, while 1/3 respondents perceived this influence as considerable (Diagram 75). A clear impact of industrial design on the company’s image is particularly often noticed by companies from the “ceramics and glass” sector (Diagram 76). The compa­nies most convinced of a small or nonexistent impact of design on the company’s image are those from the “means of transport” and “clothing, fabrics, footwear” sectors. The result obtained for the “clothing, fabrics, footwear” sector is some­what surprising. It might be that, to a greater extent than elsewhere, these are companies either possess an established image or do not possess a clear cut image. The conviction of the impact of the industrial design used on the compa­ny’s image looks similarly in companies of different sizes (Diagram 77). Design leaders are twice more likely to express an opinion of a considerable impact of design on the company’s image, than other companies (Diagram 78).

Impact of industrial design on consumer satisfaction

The surveyed companies notice a clear connection between their use of indus­trial design and the level of consumer satisfaction. This fact is mentioned by almost all of the surveyed companies (Diagram 79). The companies which par­ticularly often mention a significant impact of industrial design on consumer satisfaction over the last 12 months are those from the “sports goods”, “clothing, fabrics, footwear” and “furniture and interior furnishings” sectors (Diagram 80). Representatives of small companies are much more likely to notice a clear, posi­tive impact that their use of design has on consumer satisfaction, than repre­sentatives of medium and large companies. On the other hand, large companies are relatively less likely to notice a visible impact of their design on customer

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satisfaction than others (Diagram 81). Design leaders are convinced of a large impact of the design they use on consumer satisfaction over the last 12 months, more often than other companies (Diagram 82).

Impact of industrial design on profit growth

Every third of the surveyed companies is convinced that the design it has used over the last 12 months, has to a large extent contributed to an increase in their profits (Diagram 83). In most of the surveyed sectors, the conviction of a clear connection between the design used and profit growth looks similarly. A weak or null translation of design into company’s profits is mentioned by representatives of companies from the “means of transport”, “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers” and “investment products” sectors more often than by others (Diagram 84). The conviction of the impact of the design used on the growth in the company’s profit companies looks similarly in companies of dif­ferent sizes (Diagram 85), while design leaders are much more likely to notice a clear impact of the design used on the growth in the company’s profit, than other companies (Diagram 86).

Impact of industrial design on development of new markets

Almost 30% surveyed companies express the belief that the industrial design they have used over the last 12 months has clearly contributed to the develop­ment of new markets (Diagram 87). This belief prevails particularly often among companies from the “investment products”, “furniture and interior furnishings”,

“lighting” and “ceramics and glass” sectors (Diagram 88). Absence of impact or low impact of the industrial design used on development of new markets is most often declared by companies from the “means of transport” sector. The belief in the impact of the industrial design used on development of new markets looks similarly in companies of different sizes (Diagram 89), while design leaders are convinced that they owe the development of new markets to a large extent to the use of industrial design, twice more often than other companies (Diagram 90).

Impact of industrial design on market share growth

Over a quarter of the surveyed companies express the belief that the industrial design they have used over the last 12 months has clearly contributed to an increase in their market share (Diagram 91). The sectors where over the last 12 months the industrial design has most often clearly contributed to an increase in the company’s market share are “furniture and interior furnishings” and “cloth­ing, fabrics, footwear” (Diagram 92). The belief in a positive impact of the in­dustrial design used on an increase in the market share does not depend on the

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company’s size (Diagram 93), while design leaders confirm a clear impact of the industrial design used on the increase in their market share, more the twice as often than other companies (Diagram 94).

Impact of industrial design on the company’s competitiveness

Every third of the surveyed companies express the belief that in their case, de­sign has had a significant impact on the company’s competitiveness (Diagram 95). The conviction of a significant impact of design on increasing the com­pany’s competitiveness is claimed particularly more often by companies from the “clothing, fabrics, footwear” and “furniture and interior furnishings” sec­tors (Diagram 96). Medium­sized companies slightly more often than small and large companies mention a significant impact of design on the company’s com­petitiveness (Diagram 97), similarly as design leaders compared to other com­panies (Diagram 98).

Impact of industrial design on employment growth

Among the analysed factors, employment growth is least often associated with the use of industrial design in the surveyed companies. However, just a little bit under one fifth of the surveyed companies cannot see a connection between them at all (Diagram 99). Companies from the “clothing, fabrics, footwear” sec­tor are slightly more likely to notice the existence of such a connection during the last 12 months, than others. The absence of any impact of design on employ­ment growth is most often mentioned by companies from the “means of trans­port” sector (Diagram 100). The belief in the impact of the use of design on em­ployment growth looks similarly in companies of different sizes (Diagram 101), while design leaders confirm a significant the impact in the use of design on employment growth, slightly more often than other companies (Diagram 102).

Impact of industrial design on turnover growth

Every fourth surveyed company is of the opinion that in their case, industrial design contributes in a significant way to turnover growth (Diagram 103). Such a belief is similarly often expressed by companies representing all the surveyed sectors. However, we would like to note that companies from the “means of transport” sector report a weak or nonexistent connection between these ele­ments, more often than others (Diagram 104). Small and medium companies notice a significant connection between the design used and increase in the company’s turnover, more often than large companies (Diagram 105), similarly as design leaders (Diagram 106).

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Impact of industrial design on general development of the company

Over 1/4 companies admit that in their case, industrial design has had a large impact on the general development of the company during the last 12 months. Just 1% of the surveyed companies deny the existence of any connection be­tween their use of design and the company’s development (Diagram 107). Com­panies from the “furniture and interior furnishings” sector notice a significant connection between the design used and the general development of the com­pany, more often than others (Diagram 108). The belief that the impact of the use of design on the general development of the company does not depend on the company’s size (Diagram 109), while design leaders are twice more likely to notice a clear connection between the use of industrial design and the general development of the company, than other companies (Diagram 110).

Good industrial design versus other factors influencing sales of compa-ny’s products

Product sales are influenced by diverse factors, associated with both, the pro-duct itself and with a broader economic context. The surveyed persons, when given a list of seven factors influencing the sales of the company’s products to choose from, mention good industrial design as the third most important fac­tor, just after good quality and attractive pricing of the products (Diagram 111). Companies from the “furniture and interior furnishings”, “ceramics and glass”,

“clothing, fabrics, footwear” sectors are much more likely to classify good design among the most important factors having impact on the sales of their products, than companies from other sectors (Diagram 112). Good industrial design as a substantial factor influencing the sales of products is least often mentioned by companies from the “means of transport” and “investment products” sec­tors (Diagram 113). Among small and medium sized companies, we are able to observe a tendency to indicate good design as one of the most essential factors influencing the sales of products more often than when compared with large companies (Diagram 114). Design leaders express the belief that the sales of their products are influenced first of all by good quality and good design, more often than other companies. Other companies stress the role of an attractive price of their products more often (Diagram 115).

The role of industrial design in determining the company’s economic suc-cess compared to other factors

The respondents have evaluated the importance of several selected factors re­lated to company management in determining economic success of the company,

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evaluated factors average value on the 1-7 scale standard deviation

1 finance management 5.95 1.11

2 research and development (R&D) 5.09 1.51

3 human resources management 5.51 1.24

4 industrial design 5.39 1.36

5 efficient management 6.01 1.06

6 internal communication 5.74 1.15

7 sales and marketing 6.13 1.09

Table �Importance of internal factors influencing economic success of the company

on a 1 to 7 scale. “Sales and marketing” have been ranked first (of key impor­tance – 46% responses; average score – 6.1), followed by “efficient management” (38% and 6.0, respectively) and “finance management” (38% and 6.0) (Diagram 116 and Table 8). The role of industrial design is less appreciated by the compa­nies, though considered important – 20% of the surveyed companies indicated design as a key factor influencing economic success of the company.

Added value of industrial design

During the survey, representatives of the surveyed companies were asked to es­timate on average, by what percentage the use of a good product design, which meets the needs of the market, increases the product value/price in their sector. Every fourth of the surveyed companies estimated that a good design increases the product’s value by over 25% (Diagram 117). The added value of design is especially clear in the “furniture and interior furnishings” and “ceramics and glass” sectors, where 26% and 20% of the surveyed, respectively, said that good design increases the product’s value by over 40%. At the same time, a significant percentage of the companies (17%) could not evaluate the impact of design on the product’s value, which is a proofs an absence of credible, objective measures which would allow the companies to determine the added value of industrial design. The added value of design is estimated at the lowest level in sectors like

“investment products”, “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, comput­ers” and “means of transport”, where a prevailing number of companies show an

27)

27) In analysis “1”meant “is of no importance to economic success of the companies” and “7” meant “is of key im­

portance”.

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increase in the product’s value due to the use of good design not exceeding 10% (Diagram 118). On the other hand, design leaders evaluate the added value of design decidedly higher than other companies. They believe almost three times more often that good design increases the product’s value by even more than 40% (Diagram 119).

Variables used in the analysis

Questions representing indicators in the use of industrial design:P7. Over the last 12 months, has your company used professional design in the following areas of its activity?

Communication and brand (information brochures, packaging, graphics, sta­tionary, logo).

Industrial product and design.

Interiors and exhibition activity (purchase point design, arrangement of of­fice/production premises, lighting, exhibition stands).

D. Multimedia (website, animations, multimedia presentations).P74. And what was the company’s expenditure on industrial design in 2006?P75. If you cannot quote the exact expenditure of the company on industrial design, could you please tell us in the range it was included in?Questions representing indicators of company development and size:P66. What was the company’s turnover in 2006?P67. If you cannot quote the exact turnover of the company, could you please tell us what range it was included in?M9. How many people are employed by your company (on either full­time or part­time basis)?

Initial operations on variables

Before the commencement of the analysis, it was necessary to prepare the above variables in order to introduce them into models, which examine the dependen­cies between industrial design and company development. The variable describ­ing expenditure on industrial design (P74) was supplemented by the information from the variable P75. The persons, who have not supplied the exact amount spent on industrial design but only an interval containing that amount, were assigned values representing the middle of the intervals they indicated. In this way, the variable determining the amount spent on design was supplemented. Despite applying the above operation, 151 companies still remained, where the expenditure on industrial design was impossible to determine. A similar trans­formation was carried out in the case of the company’s turnover. The variable

A.

B.

C.

D.

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determining the level of turnover (P66) was supplemented by the information from variable P67. Also here, the middle points of the intervals indicated by the respondents were used. In this case, the researchers did not manage to deter­mine the turnover level in 135 companies. Further analyses were only carried out based on the companies, for which the researchers managed to determine the values of the above variables.

Description of the applied analysis

Linear regression analysis and variance analysis were used, to analyse the re­sults of the survey.Regression analysis aims at building a linear equation between a series of in­dependent variables and a dependent variable. During the construction of the equation, the coefficients corresponding to each independent variable are de­fined in a way which allows for predicting values of the dependent variable in the most exact way possible. Thanks to this method, we can determine how much the values of the dependent variable will change depending on the changes in the individual independent variables. In regression analysis, it is assumed that the variables should at least be at the interval level of measurement.Variance analysis is a method whereby we can determine if a given series of in­dependent variables (measured on the nominal measurement level) are connec­ted in a significant way with the dependent variable. More exactly, it allows us to answer the question if the differences between the average levels of the depen­dent variable on various levels of the independent variable can be recognised as significant on the level of the population represented by the drawn sample.Regression analysis was used to build a model of the dependence between the amount of expenditure on industrial design (independent variable) and the level of the company’s turnover (dependent variable). It was assumed that the more the company spends on design, the higher turnover it should achieve. Since the dependence between the company’s turnover and expenditure on design may be influenced by the company’s size itself, an additional control variable represent­ing the number of employees was introduced. Thanks to this, the researchers were able to check how industrial design would relate to the company’s turnover, assuming that all companies have the same number of employees; i.e. that in ge­neral all companies are of a similar size. Such a possibility was achieved by intro­ducing an additional independent variable “employment level” into the model.A series of variance analysis were conducted in order to check whether the use of industrial design in the individual areas of the company’s activity (communica­tion and brand, product and industrial design, interiors and exhibition activity,

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multimedia) is related to the level of the company’s turnover. The independent variables adopted in the analysis were incorporated into the design in the in­dividual activity areas, while the independent variable was represented by the company’s turnover level. Additionally, like in the analysis described above, the employment level was controlled. Thanks to the use of this method, it was pos­sible to verify the hypothesis saying that companies using industrial design in a given area achieve a higher turnover.Based on a simple regression model, we can confirm that the answer to the ques­tion, “Is expenditure on industrial design related to the company’s turnover?” is positive – increase in expenditure on industrial design by PLN 1 results in the increase in turnover by PLN 17.67. However, this model did not take into consideration the size of the company, while both the expenditure in industrial design and the company’s turnover to a large extent depends on the company’s size. After introducing a variable related to the employment level into the model, the independent impact of expenditure on design on the company’s size de­creased and lost statistical significance. Such impact might exist – but we cannot prove it based on the data from a limited number of cases, which we had at our disposal in this survey.Variance analysis was also used to check whether the use or absence of use of professional design in 4 selected activity areas of the company is connected in some way with the company’s turnover. This dependence was again controlled with respect to the employment level. Based on the results obtained, we can say that while the use of professional design in the “product and industrial design” and “interiors and exhibition activity” areas shows a relation to the company’s turnover, we cannot observe such a dependence in case of the use of design in the “communication and brand” and “multimedia” areas.We should clearly stress here, that the presented results would need to be veri­fied in a survey carried out on a larger scale, using precise, hard variables (which is difficult to achieve in the situation where as a rule, Polish companies refuse to answer questions about economic ratios). To carry out valuable analysis, we would need data from a representative sample numbering at least 300 entities.In the survey, the respondents were also asked if the role of industrial design in the company had increased or decreased over the last years, and if the com­pany’s turnover had increased or decreased over the last years. The conducted analysis show existence of a connection between the variables: wherever the role of industrial design grows, the company’s turnover also grows. The employ­ment level does not change this dependency.

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The analysis discussed here were carried out on the data found by the resear­chers – the main goal of the analysis was to prove that the use of industrial design influences (is a reason of) a better culture or development of companies. However, causative dependencies are difficult to prove without using experi­mental research for that purpose. The data on which the analysis was carried out allows us to establish a dependency between the use of industrial design and the company’s turnover. Yet we do not know whether the use of design results in an increase of the turnover, or maybe conversely – larger companies have more funds for investments in design. The observed relationships may also have their cause in a third variable, not controlled in the survey. In order to achieve a higher certainty of conclusions, employment level was controlled, thanks to which the relation between the variables we were interested in could be separat­ed from the company’s size. However, we cannot conclusively establish whether other essential factors, which also influence the use of design and the company’s turnover, had not been omitted.

�.�. Methods of acquiring product designs (sources on information about designers, the way of acquiring offers, position of the designer in the organization)

In general, we can say that Polish companies develop new product designs on their own. They acquire new product designs most often through an in­house de­velopment of a design based on observing the competition in the domestic or fore­ign market (Diagram 120). Trade fairs and exhibitions are an important source of information, which allows the company to develop a design of their own, as well as the information published in the press and in the trade publications. Every fourth surveyed company acquires product designs from foreign partners. Less than one fifth of companies order new product designs from professional designers. Polish companies buy licences even less often: this way of acquiring product designs is employed by just every tenth of the surveyed companies. Of course, this depends on the sector specifics – not all the sectors manufacture products for which a licence is granted. The services of professional designers were most often used over the last 3 years by companies from the “investment products” and “ceramics and glass” sectors. Such services were relatively least often used by companies from the “lighting” sector, though that sector seems to be one where professional designers have a lot to offer (Diagram 121).It can be noticed that large companies use the services of professional designers, more often than small or medium ones. Without a doubt, this is associated with the fact that they can afford to employ such a designer more often. Large com­

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panies also acquire new designs from foreign partners more often. It seems that small and medium companies are often afraid of the risks involved in employing a professional designer, whose services they can see as expensive and not giving a 100% guarantee of cost­effectiveness (Diagram 122). Interestingly, companies from the design leaders group use the services of professional designers equally often as other companies, but more often than the latter, also use other varied ways of acquiring designs (Diagram 123).The high costs are the main reason why the companies do not use the services of their own or external designers. This barrier is indicated by four out of ten com­panies not using designer services. Every third of the surveyed companies is convinced that its products do not require special design, and hence they do not have to make use of specialist design services. Every third of the surveyed com­panies expresses the belief that such services are unnecessary, because they themselves know how to develop a new product design (Diagram 124).When deciding to use external, professional services, companies as a rule un­dertake cooperation with a specific designer. They decidedly less often decide for cooperation with a design studio, or, for the purposes of economy, with stu­dents of design (Diagram 125). As a rule, companies place a direct order, when undertaking cooperation with external designers. The instances when they un­dertake cooperation, which is based on a closed or open competition is rare (Diagram 126).Companies which use the services of external designers in most cases expect their cooperation on each stage of works on a new product. Nevertheless, a con­siderable part of companies expect the designer to only deliver the external form of the design itself (Diagram 127). In general, in the surveyed companies mak­ing use of the services of external designers, their knowledge of methods for developing a product with a high market potential is evaluated rather positively, though only every fourth of these companies evaluates that knowledge very high (Diagram 128).Most of the companies taking advantage of the services of external designers are convinced that during work on the design the responsibilities are always, or as a rule, clearly defined in relation to each of the parties (the company and the designer). Nevertheless, every tenth of the companies admitted that in reality things can look different (Diagram 129).At the moment of starting cooperation on a new design, most often the parties agree jointly what the designer’s duties will include and what he/she will be responsible for. It happens less often that the company unilaterally imposes on the designer the scope of his/her duties and responsibilities. However, there also

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situations, though decidedly less frequent ones, where it is the designer who determines the terms of cooperation (Diagram 130).It seems that misunderstandings between the designers and representatives of the company at various stages of work on a new design are not rare. This is open­ly confirmed by over 1/3 companies cooperating with external designers. The absence of any misunderstandings is only mentioned by a little les than 1/10 of the companies (Diagram 131). Most of the companies (89%), which confirm the occurrence of misunderstandings with designers, claim that in a conflict situa­tion the parties work out a compromise. Others say that as a rule the company’s arguments are accepted.Disputes and misunderstandings between representatives of the company and an external designer most often concern the main idea of the design and various design conceptions, finances, or result from the insufficient familiarity of the designer with the technology used by the company (Diagram 132).The main and most frequently used source of information by the company, on the designers working for the sector is the Internet (Diagram 133), which only slightly outdistances the trade press. It is less often the case that companies, when looking for information on designers, consult professional publications or refer to such a proven source of information as references from friends. Less than every tenth of the companies cooperating with external designers look for information about designers in the Institute of Industrial Design (Instytut Wzor­nictwa Przemysłowego) publications.

�.�. Determining motivations and barriers for acquisition, implementa-tion and launching of new product designs

�.�.1. Motivations for launching of new designs/design products by the company

When launching new designs/design products, companies expect first of all to acquire a new group of customers (61%). The second most essential motivation for such actions is the desire to form an innovative and modern image of the company (43%). We should stress that motivations connected with the desire to obtain a higher price for the product were indicated least often (27%) (Diagram 134). Acquisition of a new group of customers is an especially strong motivation for companies from the “ceramics and glass”, “means of transport” and “sports goods” sectors, while being perceived as an innovative and modern company is particularly important for companies from the “investment products”, “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers” and “means of transport” sector. The fact that the main motivations for launching new designs/design products

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include simply development of the company is mentioned by representatives of the “investment products” and “furniture and interior furnishings” sector more often than by others (Diagram 135). Development of the company is especially important for large companies, which in turn less often than smaller companies indicate the desire to acquire a new group of customers, or to shape the image of the company as a customer­friendly one. Large companies also more often than small and medium­sized companies want to gain a competitive advantage over other companies. In turn, small companies somewhat more often than medium­­sized and large ones want to distinguish themselves from the competition by launching new design products (Diagram 136).

“Design leaders” do not differ clearly from other companies with respect to the motivations for launching new design products. We can only notice that in their case the desire to acquire a new group of customers is stressed less often, and the desire to gain a competitive importance – more often (Diagram 137).

�.�.2. Barriers to acquisition of new design solutions

Representatives of the surveyed companies were asked to list the main barriers to acquisition of new design solutions. This was an open question, which the respondents could answer freely, without being limited to selecting one of the proposed answers. Over 1/4 of the surveyed representatives could not indicate any barriers, and every tenth of them directly mentioned the absence of barriers. This can be interpreted as a positive result – every third company surveyed does not notice clear barriers hampering their access to new designs. Of course, this is also due to the fact that part of the companies are not making much effort to look for new designs. The other surveyed representatives listed a whole variety of factors hampering acquisition of new design solutions. As could have been expected, the most essential reason is decidedly the lack of available funds. De­velopment of new designs costs and not all the companies can afford to develop new designs frequently. This is especially a problem for small companies, which more often than medium­sized and large ones stress the importance of just that barrier (45% compared to 32% and 37%, respectively). Other obstacles were men­tioned decidedly less often. Somewhat more numerous indications concerned technological and production barriers, lack of adequately educated personnel with appropriate technological expertise, decreasing consumer market, strong competition, legal regulations and bureaucratic requirements. Only a few com­panies indicated lack of professional design companies or appropriately creative designers (3%) (Diagram 138).

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�.�.3. Barriers in implementing and launching new design solutions

Similarly as in case of the barriers related to acquisition of new design solutions, also in case of the barriers related to implementation of new design solutions rep­resentatives of the surveyed companies gave free, open answers. Once more, the basic barrier noted by the companies is the lack of funds for financing designs. The companies often cannot afford implementation of new design solutions. This barrier is indicated by almost every third company surveyed, whereby it is men­tioned more often by representatives of small companies rather than of medium­­sized and large companies (35% compared to 29% and 23%, respectively). Opin­ions mentioning the obstacle in the form of lack of guarantee that the design will be a success, also because of poor marketing, distribution, market demand, as well as high market requirements connected with strong competition, appear much less often. Part of the companies say that they lack the appropriate staff, machinery, equipment and technology. Other obstacles include external factors, such a deficiencies of materials, including raw materials, or unreliable coope-ration partners. There are isolated opinions mentioning bureaucracy and legal regulations hampering implementation and marketing of new designs, as well as the risk related to the inadequate protection of product designs, and their fast copying by the competition. Over 1/3 surveyed companies cannot indicate any barriers to implementation of new design solutions, or simply say that there are no such barriers (Diagram 139).

�.10. Organization of the process of new product implementation and launching (the way of organizing the process, existence of procedures, the way of verifying the product’s potential and minimizing the market risk, the difficulties perceived)

Just a little over 1/3 surveyed companies possess a separate unit responsible for development of new products (Diagram 140). More often than in the companies from other sectors, such units can be found in the “ceramics and glass”, “in­vestment products” and “means of transport” sectors. Possession of a separate organizational unit responsible for product development is least often declared by companies from the “lighting” and “clothing, fabrics, footwear” sectors (Dia­gram 141). The larger the company, the bigger the probability that it possesses a separate organizational unit dealing with new products. Small companies possess this type of unit twice less often than medium­sized ones and three times less often than large companies (Diagram 142). Companies from the “de­sign leaders” group do not distinguish themselves in an essential way from other

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companies in that respect, though we can observe a tendency indicating their slight advantage in that matter (Diagram 143).In the surveyed companies, the unit responsible for the development of new products is most often the marketing department, and slightly less often the new product department. Another type of organizational units, including such as the strategy department, construction office, design department, are more rarely responsible for the development of new products (Diagram 144). Only a small part of the companies possess organizational units employing a lot of people. More than every third company has a unit with employment limited to maxi­mum 2 people. Six out of ten companies employ no more than 4 people in such a unit. On the one hand, this is probably connected with the various needs of the individual companies, and on the other hand – with their different financial possibilities (Diagram 145).A factor of essential importance for efficient organization of the implementation process for a new product is whether there are proven implementation proce­dures in place in the company. Companies which (according to their declara­tions) have procedures for new product implementation in place prevail. How­ever, four companies out of ten do not have such procedures (Diagram 146). Companies representing different sectors do not differ clearly with respect to the frequency of their use of implementation procedures. We can only observe that the functioning of such procedures is a bit less often declared by companies from the “sports goods” sector than by other ones, and a bit more often by companies from the “ceramics and glass” sector (Diagram 147). A factor differentiating the companies with respect to the probability of possessing implementation proce­dures is the company’s size. Large companies clearly more often than small and medium­sized companies say that they possess special implementation proce­dures (Diagram 148). Also membership in the design leaders groups facilitates possession of such procedures. Companies which launch a lot of new products, and in general make use of completely new industrial design when doing this, distinguish themselves clearly favourably from other companies (Diagram 149).A decisive majority of the companies which possess proven implementation pro­cedures for new products distinguish and document in writing all major stages of work on a new design, from developing the design assumptions through the implementation of the new design. The last stage is documented most often (Diagram 150). However, there are also companies which do not document the individual stages of work on a new design. We should add here that companies which have not declared having proven implementation procedures decidedly less often document in writing the individual stages of work on a new product

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design. In this way they certainly contribute to the troubles which appear later (such that e.g. problems with reproducing the actions and procedures if a correc­tion or modification of the design becomes necessary later).An important element of the implementation process are clearly defined crite­ria for evaluating the new design. Though most surveyed companies specify the design evaluation criteria when establishing the design assumptions, a con­siderable part of companies do not specify such criteria in advance. This can lead to disputes with the designer, and can also make the whole implementa­tion process more difficult (Diagram 151). The sector which most often confirms the functioning of clearly specified design evaluation criteria is “lighting”. In turn, their functioning is least often mentioned by representatives of the com­panies from the “furniture and interior furnishings” and “domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers” sectors (Diagram 152). The growing size of companies is accompanied by a growing probability that establishment of the design assumptions involves establishment of the design evaluation criteria as well (Diagram 153). Design leaders slightly more often than other companies declare that they specify the design evaluation criteria at the stage of establish­ing the design assumptions. This can be a proof of their more serious approach to new designs (Diagram 154).The general importance assigned by companies to new designs is shown by the fact that in the majority of companies the decisions on selecting a new design are made either by the top management, or collectively, by representatives of dif­ferent departments of the company (Diagram 155). In small companies, a clearly dominant model is that of decisions made by the top management or by the com­pany’s owner. Though this model is also the most frequent one in large compa­nies, yet in such companies the decisions on selecting a new design have a more collective character clearly more often than in small and medium­sized ones, and are made by the representatives of various departments (Diagram 156).

�.10.1. Ways of verifying the product’s potential and minimizing the mar-ket risk

One of the most important barriers encountered by companies planning to launch a new product is the uncertainty of its market success. The more deve­lopment and implementation of a new design cost, the greater the risk and the company’s fears. Hence it is extremely important for the companies to under­take actions which allow to minimize that risk. The most common of them (used by almost half the companies), as well as an inexpensive one, is observation of the domestic market. We can think that such a method is to a larger or smaller

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extent applied by all companies. The second most frequent one is calculation of financial profitability (36%), and the third – research into customer preferences (29%). Relatively popular actions include also acquisition of information from sales representatives or distributors, prototype testing, watching the behaviour of the main competitors, acquisition of information at trade fairs or observing the events in foreign markets. Only every tenth company is trying to eliminate the risk connected with a newly introduced product first of all by a precise speci­fication of the aims and criteria for design evaluation (Diagram 157).Research into consumers’ needs and preferences is one of the major tools aimed at ensuring the market success of new products. However, the representative of every fifth company surveyed spontaneously admits that his-her company does not research the consumers’ preferences during work on a new product. Compa­nies which research the consumers’ preferences most often do it before commen­cing development of the assumptions for the new design. At other stages of new product development, research is carried out much less often (Diagram 158).When indicating the three main sources of the company’s knowledge of consu­mers’ needs, the surveyed representatives list most often observations of the market (68%), and following that the information acquired from sales representa­tives (43%), and obtained at the trade fairs and exhibitions (42%). Four out of ten surveyed companies mentioned as one of the main sources of their knowledge of consumers the company’s own expertise. Only 13% companies declared that their basic knowledge of consumers and their needs comes from the conducted research. More often it is the case that such knowledge is taken from internal surveys carried out among the company’s employees (Diagram 159). Hence we can see that companies choose direct methods of reaching the consumers and learning their needs, which can lead to wrong conclusions and result in launch­ing a “wrong” product. Only a negligible part of companies which declare car­rying out consumer research make use of the services of professional research companies (4%). Most of the companies carry out consumer research on their own (Diagram 160).None of the surveyed sectors does not distinguish itself in a substantially posi­tive way with respect to making use of the services of professional research companies when carrying out consumer research. In some sectors, none of the companies has declared the use of such services, while in others only a few percents of companies has made such declarations. Since the use of the services of professional research companies is a rare phenomenon, and the sector repre­sentation is not too numerous, one can hardly speak of statistically significant

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differences. However, research carried out on a large sample might be able to spot the sectors leading in that respect (Diagram 161).When it comes to the frequency of using the services of research companies, large companies have only a slight advantage over small and medium­sized ones (Diagram 162). Also the “design leaders” position does not imply a more frequent use of consumer research services provided by professional research companies (Diagram 163).Part of the companies do not make use of consumer or marketing research servi­ces for financial reasons, part of them either do not see such a need or do not trust such research. Sometimes it can also happen that companies are unable to translate the results of marketing research to specific actions, for the aforemen­tioned results are either ambiguous or difficult to interpret for them. Companies which have no decisive opinion as to the usefulness of the data coming from marketing research dominate (Diagram 164). Every fourth surveyed company thinks that as a rule the results of marketing research are difficult to interpret, and decisions made on their basis are risky. Only every third among all the surveyed companies is of the opinion that as a rule the results of marketing research provide clear data, which allow for making a decision on launching a new product.Almost all (91%) companies which make use of professional research agencies’ services when carrying out marketing research have a positive opinion on their usefulness and clarity. Companies which conduct such research on their own are clearly more reserved in their opinions – only according to 30% of them the results of marketing research as a rule provide clear data which allow for making a decision on launching a new product (this may follow from the lack of adequate knowledge and competences for carrying out such research and interpreting its results).

9.10.2. Difficulties encountered by a company during work on new pro­ducts

Only 4% among all the surveyed companies either state that they do not encoun­ter any difficulties during works on new products or cannot specifically indicate such difficulties (Diagram 165). The basic difficulties follow from insufficient or wrongly executed works on the initial stage of design development. Most of­ten the difficulties during the work on a new product reported by companies amount to the necessity of introducing corrections in the product design, and – which is related to the former – an insufficiently precise specification of the assumptions at the beginning of the project. These factors are pointed out by

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the total of 64% respondents. In addition, close to 1/5 respondents report dif­ficulties connected with imprecise description of all the elements of the design, and the same number of them mention difficulties following from the designer’s failure to take into consideration the capabilities and limitations of the selected technology. Every fourth company surveyed lists among the basic difficulties the failure to keep the schedule and exceeding the planned time for preparation of the product design. Hence we can say that the basic difficulties follow from insufficient preparation of the companies to the implementation process already from its very beginning.The result of errors made by companies at the different stages of the implemen­tation process are designs which have failed to find their final embodiment through a market launch. The occurrence of such a phenomenon over the last 3 years is confirmed by almost every third company surveyed (Diagram 166). These cases are mentioned more often by companies from the “clothing, fabrics, footwear”, “furniture and interior furnishings”, “ceramics and glass”, “sports goods” as well as “lighting”, sectors, and more rarely by companies from the

“domestic appliances and audio/video devices, computers”, “means of transport” and “investment products” sectors (Diagram 167). Failures of works on a new product design have happened equally often to small, medium­sized and large companies (Diagram 168). Failed product designs happened twice more often to companies having a lot of new designs to their credit than to those that have implemented fewer such designs (Diagram 169). This confirms to some extent the importance assigned by design leaders to the issues of new product design: undaunted by failures, they implement subsequent designs.Half the companies which have experienced failed product designs over the last 3 years say that this has concerned maximally 2 designs, but as many as 13% com­panies have suffered more than 10 failures. These are as a rule companies which have launched a lot of new designs over that time (half of them are companies which have launched over 50 of them), and hence the risk of some of them failing has been greater than in case of “less productive” companies (Diagram 170).The reason for the failure of a new design has most often been its divergence from the consumers’ needs. Almost every third company having bad experience with new product designs says that the last failed design has been unable to raise the customer’s interest, has been inappropriate (which includes being too luxurious or too modern). This result again confirms the importance of research into consumers’ preferences during the development of a new product. In many sectors, a failed product design cost many times more than carrying out market­ing research. Other more important reasons for design failure include lack of

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acceptance by the orderer, excessive production costs, excessive final price of the product, too high production or distribution costs, as well as various types of technological limitations (Diagram 171).In the responders’ opinion, the effectiveness of work on a new product design is most often decreased by the necessity to introduce diverse modifications, either in order to define more precisely the design aims (23%), or due to additional data ap­pearing in the course of work on the design (22%). Other, more rarely mentioned factor which decreases the effectiveness of work on a product design is its diver­gence with technological, budget or market assumptions. Some of the surveyed representatives indicated also the company’s organizational structure as a factor decreasing the effectiveness of work on a new product design (Diagram 172).

9.11. Methods of intellectual property protection – use and efficiency as-sessment

Please make a note that 3/4 of the companies included in the research emphasized the role of design when preparing company’s new projects as key or significant. Therefore it may seem strange that less than half of the companies use own design protection methods (Diagram 173). Especially companies from industries such as:

“clothing, fabrics, footwear”, “household appliances and audio/video devices/com­puters” are not very thrifty in this respect (Diagram 174). This can result from the fact that design in these sectors is very diverse and even when protecting a design it is difficult to prevent it from being copied and to track such cases. Many prod­ucts in these sectors have a “short lifespan” and are quickly outrivaled by new designs, which could also not be favourable to their protection.There is a tendency to use means of protection alongside the expansion of the company as the expansion for own designs also increases. Large companies use intellectual property protection methods nearly twice as often as small compa­nies and one and a half times as often as medium­sized companies (Diagram 175). It can also be noticed that in reference to own products, the methods of pro­tection of intellectual property are more often used by companies with long­term presence on the market than by companies with shorter presence (22% of com­panies present on the market less than 10 years and 68% of companies present on the market for over 30 years). It is somewhat surprising that the leaders in the area of design are no different than the remaining companies with respect to the tendency to protect their own designs (44% of them claim use of some intel­lectual property protection methods).With reference to products of enterprises included in the research, trademark registration is the most popular (56%) method of intellectual property protec­

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tion, whereas utility model protection is the second most popular method (46%) (Diagram 176). The group, which applies protection methods used by enterprises and specified as “Other” (2%), the respondents mentioned such solutions as: cer­tificates, civil law agreements or documentation confidentiality.Only every fourth company that applies some methods of intellectual property protection considers themselves to be fully efficient. Every fifth company believes that the used methods are not very efficient (Diagram 177). Company’s failure to apply the intellectual property protection methods and their not always proper efficiency result in the fact that more than every third respondent out of all com­panies included in the research confirms the fact that their design/designs was copied by the competition (Diagram 178). Such experiences are more frequent among companies in the following lines of business: “furniture and interior fur­nishings”, “investment products” and “lighting” (Diagram 179). It is worth em­phasizing that these are sectors, which usually apply some methods of protection to their own designs. Perhaps it is that companies/sectors, which are not so eager to protect their designs, are also not often consumed by tracking the cases of their copying (for instance companies from the sector: “clothing, fabrics, shoes”).It is difficult to asses the problems associated with ethics or breaking the law in a quantitative research. Especially that it is worth mentioning that 11% of the respondents admitted to intentional or unintentional copying of design of others (Diagram 180). Surely not all companies that did it, admitted thereto. This im­plies that in Poland the attitude towards intellectual property is still rather uncon­strained. On one hand the companies do not protect their designs very rigorously and on the other hand they appropriate designs of others quite often. Companies from the following sectors: “lighting”, “furniture and interior furnishings” and

“clothing, fabrics and footwear” admit to copying designs of others somewhat more often than other companies. Two first sectors most often signal copying of their designs by others (Diagram 181). The size of the company does not have an im­pact on the “tendency” to copy the designs of others (Diagram 182). Intentional or unintentional copying of the designs of others was a bit more common among the leaders in the area of design than among other companies (Diagram 183).

�.12. Financial data of enterprises included in the research (200� turno-ver, 200� expenditures for industrial design, share of expenditures for design in R&D costs)

One of the objectives of the research was to obtain financial data from enter­prises, including data referring to turnover, expenditures for research and de­velopment, expenditures for design. Unfortunately this objective turned out to

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be quite difficult to achieve. Many companies refused to provide their finan­cial data. When answering at all, the respondents were more willing to provide answers with reference to value ranges rather than absolute values, which in consequence made it impossible to calculate the average values or precise indi­cators. Representatives of enterprises included in the research were also more willing to answer the questions concerning the dynamics of financial indicators rather than questions concerning the indicators as such. In consequence the financial data presented below refers to approximately half of the enterprises included in the research.

Turnover of the company

In 2006 turnover of every sixth company included in the research did not exceed 500 thousand PLN, and of every fourth company did not exceed 1 million PLN. Nearly every third company generated turnover within the range of 1­5 million PLN. The same number of companies generated turnover, which exceeded 10 million PLN (Diagram 184). It is rather obvious that small companies have lower turnover than medium­sized and large companies. They declare a turnover in the lowest range of up to 500 thousand PLN more often than these companies and less often generate income in the top range, which exceeds 10 million PLN. Large companies clearly generate turnover of over 10 million PLN, more often than small and medium­sized companies . Such turnover is declared by more than 2/3 of large companies, of which 1/4 declare turnover of over PLN 50 mil­lion (Diagram 185.). The design leaders are included in every category of turno­ver subject to the research, however they most often generate turnover of more than 5 million PLN (62% in comparison with 43%) (Diagram 186).Most companies included in the research (nearly 2/3) claim that in their turnover grew in course of the recent 3. Only some mention a drop in turnover (Diagram 187). The following, include sectors, in which increase of turnover was most com­mon: “furniture and interior furnishings” and “investment products.” Smallest turnover dynamics can be observed in the sector of “lighting” (Diagram 188). Large and medium­sized companies have shown an increased of turnover in the recent 3 years, when compared to the smaller companies. Small companies generated a more stable turnover, when compared with large and medium­sized companies (Diagram 189). Leaders in the area of design, thus companies that are distinctive with respect to new products, which were introduced to the mar­ket within the 3 years and the in recent 12 months, have claimed an increase of turnover in the past 3 years, more often than when compared with the remaining companies (Diagram 190).

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Companies, which in the past 3 years recorded an increase in turnover:

also claim that within that period, the expenditures for design increased 3.5 times as much as when compared with the remaining companies (57% in comparison with 16%),

consider the role of industrial design to be a key factor in developing new designs, up to 1.7 as often than when compared with other companies (20% in comparison with 12%).

Expenditures for research and development

Polish companies do not allocate extensive resources on research and develop­ment. In 2006 every fifth company allocated no more than 10 thousand PLN for this purpose, slightly over half of the companies spent no more than 50 thousand PLN. Only 8% of companies claimed extensive expenditures for this purpose, which exceeded 500 thousand PLN (Diagram 191). Alongside company expan­sion, the percentage of companies, which allocated relatively small resources that do not exceed 10 thousand PLN (Diagram 192)? Such expenditures are incurred by nearly every third small company, and only by every tenth large company. None of the small companies claimed expenditures exceeding 500 thousand PLN. Such claims were made by every tenth medium­sized company. Among the large companies every fourth one claimed to have exceeded this amount. Leaders in the area of design more often than other companies spend amounts, which exceeded 100 thousand PLN for research and development; they limit their expenditures to the amount of 10 thousand PLN less often (Diagram 193).Nearly half of the companies included in the research, increased their expendi­tures for research and development over the past 3 years. In case of half of the companies the expenditures remained on a stable level. Only a small part of companies recorded a decrease of expenditures allocated to this purpose during this period (Diagram 194). The sector, which least often claimed the increase of expenditures for research and development, is the “household appliances/audio/video devices and computers.” The sector “furniture and interior furnishings” can be distinguished positively on this background (Diagram 195). Even thought the differences in results for different sized companies are not too considerable, still it is possible to observe a trend, that alongside the increase of the size of the company, the probability of increase of expenditures for research and develop­ment in the recent years also increases (Diagram 196). The leaders in the area of design claim an increase of expenditures for research and development over the period of the recent 3 years, more often than other companies (Diagram 197).

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Expenditures for industrial design

Similarly as the expenditures for research and development, also the expendi­tures of Polish companies for industrial design can hardly be considered high. More than every third company in the year 2006 allocated not more than 10 thou­sand PLN for this purpose, nearly 2/3 of companies spent no more than 50 thou­sand PLN. Extensive expenditures for this purpose, exceeding PLN 500 thou­sand were claimed by only 6% of the companies (Diagram 198). Small companies differ more clearly in this respect from medium­sized and large companies. In 2006 nearly half of them spent no more than 10 thousand PLN for industrial de­sign (Diagram 199). Share of such expenditures in the group of medium­sized and large companies is clearly lower, even though similar among the medium­ ­sized and large companies. Claims concerning high expenditures for industrial design, exceeding 1 million PLN, appeared only among large companies. In comparison with other companies the leaders in the area of design nearly twice less often declare having spent less than 10 thousand PLN for industrial design. Nonetheless, this refers to 20% of companies in this category (Diagram 200).Dynamics of expenditures for design in the period of the past 3 years was similar to the dynamics of expenditures for research and development. The companies includ­ed in the research are more willing to declare stability in this area rather than in the area of industrial design (Diagram 201). Taking into consideration the sectors in­cluded in the research one can notice that the dynamics of expenditures for design is smaller in the sector “sports goods” and “means of transport” (Diagram 202).Increase of expenditures for design, even though poorly, still correlates with the size of the company. The larger the company the higher the probability that in the past 3 years the company recorded increase of expenditures for industrial design (Diagram 203). Leaders in the area of design clearly more often than other companies declare an increase of expenditures for industrial design in the part 3 years (Diagram 204).

Companies, which in the past 3 years recorded increase of expenditures for de­sign:

talk nearly 2 times more often about an increase of turnover in the recent 3 years, than the remaining companies (85% in comparison with 45%),

say 3 times more often that also the export dynamics grew over the past 3 years, the remaining companies (78% in comparison with 26%)28),

28) Data for exporting companies.

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are convinced 2.4 times more often than other companies that design is some­thing worth investing in (58% in comparison with 24%).

Percentage of expenditures for design in total expenditures of the com-pany and expenditures for research and development

Expenditures for design usually constitute only a small percentage of total ex­penditures of the company. More than half of the companies identify this share as not more than 4%. Nonetheless there are also companies (more or less every eighth company), in case of which expenditures for design exceed 20% of total expenditures (Diagram 205). Less than half of the companies included in the re­search (49%), includes expenditures for development of new design products in the R&D costs, the ones that do so were also asked for the percentage of expen­ditures for research and development in the development of new products. The answers indicated that design does not constitute a dominant component in the expenditures that the companies allocate for research and development. More than 2/3 of companies that include expenditures for design in expenditures for research and development declare that their share does not constitute more than 10% (Diagram 206).

�.13. Leaders in the area of design

As a reminder – a group of leaders in the area of design was distinguished in course of the research (this group constitutes 15% of the sample group). Taking a closer look at this group allows for a characterisation of companies, which suc­cessfully use industrial design.Leaders in the area of design are most common in sectors such as “clothing, fabrics, shoes”, “ceramics and glass” and “furniture and interior furnishings” (Diagram 207). Therefore it is possible to say that these sectors are the ones that are leading in the area of use of design.Leaders in the area of design usually include large and medium­sized compa­nies (Diagram 208). Affiliation to this group decreases by two-fold in the prob­ability that the company does not export its goods, whereas it increases the odds that export constitutes more than 50% of company’s turnover (Diagram 209).Leaders in the area of design over the past 3 years clearly more often than the remaining companies recorded an increase of: export (Diagram 210), turno­ver (Diagram 211), expenditures for research and development (Diagram 212) and expenditures for industrial design (nearly twice as often as the remaining companies) (Diagram 213), but also more often than the remaining companies

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regularly or permanently employ an external designer (Diagram 214) or in­house designer (Diagram 215) to work on new designs.

�.14. Postulates formulated in relation to the administration (for instance the Ministry of Economy) and in relation to the Institute of Industrial Design

The research indicated that nearly half of the respondents do not understand the role, that the administration could play in order to facilitate introduction of new design projects to the market (Diagram 216), which probably results from lack of knowledge about support programmes and instruments available in other countries. The respondents submit to the administration postulates concerning mainly different types of subsidies, grants and aid programmes for implementa­tion of design, as well as legal changes consisting in verification of regulations and standards that are often not adjusted to the present­day realities, in order to facilitate the implementation of assumed objectives to enterprises.Among the other most frequently mentioned proposals in relation to the admin­istration refer to:

organizing and financing trade fairs, competitions, catalogue publishing and general promotion of Polish companies on the international forum, especially enterprises or entire innovative sectors, following the example of Korea, Ja­pan or Scandinavian countries,

lowering costs of conducting business, including taxes, certification and costs of intellectual property protection,

protection of Polish enterprises against import, especially the one of Asian origin,

control and elimination of grey zone,

allocation of more resources for research and scientific and technological de­velopment, which shall generate advantages to the enterprises.

Representatives of Polish enterprises are interested in operation of institution such as the Institute of Industrial Design that professionally supports the de­velopment of design in enterprises in the area of promotion, research, analyses, consultancy and education.

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�.15. Summary

Polish entrepreneurs are more likely to appreciate the significance of design. 60% of the enterprises subject to the research are talking about the increase in the role of design within the company in the recent years and most respondents (65%) are convinced that in the coming years, there will be a further increase in the role of design. Only in some enterprises there is a belief that design is not worth investing in. Most representatives of companies subject to the research (86%) believe that the investment is profitable.Research results unambiguously prove that design is worth investing in. Com­panies, in which the expenditures for design increased over the past 3 years:

in the recent 3 years, speak about the increase of turnover almost 2 times as often as the other companies (85% in comparison with 45%),

3 times more often than the remaining companies they say that the export dynamics have also grown over the past 3 years (78% in comparison with 26%)29),

2.4 times more often than other companies are convinced that design is worth investing in (58% in comparison with 24%).

It is worth noting that companies that consider the role of design to be key to its business over the part 3 years introduced on average 4 times more new designs than the remaining companies (54% in comparison with 13%) and consider the competitiveness of their products on the domestic market to be very good, nearly 3 times more often (29% in comparison with 11%).When evaluating the impact of design on different areas of its business, the com­panies included in the research most often perceive its significance to customer satisfaction, followed by to the image of the company, competitiveness of the company and increase of profits. Approximately 1/3 of the companies included in the research have a positive opinion on the indicators of company’s condition in the last 12 months:

competitiveness of the company (34%),

increase in profits (32%),

development of new markets (28%),

increase in market share (27%),

29) Data for exporting companies.

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increase in turnover (25%),

general development of the company (27%).

Every fourth company subject to the research is convinced that a good design increases the value of the product by more than 25%.Even though the role of design is appreciated by Polish enterprises, nevertheless the designs they use clearly differ from the designs operating in developed west­ern countries. Only less than every fifth company ordered new designs from pro­fessional designers in the part 3 years. Every third company included in the re­search is convinced that its products do not require special design, and hence do not need to use a specialist design services. Large companies used such services more often than small or medium­sized companies. The main reason why compa­nies do not use services of designers consists of high costs of such services.Financing also constitutes a basic obstacle when acquiring new design solu­tions, followed by the implementation of new designs and introducing them to the market. Neatly every third company included in the research mentioned this as an obstacle. This obstacle is especially severe for small companies. Nonethe­less companies also encounter other obstacles. What stands in the way is among others, is a no guarantee of success of the project, as well as extensive require­ments of the market associated with severe competition.Among the methods for minimizing market risk used by the companies; the most popular is observing the domestic market, calculating the financial prof­itability, examining the preferences of customers, acquiring information from sales representatives and distributors, observing what the main competitors do, acquiring information about industry trade fairs and observing the trends on the foreign markets. Only small number of companies conducts consumer research, using the services of professional research companies. It is worth noting that many companies included in the research are convinced that interpretation of marketing results is difficult and decisions made on the basis thereof are risky. However, practically all companies using professional marking research have positive opinion on the usefulness and clarity of the results of such research.Basic difficulties which companies encounter when working on new designs re­sult from insufficient of improperly conducted works on the initial stage of design preparation. In consequence of errors made by companies at different stages of the development process are designs which were not finalized by their introduc­tion to the market. Occurrence of such phenomenon over the part 3 years is con­firmed by every third company included in the research. The reason behind the failure of a new project is usually its departing from the needs of the consumers.

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Nearly every third company which had bad experiences with new designs says that the last unsuccessful project did not meet the interest of customers.Even though most companies subject to the research emphasize the key or im­portant role of design when developing new designs of the company, still only less than half of the companies use any methods of protection of own resources. Most common method of protecting intellectual property is done by a registra­tion of the trademark, and the second most common – by protection of the utility morel. Efficiency of applied methods of protection of intellectual property is not considered to be very good. It is reflected in the fact that more than every third company included in the research confirms the fact that their design/designs were copied by the competition. It is also worth emphasizing that 11% of the com­panies included in the research admitted to intentional or unintentional copying of the design of others. This percentage is surely higher and proves the uncon­cerned attitude to intellectual property which can be still observed in Poland.

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SA, SB, SBW line of wall-mounted rangehoodsdesign: Łukasz Schmidt, Tomasz Gazdowicz

manufacturer: CIARKO Sp. z o.o.Good Design 2006

10.Results

of the qualitative research

Results of the qualitative research

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10.1. Introduction

The report has an analytical nature, which implies that the data contained therein are the outcome of analysis of information collected in course of interviews. In or­der to familiarize the research participants with understanding of individual prob­lems, the conclusions were supported by statements made by the respondents.Terms used throughout the report are explained below. However, it should be emphasized that most of them does not function in the natural language of the respondents and were suggested by Ipsos:

Design – this term was not present in spontaneous statements made by the respondents. They rather used the term “design project” within the meaning of giving the product external useful and aesthetic features. The word “de­sign” appeared in an assisted manner, as a result of its use in the interview guideline and in questions of the moderator.

Innovations – we are using this term as superior in relation to design, as­suming that design is one of the elements of innovation development in en­terprises. In the spontaneous language of the respondents the term “innova­tions” appeared sporadically. Conclusions in the report regarding product, marketing or process innovations result from the analysis of statements of the respondents, who did not speak about such innovations out. Therefore in chapter 2.2. we conclude that the knowledge on design is poorly structured among the research participants.

Product – in the language of the respondents it is understood in its funda­mental meaning, as an offer of the company (everything that a company can offer to its buyers, which satisfies their specific needs). In this context design is a part of the product.

Selling and cross-selling – when talking about “selling” the respondents had in mind sale of enterprise’s products. “Cross-selling” is understood as a stra-tegy of selling subsequent products to the customers on the basis of their pre­vious purchases (for instance buying an entire series of kitchen equipment, instead of a its single element).

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10.2. Summary and conclusions

A favourable attitude towards the issue of industrial design development and the conviction regarding its importance can be observed among the en­terprises included in the research. Increase of product sales is considered to be the basic role of design, followed by increase in equity, improvement of the image, which in result gives the possibility to control the product price policy and its competitiveness on the market.

The belief that the Polish design has an increasingly better quality and vi-sual presentation, even though it is still distances from the foreign tycoons is quite common. Most enterprises perceive themselves as competitive on the Polish market (they try to create trends – especially large companies). Some of these companies also try to mark their presence on foreign markets, which is already far more difficult. It creates an area for creative support and promo­tion of the Polish design (Polish brands) on the European Union market (and not only) by the public institutions.

Product and marketing innovations are dominant trend among the enter­prises, and less often – process innovations. Sectors dominant with respect of design development, are the ones that operate on the market which requires frequent changes and progress in the area of design.

The emerging obstacles in relation to design innovativeness in enterprises result from several main reasons:

financial obstacles (insufficient resources for implementation),

market­related uncertainty (is there a permanent demand for the product),

limitations in the area of technology and human resources,

legislative obstacles (extensive number of standards and legal regulations connected with introduction of a new product).

In the area of design management the companies use mainly own, indepen­dently developed procedure schemes, instead of a general knowledge in the area of innovations management. A common proves for management of a new project emerges out of the diversity of sectors and specifics of operation of individual companies:

from preparation of project concept,

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through verification of initial assumptions (internally and outside the com­pany) and budget estimate,

all the way until the decision (usually decision of the Management Board) on the approval and implementation of a new project.

Intellectual property protection is used mainly among larger companies. It usu­ally consists in registration of a trademark or a utility model, in the sector of in­vestment products it can additionally be reservation of technological solutions.

most entrepreneurs have a favourable attitude in relation of protection of in­tellectual property of an enterprise, however measures undertaken by the companies in relation to application of intellectual property protection meth­ods result from a specific need of the company and the situation on the market it operates on,

scepticism connected with effectiveness of model protection is visible among some entrepreneurs. It results from the awareness of globalization and fast copying of models, extensive legal processes, lack of faith in settlements advantageous for small companies. Therefore it is worth strengthening the message concerning the advantages deriving from protection of intellectual property and increase the availability of these procedures mainly to small and medium­sized enterprises.

10.3. Attitudes towards innovation in the area of industrial design

General conclusions

Research participants unanimously recognize the importance of development of industrial design and the advantages thereof. However the power of this con­viction differs depending on the sector and market on which the company ope­rates.Polish design is perceived as less competitive than the European (and global) one, however it is continuously developing. Mainly large companies consider themselves to be innovative and competitive (also abroad). Smaller companies feel as followers rather than creators in the area of design. Regardless of the position, which the company takes with respect to quality and level of design, nearly all enterprises actively promote their goods, in order to successfully reach the end customer.

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10.3.1. The role of industrial design and attitudes towards it

All representatives of enterprises subject to the research declare positive at-titude towards the need to develop design and perceive its important role in efficient operation of their company.They consider the fundamental role of design to be:

Increase of sales – important for all companies, however slightly more em­phasized by smaller companies that are strongly dependent on the liquid­ity of sales and profit. They are forced to eliminate the risk of failure to the maximum – we have to survive on the market, this is the basis of out success. At the same time the ides is to improve cross­selling, increase attractiveness of the entire series/collection, in order to convince the customer to buy it, for instance household appliances, and not only a single item.

The desire to stand out on the market among the competition – important for the companies (mainly leaders in a given sector) operating on a highly com­petitive market, with a rather high position with respect to profits, which have a recognizable brand.

The objective is to obtain a basic advantage with respect to attractiveness of the product, in its design. Already in case of the first visual contact of the customer with the product – the product is supposed to stand out among other goods in the same category (it is supposed to catch fancy, to be noticeable).

Developing company/brand image – perceived as particularly important by stabilized companies, which have a recognizable brand and/or high sales. Whereas enterprises which have smaller human resources and less developed organizational structures, are more focused on maintaining sales, they do not put great emphasis on developing own brand.

Developing company/brand image enables:

easy visual identification of the company (the customer is supposed to recog-nize us),

create separate brands of products (ability to reach different groups of recipi­ents),

improve the competitiveness of the company (increasing the value of trade brands),

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develop a general image of the company as innovative, expanding (new mod-el is a basis of expansion).

Meet the requirements of end customers, who want to have an influence and appreciate the possibility to impact the shaping of the final good (especially in sectors offering customization of the products to individual needs of the consumer, which implies the customer’s ability to influence the final shape of the product).

Adjust to general changes on different markets, for instance the trend of pro­duction of products made of ecological components and their later use (easy to recycle the product or the packaging).

Selected quotes from statements made by the respondents:

To put it simply: it is supposed to sell, it is supposed to be pretty, have a good price, the customers should like it and it should sell well and for a long time, it comes down to this, whatever else you may say, still the most important thing is to simply sell the product (...). We are looking at such project through the sales aspect, whether this will sell, that is the fundamental question, who will buy it and for what price (large company, sector: sports equipment).

The opinion is mainly based on my questions, observations and what kind of opinion is expressed by the customers. What they like and what they dislike, what would they change, what they consider to be functional and what is not so functional. Perhaps they would see it differently, or maybe this should be smaller, bigger, and maybe they would do it in a different way (small company, sector: investment products).

The success consists in implementation of the assumed sales target, this is ab-solutely the only objective measure of success. Because one should understand it in a way that if implemented sales is assumed, this implies that we produced a product, which the customer expected (large company, sector: lighting).

Markets are very dynamic nowadays and they expect changes, something new, and therefore we have to think and give something new to the customer, to the market, to satisfy the customer. It is important that the customer is willing to buy the product, to convince him to like this product, to make him notice our product (medium­sized company, sector: means of transport).

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Design is an element of a strategy. It’s tool that can make our company identifi-able, to make it have its own image, it is a very important component and tool for creating new image of the company (large company, sector: lighting).

We need design to sell the product (large company, sector: household appli­ances).

This is also showing that we can afford more, that we can make new products, that our company is expanding. Showing new things also encourages to visit our stores, to use our products (small company, sector: ceramics and glass).

We only want to sell more and to be competitive, because everybody knows that the competition never sleeps, they come up with new model, nicer-look-ing, and we are also trying to be competitive (large company, sector: means of transport).

For us the most important objective is to make our product beat the competition and for it to be noticeable and to sell. Because the competition is fierce (sector: investment products).

However, intensification of positive attitudes is diverse and depends on the following factors:

Nature of the industry in which the enterprise operates – the idea is the mean­ing of aesthetic or functional values in products. Aesthetics is key for clothing, ceramics (need to follow rapidly changing trends). In case of sectors such as for instance some means of transport, sports equipment, investment products (machines and equipment) or technical/sports clothing, design in the mean­ing of aesthetics of appearance according to the respondents has a secondary significance in relation to functionality, which mainly determines the attrac­tiveness of the target product of the customer. In case of numerous brands there is a balance between attractiveness and functionality of the product (for instance production of furniture – the product is supposed to meet both the aesthetic and functional requirements).

Shortening of lifecycle of products – the shorter the lifespan the more impor­tant it is to develop subsequent/new industrial designs. This factor is par­ticularly important to industries where there is an emphasis on product aes­thetics (for instance clothing, lighting, domestic appliances/audio and video devices).

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Importance of trends and dynamics of changes in the product offer of com­panies – the greater the dynamics of changes the greater the involvement in development of new designs (for instance relatively low in case of investment products, and high in the following sectors: ceramics, fabrics, new media).

The size of a company and its position on the Polish market and possibly on the foreign market – the stronger the position of the company, the role of the leader in a given category, the larger the segment of the market the company takes, the greater its involvement in design. This result from the willingness to strengthen a privileged position and – in case of presence on global mar­kets – from strong pressure of competitive foreign companies.

Diversity and division of the market between competitors – the more competi­tors the greater the role of design (necessity to stand out on the background of the competition).

Type of main recipient (individual or business) – the greater the role of the individual recipient the greater the pressure on the role of design aesthetics (“the customers must like the product”). Business customer puts a slightly dif­ferent emphasis on the issue of aesthetics. According to the respondents such customer cares more about functionality and price than about attractiveness of product’s appearance.

In principle: the greater the demand of the market for innovations or diversi­fication and modification of products, the greater the importance attributed to design and the more favourable the attitude of enterprise’s employees in relation thereto.If there is no justification of introduction of changes in the product – a given product line is being continued (for instance in case of sports, transport equip­ment). This mainly refers to products that sell well, which are (temporarily) re­sistant to fluctuations on the market or have a circle of loyal customers.

Selected quotes from statements made by the respondents:

Lifespan of such product is becoming slightly shorter and this is the cause why designers will have good and long life in this country, this refers to both furni-ture and other designers (large company).

We observe trends, which shall be in force in the years to come. On this basis we are trying to create a design of a new product (sector: household appli­ances).

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In general a product must meet the expectations of the customer, it must comply with what the customer requires it to be, because if our product has batteries with electrolyte pouring out of them then the customer will not buy such product, or it will break when driving and something will fall off (large company, sector: means of transport).

SWOT analysis of research results prepared by experts from the Institute of Industrial Design

Strengths

Perception among the companies of design as an important element in im­provement of competitiveness or products and diversification of the offer (cor­responding with the needs of different target groups).

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Design fitting the strategy of companies (refers to some -> large companies operating on more competitive markets).

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Perception of design as an element that positively influences the development of a company brand (as a modern and expanding company) and in conse­quence – on increase of its value.

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Weaknesses

In many companies design is still perceived only as an aesthetic element and placed as opposed to the functionality of the product.

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Emphasis on the functionality elements in companies operating in the B2B area.>

Treating by companies (especially small and medium­sized enterprises) de­signing as a cost – rather than an investment.

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Opportunities

Thanks to entering design into strategies of companies, system changes could occur in there companies and have a positive impact of overall organization of the development process of a new product.

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Improvement of the ability of Polish companies to compete (thanks to devel­opment of design) on foreign markets.

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Needs/expectations of the market forcing change in companies, which leads to development of increasingly more competitive goods (and hence increase of the significance of design and development of products) and a wider offer for the consumer.

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Threats

Bringing design down to a purely aesthetic element, which leads to failure to get a designer involved into the entire product development process and results in lack of fully innovative solutions.

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“Design stagnation” in smaller companies and in sectors with smaller inten­sification of competition, which in a longer perspective could lead to these companies “falling out” of the market (especially in case of emergence new players with a more competitive offer).

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Giving up on expansion of design due to the fear of getting copied fast by the competition.

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10.3.2. Use of design in enterprises

Even though the research participants intuitively sense the significant role of design, still they do not have a clearly defined knowledge on this subject. Only some, working in large corporations, which are tycoons on the market, have a ex­tensive knowledge of innovativeness (including design) and methods of innova­tions management (both in the area of product and marketing innovations).

When analysing the statements made by the respondents one could get the im­pression that product innovations are dominant in their enterprises (aiming towards improvement of the quality of existing products, usually this rather con­sists in improvement of products) or marketing innovations (connected with changes in appearance of products – packaging, promotion). Some additionally mention process innovations, which aim at introduction of new, improved meth­ods of product manufacturing.In principle, the sectors leading with respect to design are also the ones, which operate on the market that requires great activeness in this respect and the ones which have a strong unique position on the market. Association with design in­novations, they constitute a benchmark for the competitors, and shaping trends is a significant element of their competitive advantage.Companies, which consider design to be the basis of their operation and staying on the market, are in sectors such as: ceramics, clothing and fabrics, furniture and domestic appliances and audio/video devices, lighting and new media. This

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results from the important role of aesthetic trends in these sectors and their rapid changeability.Important design, yet the one of secondary importance in relation functionality, can be observed in the following sectors: investment products (machines and tools), means of transport and sports equipment.

Selected quotes from statements made by the respondents:

We can put it this way that there are sort of two lines: design on one end, and functionality on the other. As the functionality increases, the design is pushed to the background. It something is less functional, more commonly available and has a wide scope of application, it is universal, then in such case design is more important (large company, sector: sports equipment).

SWOT analysis of research results prepared by experts of the Institute of Industrial Design

Strengths

Design is perceived as important, especially in consumer goods sectors: ce­ramics, clothing/fabric, furniture, domestic appliances and audio/video de­vices, lighting, new media.

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Companies that are leaders in the area of design are usually leaders in their lines of business, they shape trends.

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Weaknesses

Lack of structured knowledge about design (and new product development) among small and medium­sized enterprises.

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Generally lack of innovations, in a very specific meaning of this word – new solutions usually constitute an improved version of old products.

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Design is perceived as less important in the following sectors: investment products, means of transport, sports equipment (!).

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Use of outsourcing in management of new product development is not a com­mon practice (third­party specialist are not trusted).

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Opportunities

Companies that follow leaders must bet on design, so that they do not fall out of the market.

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The market forces changes in attitudes and behaviours of companies.>

Threats

More likely to copy a design/product if innovativeness of products is incon­siderable.

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Unaided development of new design products, by trial and error influences the increase of costs incurred by the company and poses a threat of the com­pany getting discouraged from implementation of new solutions.

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In case of sports equipment (mainly, but also other sectors that perceive de­sign as a less significant element of product development) – are deprived of the opportunity to be competitive on the domestic and foreign market (in the world design in sports brand is the basis understood as combination of func­tionality and aesthetics).

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No real choice for the consumer, if the offers are similar (copies) and not real innovations.

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10.3.3. Perception of quality and level of development of the Polish de-sign and competitiveness of enterprises in this respect

Among the research participants there is a belief that the Polish design is be-coming better, developing, even though still distances in relation to the Eu-ropean and global tycoons (for instance Italy and Spain are the leaders in the area of design in the clothing, ceramics, furniture production sectors, Japan – in state­of­the­art technologies, Germany and Scandinavian countries – in light­ing industry).Perceived factors of high level of development of foreign design:

greater openness of the society to innovations,

inter­cultural exchange, increasing the interest and level of acceptance of new, unknown models,

access to state­of­the­art production technologies,

great expectations of the society with respect to design.

Main obstacles for the Polish design is a certain technological backwardness and conservatism of the society that is still dominant (less open to avant­garde, preferring rather “safe”, common solutions), even though certain groups of end customers are more and more aspiring and becoming similar to other societies

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with respect to openness to new, developmental design (mainly young, wealthy consumers and companies drawing a lot of attention to its image, created through the appearance of offices and used products).Most respondents had clear difficulties with specification of strengths when asked by the end of the interview about the strength of the Polish deign. Some mentioned price competitiveness of designed products and good quality in rela­tion to foreign products (even though increasing price­competitiveness of goods manufactured in China is a threat). As far as attractiveness of the Polish design is concerned – it is considered to be high in sectors such as: ceramics, clothing and some sports equipment or transport (however mainly only market leaders in a given sector had a positive opinion thereof). In the remaining sectors the respondents are mainly under the impression of (delayed) pursuit to catch up with foreign trends, instead of developing them.Mainly large companies perceive themselves as competitive on the Polish and foreign market. Small companies see themselves as mediocre with respect to design innovations – they believe that they are passive followers rather than active creators.Sporadically there is an attitude of general resilience in relation to competition (among small companies) and the tendency to focus only on short­term sales and profit, and hence resilience or indifference in relation to introduction of prod­uct innovations. This sows a difference between companies: large and medium­ ­sized companies adopt long­term perspective, they monitor trends, develop com­petitive strategies, whereas small companies adopt the sort­term perspective focused on company’s survival “here and now”, and innovations are connected only with the necessary extent of catching up with the competition.Most enterprises actively promote their goods, also through:

Participation in fairs and industry exhibitions,

Participation in industry competitions (for instance ceramics, furniture pro­duction),

Communication on own Internet sites,

Mailing the customers,

Standard displays in sales locations (permanent displays in large format stores, catalogues/folders).

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Selected quotes from statements made by the respondents:

Our design is not among the most distinctive ones, and we are fully aware of it, we are more re-creative than creative in this field. We are more likely to use the ideas of large companies, we are trying to implement a new idea, which we have seen somewhere at fairs, which is entirely innovative, yet possible to im-plement. Then we try to introduce it as fast as possible to our domestic market. It is impossible to do it the other way around, and in cases that it did happen, we noticed after a year or so that they did the same thing we did, and then we are content, but these are individual cases, and still usually the creative thought is incoming rather than outgoing (large company, sector: sports equipment).

There are marketing and mailing campaigns, folders are sent out, by mail – as far as the department of existing customers is concerned. When it comes to new customers, we reach them through our telemarketing department. This de-partment searches for new companies. He sets an appointment for our sales representative. Our sales representative goes there and presents the entire offer of our company. And we have an efficiently working sales department (sector: investment products).

When a new product is being introduces, we always hang posters in stores, in-forming about it. Also information that we have a new products appears on the Internet site, there is a description of the product and what it is used for. In our Internet store we also provide a very detailed information about new products (small company, sector: ceramics and glass).

Polish people are insipid, see-through, and creativity still did not get to our nation, to our awareness. For X number of years we were blocked by certain standards, which we had to stick to and I think that the Polish people still did not mature as in other European countries (small company, sector: investment products).

SWOT analysis of research results prepared by the experts from the In-stitute of Industrial Design

Strengths

Polish design is perceived among the companies as developing and as being on a higher level in relation to the previous years.

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Price competitiveness and at the same time good quality Polish design goods (a good product = dwell designed and affordable).

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Weaknesses

Technological backwardness among Polish enterprises (especially small and medium­sized enterprises).

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“Conservatism” of the Polish society in relation to modern design (also resulting from financial options -> more innovative design products, or the so--called ”de­signer” products often cost more than the average Polish consumer can afford).

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Opportunities

Increasing openness of the Polish consumer to innovative solutions, they are searched for thanks to the globalization phenomenon (flow of new products, information from other markets).

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Increase of financial (purchasing) options available to the Polish consumer in a long­term perspective (­> increase of the middle class).

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Increase of group of buyers that bet more on the quality (good design) or famous brand than the price only (therefore not interested with cheap goods from China).

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Threats

Sense of inferiority among Polish companies in the area of design in relation to some countries and unawareness that it is possible to match them.

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Price­related competitiveness of production from China in relation to the lack of sufficient innovative advantage of Polish products in certain industries (in­novations, which would justify payment of higher price by the consumer).

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10.4. Principles and terms of design management in enterprises

General conclusions

Most companies included in the research use the design management models developed in­house in course of years of experiences.When thinking about design management, one should take several dimensions into account. These dimensions shall be discussed in detail the sub­chapters below:

Sources of new project concepts.

Decision­makers in the area of approval of new project and its implementation.

Budget – planning and budget implementation control.

Verification of accuracy and evaluation of the potential of a new project.

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Despite the diversity of sectors included on the research and the specifics of every single one of them (with respect to the dynamics of development and intro­duction of new designs, the level of process complexity and risk involved there­with), certain permanent stages recurring in the companies can be identified:

Project concept > verification of initial project assumptions inside the company >

Verification of project assumptions outside the company > estimate of undertak­ing’s budget >

Decision about implementation of the new project (list of detailed assumptions and decision of the Management Board).

After every stage there opinions/feedback addressed to the person responsible for development of a given concept is formulated (for instance production man­ger, sales department manager), and in turn this person reports partial results to the Management Board of the company.

10.4.1. Sources of new project concepts

Initiative referring to new product concept originates mainly from employees of the company, whereas t is possible to identify two fundamental sources of stimulation:

sources external in relation to the company,

internal sources of the company.

Sources external in relation to the company are all these concepts where the stimulus derives from the outside, usually in form of market demand generated in different ways:

Feedback from the company’s business partners (distributors, dealers).

Feedback directly from end recipients (for instance submitted to the service department in the company).

Information abut planned investments in the region/country (for instance pro­ducer and installation expert of lighting is observing the construction market and public procurements for lighting assembly services).

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Internal sources of the company are all initiatives which derive from structures of the company, from employees of the company, on different positions:

Production department – production manager, process engineer, who propo­ses own product modification concepts. Possibly the concept derives directly from a designer employed by the company.

Management Board – determines the product policy/strategy o the company (for instance as a response to shortening products’ lifespan).

Marketing department – product manager acquires information through analysis of: trends (fairs, trade magazines), sales of product/collection, analy­sis of domestic and foreign potentials and closest competition (its product and price offer).

Customer care department – provides mainly information about problems re­ported by the customers.

Sales department – informs about the demand for specific good/design.

The issue of fairs and industry exhibitions, in which most companies try to par­ticipate on regular basis (as an exhibitor or as an observer) requires a comment. Presence on fair events is:

on one hand an external source in acquisition of ideas, possibility for the com­pany to learn more about new trends in a given industry and products offered by the competition,

on the other hand it is an internal source – as information/observations col­lected and then processed and analysed by the marketing department or di­rectly by the designers.

Generally, in enterprises there is an integration of information deriving from different sources, which in effect provide knowledge about the requirements and demand of the market and on the attractiveness of the offer of the producer (to what extent it meets these requirements and to what extent it is prospective).

Selected quotes from statements made by the respondents:

It happens in different ways. From a specific market demand, or the marketing department informs about us about the shortage. We receive signals from cus-tomers, from the distribution department. Sometimes we just suddenly get the

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idea that a given product is missing, tracking everything that is happening on the market and in companies of the competitors (large company).

Mainly people from the marketing department have a new proposal, and some-times we collect information from different departments, also the marketing department, but also from sales and production, regarding what they would like to launch, whether they see a subject we could pursue. Once such projects are collected, we meet and analyse these ideas, whether we are able to do eve-rything, whether we can afford it and then a plan is being prepared, which we implement in the following year (large company).

10.4.2. Decision-makers and their departments responsible for approval of design projects

In a typical organizational structure of enterprises (especially medium­sized and large ones) there are three principal departments/sections: production, fi­nance, sales and marketing. Usually the Management Board of a company con­sists of representatives of these departments.In all enterprises included in the research, regardless of the sector in which the enterprise operates, the following persons act as the decision­makers in the area of implementation of a new design:

Small companies:

owner/manager of the company,

production manager,

sales department manager.

Medium-sized companies:

member of the Management Board responsible for production, sales and dis­tribution or for finances of the company; persons responsible for production and sales and distribution must obtain approval of the decision­maker re­sponsible for finance.

project manager,

product development manager/director,

production director,

sales director.

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Large companies:

member of the Management Board responsible for production, sales and dis­tribution or for finances of the company; persons responsible for production and sales and distribution must obtain approval of the decision­maker re­sponsible for finance,

sales director,

managing Director of the company,

director of development department (of the company, products),

project manager.

This is not so structured in small companies – the owner of the company or a per­son qualified to asses the potential of the design project is the decision-maker (it is quite common that one person has multiple functions – financial, organiza­tional, marketing).In medium­sized and large companies the decision concerning implementa­tion is very structured, which is connected with the expanded organizational structure of enterprises, according to the company management model. Usually the Management Board acts as the decision­maker, and considers analyses of opportunities and threats of a new project prepared and presented by the mar­keting and sales department. The Management Board is also responsible for financial issued – approval of undertaking’s budget.In medium­sized and large companies the marketing division plays a key role in works connected with planning and implementation of a new product. This organizational unit provides an impulse for commencement of works on new product and then makes initial suggestions in relation to the new product (as own initiative, or in response to the ideas of other departments). This depart­ment is also responsible for market analyses, for preparing general product con­cept, for verification of its potential, initial identification of the target group and the product’s price segment.Production process engineers and engineers (designers) play an considerable role in companies from the industrial sector (transport, machinery, sports equip­ment). The often act as internal designers of final products.In large companies, fiercely competing in Poland and on foreign markets, which have several deployments in course of a year, often the product development already exists or is planned. The task of this department is to conduct works connected with new products. It consists of persons, who to date were working

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in the marketing department and were responsible for implementation of new products.

10.4.3. Planning of the budget for design innovations

Among the research participants there are different approaches to the issue of planning a budget for undertakings connected with introduction of new de­signs:

some companies plan their budget and try not to go beyond its frameworks,

some companies do not plan the budget and valuate projects ad hoc.

Planning/determining the budget

The analysis the profile of companies, which assume/determine the budget for new design projects (usually this is an annual budget) and factors, which are conductive thereto, it is possible to come to the following conclusions:

Depending on the size of the company:

these are mainly large companies which are a part of the foreign concern (where the budget is set by the headquarters operating outside Poland, and the only responsibility of the Polish branch of the company is to adopt it),

these are medium­sized companies, which determine a partial budget (sepa­rate for every scheduled project).

The basis for determining the amount of future budget is the assessment of the potential of new projects, but also a sum of production costs incurred in course of previous successful projects.

Depending on the industry and market specifics, these are companies which operate on a relatively stabilized market, or ones that have a stabilized situ­ation on the market. The experience gained in course of development of the company and market specifics makes them plan own expenditures for imple­mentation of innovation for instance household appliances, means of trans­port, investment products (machines), sports equipment. These areas of activ­ity feature a relatively small dynamics of changes on the market and a long cycle of usage of the product by the end recipient.

Valuation of the potential undertaking emerges, when planning th budget. The following issues are usually taken into consideration: the cost of the design (or­dered or ready to use), production costs (or costs of the entire sample range) and

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of this basis the profitability of the project (ROI – return on investment) is esti­mated. The following basis is common here: “everything that can generate profit is implemented”, “if there is a good project, there is a good budget.”Generally, despite of planning a specific budget, most companies allow devia­tions (they apply the so-called ranges for every project) and flexibility, which implies that new, potentially profitable concepts that emerge in course of the year can count on financing (after a closer analysis and simulation of project profitability and approval of the management Board).

No planning/determining of the budget

On the basis of analysis of companies, which do not determine budget for new design projects, it is possible to notice that such attitude is analogously con­nected with:

Size of the company – these are mainly small or medium­sized companies, which relatively infrequently introduce new designs, and therefore they still have an insufficient experience and sense of the market, in order to precisely estimate the amount of budget (they agree to ad hoc decisions). These enter­prises are learning how to operate on the market and in a more distant future they would like to introduce a planned budget.

The specifics of the industry and the market, on which the company operates:

Companies operating in industries which feature large consumption dynam­ics, relatively short product (and design) cycles and high competitiveness (regardless of the company size), for instance clothing, fabrics, furniture pro­duction, ceramics, lighting. Decisions depend on the current situation on the market and are made ad hoc. Enterprises consider such attitude towards fi­nancial issues as the best solution for proper operation of the company.

Companies operating on a relatively young market that is not stabile and highly dependent on trends (even the ones difficult to anticipate). The basis of success for such company is fast reaction to new product development direc­tions (for instance new media). Decisions are made ad hoc.

10.4.4. Verification of accuracy and evaluation of the potential of new projects

Leaving the initial phase out, when defining the market demand, current and fu­ture trends and analysis of competitiveness, which constitute one of the sources of new product ideas (see chapter Sources of new project concepts) and initial assessment of accuracy of the adopted development direction of the company

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portfolio, the current verification of assumptions and adequacy of a specific de­sign project is being conducted.This verification is made on every level of designing stages: starting from (gra-phic) concept and prototype stage all the way to production of the so­called pilot series or evaluation of sale of finished products that were already introduced to the market. The method of this verification can be more or less formalized: from internal consultations among the employees to professional marketing research cover­ing the opinions of business partners (Business­to­Business – B­to­B), as well as options of end users (Business­to­Consumer – B­to­C):

Consultations inside the company – among the employees:

analysis of technological options of the machine facilities owned by the com­pany, development of construction assumptions and initial calculation of pro­duction costs (approval from the sales department),

analysis of financial options of the company (together with the CFO),

analysis of attractiveness of the product (voting among the gathered employ­ees of the company),

assessment of the quality of manufactured product (certificates, safety tests) – domain of the production manager.

Research on the option of business partners (characteristic for most com­panies participating in the research) and experts (only several companies) – sharing first design projects with them and getting their optioning on the functionality and attractiveness to potential users (for instance testing sports equipment by the employees of the University of Physical Education in War­saw, testing technical sports clothing by alpinists).

Market research – analysis of competitiveness of product lifespan (for instance new product replaces a product that is being withdrawn), analysis of trends.

Research on the opinion of end users:

qualitative research – tests of products concepts/prototypes,

quantitative product tests (tests in sales locations, environmental tests, in-home test – tests of home use of products by end users, in their natural envi­ronment (for instance household appliances, sports equipment, new media),

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customer satisfaction tests – checking the level of satisfaction of current users with the product, both among the business partners (Business­to­Business ­ B­to­B), and among the end users (Business­to­Consumer – B­to­C).

Enterprises use additional methods of protection against the risk of production losses through:

Pilot series, sample products – thus evaluation of first sales samples among dealers or end users and depending on the result a decision regarding wheth­er to continue with the production or not.

Agreement with the customer for order of a specific minimum number of ar­ticles.

The more aware the company is of the risk connected with improper decision related to a new produce (the higher the implementation costs, the more innova­tive the enterprise is), the greater importance is attached to the aforementioned internal and external audits.Additional R&D (Research and Development) expenditures in the area of new product functions and development of design can be found mainly among large companies with strong position on the market.In principle, the success of a new project/implementation is understood by all respondents as implementation of the assumed objectives, which mainly de­termine the profitable level of sales of the new product (implementation of the assumed sales target including the assumed margin and the assumed profit). If the level is reached then a decision is being made whether to proceed with production or not.Others additionally define success in the categories of aesthetics - whether the product stands out on the market and whether it is visually attractive to the customer.In a situation when the new product is not successful (for instance the pilot or target series did not generate the effect in form of the assumed level of sales) the product is usually withdrawn from production and treated as an element of gained experience.

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SWOT analysis of research results prepared by the experts from the In-stitute of Industrial Design

Strengths

Integration of information deriving from different sources within companies, which influences better development of new product concept.

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Weaknesses

Development of the design management system/system of unaided new pro-duct development, on the basis of trail and error.

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No staff specialized in conducting the process of new design product develop­ment.

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No out­sourcing practice, in the area of managing new product development (third­party specialists are not trusted).

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Sporadic verification of new concepts together with the end recipient.>

Opportunities

Establishing specialized product development departments in large companies.>

Investing in R&D works (in larger formats), providing the possibility to de­velop more innovative design solutions.

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Threats

Needs of the consumer are not treated by companies as the main stimulus for creating new project concepts (followed by their verification), which can result in development of “irrelevant” goods, which do not correspond with the needs of the buyers (and therefore do not sell well, are not very competitive).

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No planning of budget for new design projects, which should constitute a ba­sis, especially among companies operating on highly competitive markets (modified depending on the market situation).

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Prying on solutions used by the competition (for instance in course of indus­try fairs), which can be conductive to intentional or unintentional copying of designs.

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10.5. Qualitative parameters concerning design effectiveness in compa-nies

General findings

The research participants agree as to the final benefits resulting from the develo-pment and implementation of new design projects and these benefits are: an increase in a company’s value and in its competitiveness.The consequences of design development are the appearance of product brands and companies’ motivation to protect their intellectual property (most frequently in a form of reservation of a trademark or utility design).There is a series of barriers to the effective implementation of design innova­tions. The key barrier is the financial barrier, which affects smaller companies in particular.

10.5.1. Benefits resulting from application of industrial design

For the respondents, the benefits obtained from the application of industrial design agree, to a significant extent, with the role assigned to design. For the research participants, the role of design agrees with both the reasons and the expected benefits for which they develop design in their companies – see the chapter entitled “The role of industrial design and attitudes towards it”.Generally, among the final benefits of design development which may be observed by the respondents, the dominant ones are those which refer directly to the com­mercial (sales) and marketing success of the company. Therefore, they include:

An increase in the company’s value, including, inter alia, trademark value and the opportunity to position a brand (brand supports sale). This allows the company to build a segment of loyal customers (in various segments of prod­ucts/ brands), which increases the guarantee of the company’s fixed income.

The added value of an industrial design for the purposes of the product’s pro­motion and sale:

in a literal sense (as a product price policy: better design > better product > better price),

in a semantic sense (as a brand identifier and qualities of this brand), which, in turn, in case of a strong brand, allows the company to set market trends (trendsetting) and assume the role of category leader.

An increase in the company’s competitiveness on the local and foreign mar­kets, whereby:

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in the respondents’ opinion, it is easier to set trends on the local market (no strong competition with regard to innovativeness, design),

activity on the foreign market is initially limited to keeping up with the trends found there.

Selected quotes from respondents’ opinions:

We need to consider the more sophisticated tastes of customers, as we also sell a lot of products to Western Europe, as well as having captured the Polish market firmly, and we need to satisfy customer tastes which, unfortunately, also tend to change (a large company).

The company is creative in itself, it would like to change its image, it would like its brand to be remembered and our projects and machines to be the foundations of our image (a small company, operating in the industry of investment products).

We cannot create anything very fanciful, as it would not serve its purpose and role; it must be a machine which will operate and fulfill its role; it must do a lot of things (a small company, operating in the industry of investment products).

10.5.2. Barriers to the acquisition and implementation of new design so-lutions

Most of the research participants agree that the basic and most frequent barrier to the application and development of new designs, particularly at the begin­ning of a company’s development, is the financial barrier (the economical fac­tor). It means potential expenses on the development and implementation of a new product/design, which include the high costs of machine instrumentation, as well as the introduction of new production technologies and the development of the machine park. Investment in a designer, also incurs high costs, for exam­ple, when financing their foreign travels to participate in fairs. Simultaneously, many companies (in particular small and medium­sized ones) truly do not have the available financial resources for investment in design, while they simultane­ously lack access to knowledge regarding external sources of financing.Other barriers refer to the following areas:

Market uncertainty – demand which is difficult to determined (particularly in the case of an innovative product) or the presence of a definite category leader (a barrier for smaller companies).

Technological restrictions – the lack of appropriate production machines or the requirement to make a too drastic change in a standard production proc­

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ess (this limits the possibility of quick reaction to market changes, seasonal­ity of sales and changes in customer preferences).

Legislative barriers, e.g., attestations, certificates, product safety standards (concerning composition and operation) have definitely increased after Po­land’s accession to the EU. It refers either to the necessity to adapt Polish standards to the standards prevailing on a given European market, or to lack of compliance of Polish standards with EU standards (adaptation to Polish standards in case of companies importing commodities to Poland or adapta­tion to the standards of a target market abroad in case of companies exporting commodities from Poland).

Limited human resources – a lack of in­house designers, or expensive services provided by external designers, as well as the fact that the latter do not under­stand sufficiently the customer’s business and expectations (cf. the evaluation of cooperation with designers included in the Ipsos report of August 2007, prepared for the IWP).

Psychological barriers – more rarely encountered. They are characteristic of some representatives of production departments and of technologists who prefer to perform constant works and well­mastered activities during produc­tion, while the introduction of a new design requires the changes in manu­facturing a new product.

In connection with the difficulties related to the design and introduction of new ideas, the majority of companies try to minimize the risk of failure through ac­tions described in detail in the chapter entitled “Verification of accuracy and evaluation of the potential of new designs”.

10.5.3. Methods of cooperation with regard to design acquisition

In-house designers

Most of the research participants declare having their own designer or team of designers employed full­time. Depending on the industry’s requirements, they are industrial designers, artists, architects, engineers or constructors (technolo­gists). People with a technical, rather than an artistic, education are mainly em­ployed in industries producing means of transport, or sports equipment – wher­ever the development of a tool or equipment’s structure is more important than its aesthetic appearance. The reverse situation occurs in industries such as tex­tiles or ceramics, where the designer’s artistic background and their aesthetic sensitivity are of great importance.

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The justifications (and, simultaneously, reasons) for such a model of cooperation are:

huge dynamics and intensity (annually) of working on new designs/models – it requires a constant, close cooperation between the designers and individ­ual departments involved in the development and introduction of a concept.

the need for the designer to have a very good knowledge of the market and industry, including technological issues –this supports a greater efficiency of cooperation with the designer.

the psychological factor – the employed designer is more motivated to work creatively, treat projects as their “own”, which supports their active role in the company – the designer motivates others to develop new solutions, stimulates the work of other departments (can be a visionary).

This type of cooperation is usually a source of mutual understanding and satis­faction for both parties.

External designers

Some of the companies cooperate solely with external designers (selected by way of a tender), including: design offices, artist’s offices, marketing agencies providing a full customer service, also with regard to design services.External designers are employed in a situation where:

there is no need to employ a full­time designer, due to the smaller frequency in introduction of new designs in the company,

the company avoids incurring the designer’s living costs (apart from constant costs, there are also costs of travel to fairs in Poland and abroad and the costs of design software); and it thinks that using services of external design of­fices makes these offices more competitive (with regard to prices), which, as a result, is more favorable for the employer.

The disadvantage of this type of cooperation is the insufficient understanding of the customer’s business (especially technological issues, which often determine a decision on the introduction of a given model).

In-house and external designers

Few respondents indicate using a combined model, i.e., apart from the work of their own designers, they also use services of external specialists in this field

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(invoicing these services is a dominant standard). Such a model of cooperation is, first of all, imposed by the company’s current requirements (greater work intensity).

SWOT analysis of research results prepared by the experts fom the Insti-tute of Idustrial Design

Strengths

Permanent employment of designers in companies introducing lots of new designs per year, which influences a better knowledge of the market by de­signers and thereby – creation of designs which correspond to market needs in a better manner.

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Weaknesses

Lack of in­house designers, in companies, in a literal sense of the word (­> re­garding a design engineer or an artist as a designer), which may influence the solutions applied in new designs, i.e., without balancing the functional and aesthetic elements in a designed product.

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Opportunities

Companies, which employ a designer on a permanent basis regard this as a positive solution (bringing calculable benefits).

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Threats

In case of smaller companies – the financial barrier in application of design.>

Regarding the following items as costs (and not as investments):>

expenses on new technologies, instrumentation, new machine park,…

expenses on employment and professional development of the designer.…

No well­developed methods and tools for the proper evaluation of a risk re­lated to the introduction of a new product design.

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10.�. Methods for protection of the intellectual property and their effec-tiveness

10.�.1. Use of protection of the intellectual property in companies

When analysing the declarations made by research participants, it may be no­ticed that protection of the intellectual property is applied, first of all, in large companies, while it is applied occasionally in medium­sized companies and is almost never applied at all in small companies. Usually, it is registration of

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a trademark or utility design; in addition, the reservation of technological solu­tions occurs in the industry of investment products.Generally, the attitude of research participants towards protection of the compa­ny’s intellectual property is positive; it is, however, determined by of the compa­ny’s specific situation in the field of its activity.A description of reasons for, and barriers against, the application of this type of protection is presented below.

10.�.2. Reasons

The reasons for application of protection of a company’s intellectual property refer to the following aspects:

Protection of a trademark (all product brands or a selected series/name of a product range) – basic protection for the company, especially in a category dominated by design copying (e.g. household appliances – kitchenware; ce­ramics). It guarantees the enforcement of calculable damages for using the trademark. This motivation may be strengthened by negative experiences with copying the design by other companies and is to prevent “piracy” (e.g., new media).

Operational standards within the company – characteristic of large compa­nies with established and recognized brands, acting on the Polish and for­eign markets. The forms of property protection which are most frequently mentioned in the research include the reservation of designs and technical solutions (e.g. household appliances, means of transport), sense of solution ownership (attachment to a design) and the intention to make it outstanding in customers’ perception, as well as to strengthen identification of a design with a manufacturer (we would like a customer to know that this is our product and not to confuse it with any other product).

Psychological comfort for the manufacturer, a sort of a protection against be­ing accused by competitors of design copying.

10.�.3. Barriers

The barriers against application of protection of a company’s intellectual prop­erty result from several sources:

The nature of the industry and the product lifecycle – a short cycle of prod­uct sale (e.g. casual wear), highly susceptible to rapidly changing trends and fashion. Inappropriacy of the duration of the design or patent reservation pro­cedure with respect to the “lifetime” of a product range.

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The nature of the product:

the level of its innovativeness, uniqueness – the more common and regular the design is, the smaller the need and will for its reservation (e.g. a fabric),

the level of its universality vs. its individuality – individually ordered prod­ucts offered in small batches or several examples do not need protection; in case of very niche products it does not pay the competition to copy the design (e.g. a lighting installation designed for the purposes of a given building).

Small financial resources (especially in small companies).

Lack of belief/confidence that protection is effective (there is still a risk of cop­ying the technology and product designs by competitors), as well as a sense that the gain from a successful lawsuit is insufficient when compared to the time and costs, imposed by such lawsuit on the company bringing an action at law (a sense that a small company will never win against a huge concern).

Specific product parameters, the necessity to provide for many parameters and a duty to patent even the smallest change (e.g. in case of a modification to a machine or sports equipment – too large number of details requiring pat­ent updating; these procedures therefore demand too large expenses of work and funds).

Selected quotes from respondents’ opinions:

We have the right to it and we exercise this right. Naturally, we exercise it to protect this property. And to protect it from what – it is obvious, from attempts made by competitors who, for sure, would often like to copy our designs (a large company operating in the lighting industry).

The reservation of the intellectual property does not prevent violation of prop-erty rights. It helps solely in the struggle for eventual damages, it may be a sup-port, in case of a lawsuit (a large company).

If we conceive something interesting and it is possible to patent it, i.e., it is eligible to be patented, with respect to both design and technical solutions, we do it. In case of our industry, the whole world goes to shops, buys products from this industry, takes them to the smallest pieces and copies every little detail to reduce costs, introduce some more interesting technical solutions, copy some function which has turned out to be a hit, etc., so if something is possible, even the weirdest things can be done (a large company).

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SWOT analysis of research results prepared by the experts fom the Insti-tute of Idustrial Design

Strengths

Application of protection of the intellectual property in large companies is included in their standards.

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Application of protection of the intellectual property gives the manufacturer psychological comfort (­> protection from an eventual accusation of copying).

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Weaknesses

Small companies have no financial resources for carrying out the procedures related to protection of the intellectual property.

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Opportunities

An increase in regarding the design as an essential factor in company devel­opment and, in connection with this, an increase in the need to reserve/pro­tect designs.

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Threats

Product innovativeness is too low, which does not support the need to protect intellectual property.

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Companies do not believe in effectiveness of protection of their designs from being copied.

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NOON 55 yacht design: Janusz Kasieczko

manufacturer: Noon Yachts S.A.The exhibition: „Designed in Poland” Berlin 2005/2006

fot. Giuliano Luzzatto „Main Sail Magazine”

11.Good practices– Case studies

Good practices – Case studies

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11.1. LEO PLASTIC air heater –Flowair company (investment products)30)

CompanyFLOWAIR Głogowski i Brzeziński Sp. J.; Gdynia.Established in 2003.Capital: Polish (100%).Company size: small (15 employees).Industry: investment products; heating and ventilating industry.Sales mostly on the Polish market, but also on the foreign market.Products: products for heating medium­ and large­sized facilities (including wa­ter and gas heaters, air curtains).Designers cooperating with the company: Studio 1:1 (Jarosław Szymański, Rafał Dętkoś, Piotr Wierczyński).

The LEO PLASTIC air heater, produced by the Flowair company from Gdynia, was among the finalists of the ‘Good Design’ contest held in 2006, in the cat­egory “Work Zone”. LEO PLASTIC is a highly specialised product, designed for heating large­sized facilities. In 2006, this innovative product was also awarded the MEDIUM-Installation Leader title during the international “INSTALLA­TIONS” fair in Poznań.The LEO PLASTIC air heater is a good example of the application, by the manu­facturer, of a proper business strategy, which is customer­oriented and based on the modern technology and design. The device combines very good design parameters and a modern appearance with innovative control features – conven­ient yet economical, with regard to both operation and investment.LEO PLASTIC was introduced on to the market in September 2005 and debuted successfully on the German market in 2006. From the beginning of its sales, a dynamic upward trend has been noticeable – in 2007 the company recorded the heater sales growth of 146% on the previous year.

30) Elaborated on the basis of the articles: Good practices, Itta Karpowicz-Starek, „Biuletyn” IWP, 2007, 2, Leo Plastic

air heater, Paweł Szymański, Installation systems, 2007, 3 and information from the Flowair company. The heater’s

photo was obtained by courtesy of the Flowair company. Text in Polish.

11. Good practices – Case studies

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LEO PLASTIC – case study

What to produce and for whom? – or finding a market niche

The heater market research carried out by the Flowair company showed that there was no manufacturer specializing in air heating. The product available on the European market was neglected with respect to both design attractiveness and used materials as well as technical solutions. The offer was little varied: metal cuboids made of bent sheet metal. There were no devices which could be used in public places where not only functionality but also an aesthetic appear­ance of a product is important.With its innovative idea – the application of an aesthetic plastic housing – the Flowair company made a sort of a revolution in the industry.

Is it worth to employ a designer? – or breaking negative stereotypes

The stereotypes, which often linger in companies (especially small ones), are:

A design is very expensive. A new company, debuting on the market, cannot afford a design. We will manage on our own.

Designers are “artists” – they do not have any idea of strictly technical products.

Products made in cooperation with a designer are exclusive and expensive.

The first experiences of the company related to this project are, on one hand, a suc­cess in creation of an innovative heater controlling system and, on the other hand, attempts to adapt the plastic housing to the device in an aesthetic manner, which proved unsatisfactory even for design creators. The manufacturer was aware of the fact that without aesthetic qualities even a technologically modern device has no reason for existing. The development of the heater design was entrusted to a team of designers from Studio 1:1, composed of Jarosław Szymański (team lead­er), Rafał Dętkoś, Piotr Wierczyński. From the manufacturer’s part, the engineers from the ventilation, mechanical, electrical, etc. industry joined the team.

Design assumptions or marking a path for designers

The team started common work with recognizing the industry and formulation of the final product assumptions. It was determined that heater consumers were both direct investors and designers for whom technical parameters, high quality of the devices and simplicity of daily operation are important and installators who appreciate easiness of assembly and reliability most.

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Selection of the technology – new solutions or use of what we already have

Flowair is the subcontractor­based company therefore it avoids a problem of many manufacturers who create products according to the machine park they have.The technology does not limit designers – its selection is in their hands. It was so also in case of the LEO PLASTIC heater – everybody produced devices using sheet metal whereas Flowair started using plastic.

The effect – LEO PLASTIC heater

As a result of the works, the family of LEO PLASTIC water heaters was cre­ated. They serve for air heating of large­sized facilities such as production halls, workshops, warehouses, etc. The use of plastic, as a material for construction of the device’s housing, allowed to get an attractive appearance of the heater. Due to this, the device may be installed in such locations as showrooms, churches, sports facilities, shops and supermarkets.The use of plastic for construction of the heater elements brought many benefits, including:

reduction of the device’s weight (by over 30% when compared to traditional solutions), due to the use of plastic for construction of both the housing and fan rotor),

avoidance of corrosion,

the plastic housing is less susceptible to scratches,

the higher ability to damp mechanical vibrations (the device works more si­lently),

eligibility to be recycled.

The advantage of the heater is a cooperating automation system, enabling smooth (from 0 to 100%) regulation of the fan’s rotational speed. It enables precise regu­lation of the fan’s efficiency and thereby the delivery of such an amount of heat which is required at a given moment.Thanks to the application of a specially designed driver, the heater is able to work in the auto mode. This type of work is based on auto regulation of the device’s efficiency depending on the difference between the requested tempera­ture (set on the controller) and the room air temperature. Once the difference between temperatures decreases, the fan’s revolutions decrease either. There­fore, thermal comfort conditions in the room are kept at the fixed level almost all the time. Such a solution decreases energy consumption due to the fact that

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an exact required amount of heat is delivered to the room. An amount of electric energy consumed by the fan decreases as well, due to a decrease in its efficiency along with a decrease in the difference between temperatures. In addition, the comfort of the device’s operation increases, as, when the rotational fan speed decreases, the air flow speed decreases as well, thereby, the noise generated by the fan becomes smaller.In case of LEO PLASTIC M it is possible to control even ten devices by means of one driver. There is also an option to connect heaters to central controlling systems.

Photo 1 LEO PLASTIC heater (produced by Flowair)

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Specially for the device from the Leo Plastic family, a 3D rotational assembly panel was constructed. Thanks to the 3D panel, the device may be installed at any position, at any angle – both vertically and horizontally. It is due to the Studio 1:1 designers.

Product’s promotion or it is not a problem to produce...

The promotion consisted in, first of all, showing the product “live”. Special stands were mounted in installation wholesale stores, at industry fairs. The in­formation campaign was also carried out in the industry media. The image of LEO PLASTIC was also strengthened by advertisements and the participation in the prestigious “Good Design” contest in 2006.

What benefits were brought to the company by the well­designed product?

LEO PLASTIC sold well, not only in Poland, but, first of all, abroad. It turned out that the cooperation with professionals resulted in a great added value for the product and implementation costs were not as high as it had been initially assumed. As the company director, Maciej Głogowski, says: on this occasion we learnt how to cooperate with a design company. Keeping the ball rolling, we intro-duced another product – LEO SMART, the next ones are being developed. Thanks to the use of the advantage resulting from the application of design, we have be-come a well-recognized brand on the market and a company followed by others.

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11.2. ON office chair – PROFIm company (furniture industry)31)

CompanyPROFIm; Turek.Established in1991.Capital: Polish (100%).Company size: large (1300 employees).Industry: furniture industry.Products: office chairs.Production volume: ca. 850 thous. units per year.Export volume: 55% of production.Sales value in 2006: 136 million PLN.Designers cooperating with company: Grzegorz Olech, Piotr Kuchciński, To­masz Augustyniak, Ronald Straubel, Wolfgang Deisig.The ON chair is a modern office chair, being an example of well applied design – it combines functionality with a nice appearance. Technologies used for its con­struction made the chair fully compliant with ergonomic requirements while its aesthetic function was not neglected. It has been designed as a response to the demand and according to the expectations of the target group.

Family of ON Office Chairs – case study

Having analysed the market situation and its own product offer, in the autumn of 2004, the PROFIm company made a decision on expansion of its offer by a model of a modern office chair.The process of the product development has been carried out pursuant to the procedure applicable in PROFIm, including: determination of design assump­tions, selection of a designer, formation of a project team, design implementation and introduction on the market.The adopted assumptions were that a swivel chair is to be constructed, using advanced technologies and ergonomic solutions, at an affordable price.Given the plans to introduce the products onto the Western European markets and in connection with that – the necessity to adapt the chair design to the trends prevailing on those markets, a German designer – Wolfgang Deisig – was asked to cooperate.Within the framework of the project, the scope of responsibility has been divided between the designer and company.

31) Elaborated on the basis of information provided by the PROFIm company. The photo of the ON chair by courtesy

of the PROFIm company.

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The designer was responsible for:

concept works and design development,

research of materials and technology,

initial 2D and 3D drawings of the individual chair elements,

presentation of models, demonstration of various solutions and alternatives,

leading the project until the moment of putting into production,

was not responsible for engineering/technology.

The PROFIm company was responsible for:

engineering/technology, preparation of prototypes,

use of 2D and 3D drawings and translation of them into production of indi­vidual elements,

supporting the designer in creation of models, design consultations,

assistance to production of metal parts for prototypes,

coordination of the implementation process, organization of meetings both in Poland and Germany.

As a result of the project, which lasted from January 2005 till July 2007, a family of ON office chairs was created. The family includes swivel-chairs and chairs on legs and runners.A characteristic element of the ON model is an ergonomic backrest made of a mixture of plastic and special glass balls. Thanks to this solution, the backrest is both high­resistant and high­resilient which enables active sitting. Additionally, to improve resilience, the backrest has incisions and special plastic inserts are put inside, enhancing both resilience and resistance of the backrest.A special technological solution was also applied in the ON chair, allowing to achieve an effect of the optimal adjustment to a user’s backbone, also during moves made by the user.Creation of the flexible backrest was a great challenge for the PROFIm company. It was both difficult and very expensive implementation. It resulted from the fact that the assumptions, adopted for the project’s purposes, included, inter alia, construction of the flexible plastic backrest which would meet both ergonomic requirements and resistance and stability standards. The most difficult task was

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to find a balance between the shape of the backrest, thickness of plastic and the type of plastic itself. The optimal selection of these parameters ensured achieve­ment of this goal, i.e., construction of the backrest which is flexible yet stable and resistant.The ON chair is characteristic also due to the application of a modern synchron­ic mechanism which enforces keeping the proper sitting position and mitigates an unpleasant impression of “pulling the jacket” while bending back.The interesting details are the aluminium elements joining the backrest with the seat mechanism – apart from the design and aesthetic function they also act as regulators of the backrest’s height. In this respect, the chair is an innovative product on the Polish market.A backrest regulating mechanism, enabling adjustment of the lumbar support to the height of a sitting person, was located at the place of junction of the seat and backrest. The front of the backrest is finished with the upholstery, filled with form­poured polyurethane foam which additionally improves the comfort of sit­ting. There is an option for the user to replace the upholstery, due to which the chair may be used for many years and its appearance may be easily modified (at a relatively low cost).Other solutions determining the ergonomic nature of the model include: seat depth regulation, seat deflection by 3 degrees, regulated elbow-rests and, as an

Photo 2 ON chair (produced by PROFIm)

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extra option – a headrest, which was fixed to the backrest by means of a flexible connector, to improve the user’s comfort. Thanks to many options of finishing and selection of details, the chair may be used for many modern office arrangements.The ON chair was granted the ergonomic certificates: by the Institute of Oc­cupational Medicine and by the LGA. The LGA tests are carried out according to criteria developed by Prof. Diebschlag, PhD. Granting of the aforementioned certificates means that the model is designed in the manner enabling optimal customization of the product to the user’s working needs and conditions and meets criteria included in strict ergonomic standards. The model was also sub­ject to a series of precise tests, which covered individual structural elements.The chair was presented for the first time at the Orgatec Fairs in Cologne in 2006, where it was received with great interest, which confirmed the company’s decision on introduction of the product on the market.In 2007, the entire family of the ON chairs was awarded with the gold medal during Poznań Fairs and honoured in the category “Diamond of the Furniture Industry”.The ON chair was placed on the market on 1st July 2007. Placing the product on the market was supported by an advertising campaign and PR in press and on the Internet, issuance of a commercial catalogue as well as direct presentations led by company salespeople during meetings with customers.After several months of sale, the level of its volume amounted to several hundred units, which was regarded by the company as a success (as a product usually starts selling well after six months of its presence on the market). The chair sells well both on the Polish and foreign market.

11.3. Case studies based of the conducted qualitative research – exam-ples of successful implementation projects

General findings

When analysing the selected case studies concerning successful implementa­tions, an influence of several factors may be noticed:

a proper moment of appearance of a product on the market and a response to new, strictly determined needs/adaptation to trends,

the use of innovation in a literal sense of the word (e.g., a new component of a fabric, new information technology), creating the uniqueness and value of a product,

a suggestion of individual customization of a product in a situation when a customer is sensitive to selection of detailed device parameters.

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These factors may coexist but also only one of them may determine the success, depending on what is an expected value in a given category and for a given group of customers.

Case studies32)

Product – vegetable and fruit dryer, production started in 2007, in a large company operating in the industry of household appliances. The product has been present in the company’s offer for a few years and it hasn’t sold very well so far. In 2007, a significant increase in sales was recorded. The emergence (increase in popularity) of a trend for drying vegetables and fruit is consid­ered to be a reason for the success.

A product by a medium­sized company operating in the industry of new me­dia: computer games – very popular, following world trends. It is believed that a reason for the success is the application of the state­of­the­art technology (best parameters of the game engine) and employment of the best Polish game designers and programmers which contributed to establishment of a strong brand and position of the company on the market.

A product by a small company operating in the industry of sports equipment– an apparatus for strength exercises aimed at business customers (owners of gyms, fitness clubs). As the reasons for the success two main factors are given:

a good moment on the market > a trend for physical activity, practising sports and

a suggestion of individual customization of the product to the customer’s needs: selection of decorative elements, colouring, according to the custom­er’s own preferences.

On the other hand, strict cooperation between the designer and a person having knowledge of human anatomy resulted in construction of an apparatus, ena­bling a highly precise use (according to a part of a body which should be trained – issues to which customers are sensitive).

A product by a medium­sized company operating in the industry of outdoor wear/ women’s casual wear, autumn/winter 2007 collection. A huge increase in sales was observed, as well as very positive customer opinions. The intro­

32) Due to a requirement of keeping the respondents’ data private, pursuant to the Esomar code, company names, as

well as details which could enable the company’s identification, must not be revealed.

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duction of a new, unique and very attractive visually material (cotton + cash­mere) is regarded as a reason for the success.

A product by a small company from the industry of investment products (e.g. office equipment/binding machines) and articles related to digital photogra­phy. The product, defined as the successful one, is a maintenance-free album for digital photos (the machine prints photos, binds them and inserts into the album). Benefits: quickness, possibility to place hundreds of photos in the album. According to the company, a reason for the success is a good moment of the appearance of the product on the market, i.e., intense development of digital photography and a response to new needs of customers (possibility of taking and a need of processing of a far larger number of photos than in case of traditional photography).

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BONA line of table accessories design: Triada Design

manufacturer: ARTEFE Sp. z o.o.The exhibition: „Designed in Poland” Berlin 2005/2006

12.Designing as a method

for running own business

Designing as a method for running own business

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In the quantitative research (described in this report), carried out in 2007, almost a half of the companies declare that they employed their own, in­house designer. 31% of the companies cooperate with the external designers, as may be required, and 14 % cooperate with the external designers on a regular (permanent) basis.The external designers cooperate with the companies on the basis of contracts of specified tasks or cooperate as the business entities – design studios or one- ­person companies.Each form of the activity has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the basic advantages of the permanent employment, perceived by both designers and entrepreneurs, is a better understanding of needs of a given company (its expectations and technological possibilities) and customers at which the com­pany’s offer is aimed.The benefits resulting from working on one’s own account include:

freedom, independence in making decisions (self­deciding),

stimulation of the professional development (thanks to the cooperation with various customers),

greater effectiveness and efficiency of the activity,

favorable tax settlements (50% lump-sum costs of the contract of specified task).

The perception of disadvantages of running one’s own activity is different, de­pending on whether a questioned person is a one­person company or an owner of a design studio.In case of designers having their own design studios, the following difficulties, resulting from a necessity to combine a function of a designer with studio man­agement, are mentioned:

responsibility for other people (team) and for all works,

limited time for designing,

a necessity to select compromise solutions.

People acting independently, while mentioning difficulties resulting from their own activity, put a greater emphasis on:

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12. Designing as a method for running own business

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costs (of professional equipment, software, travels to fairs, etc),

lack of financial continuity,

“loneliness” during operation (lack of stimulation resulting from teamwork, which often results in more creative solutions).

The designers mention the following factors constituting the barriers to the pro­fessional development:

financial barriers (lack of capital for investments in development),

lack of the suitable professional equipment, including the expensive special­ised software (related to an issue of lack of financial resources),

lack of an ability to cooperate with the companies, particularly, to work in teams,

lack of the knowledge/ability to reach companies and other potential custom­ers.

Further on, designers mention:

lack of place/opportunity to present and promote their work and achievements in a professional manner,

lack of an opportunity of professional certification (formal recognition of the appropriate level of knowledge and achievements in professional practice).

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TopSpin chairdesign: Stanisław Charaziak

manufacturer: Zakłady Mebli Giętych FAMEG S.A.Good Design 2003

Ministry of Economy Award – Design of the Year 2003

13.Methods

of report preparation

Methodology of report preparation

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The formal and legal basis for the implementation of the research task entitled “Analysis of the industrial and functional design market in Poland”, ordered to The Institute of Industrial Design by the Department of Economic Development at the Ministry of Economy, is the contract of 20th August 2007.The report was drawn up on the basis of:

results of own research:

quantitative – carried out using a sample of 300 Polish companies,

qualitative – carried out using a sample of 30 Polish companies,

published reports implemented in other EU countries,

case studies (so­called good practices), describing successful Polish design products, obtained by way of interviews with companies,

compilations, experiences and opinions of the IWP experts.

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GENTLEMAN rug of Five o’cloth linedesign: Anna Maria Suchodolska

manufacturer: Sztuka Beskidzka Rękodzieło Ludowe i Artystyczne finalist of Silesian Icon 2005

14.Bibliography

Bibliography

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Bernsen J., Design in small and medium size companies, Danish Design Centre, (In-ternet: www.ddc.dk).

Cox G., Cox Review of Creativity in Business: building on the UK’s strenghts; 2005.

Danish Design Centre, 2004, The Economic Effects of Design. Dania: Kopenhaga, (Internet: www.ddc.dk).

Definition of Design; ICSID; 2007, (Internet: www.icsid.org).

Design in Britain 2005-06; Design Council, (Internet: www.designcouncil.org.uk).

Działanie 1.4-4.1 Wsparcie dla przedsiębiorców na prace badawcze i rozwojowe, Pa-kiet informacyjny; PARP, Zespół Badań i Rozwoju/Zespół Instytucjonalnego Systemu Wsparcia; Warszawa 2007.

Działanie 4.2 Stymulowanie działalności B+R przedsiębiorstw oraz wsparcie w zakre-sie wzornictwa, Pakiet informacyjny; PARP, Zespół Badań i Rozwoju/Zespół Instytu-cjonalnego Systemu Wsparcia; Warszawa 2007.

Działek J.; Projekt pilotażowy „Małopolskie Spotkania Branżowe”; CITTRU; Uniwer-sytet Jagielloński, Kraków 2007.

European Design Report; BEDA; DesignAustria; 2007.

Ginalski J., Liskiewicz M., Seweryn J., Rozwój nowego produktu; ASP Kraków; 1995.

Ginalski J., Wzornictwo Przemysłowe, prezentacja dla IWP; 2007.

Gralec W. (PARP), Wsparcie projektów wzorniczych z POIG; 2007.

Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Miszczak M., Efektywność ekonomiczna aplikacji wzornictwa; Prace i Materiały IWP, 18; Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego; Warszawa 2006.

Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Oporski J., Wzornictwo jako instrument pod-noszenia innowacyjności produktu; Prace i Materiały IWP, 12; Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego; Warszawa 2005.

Grzecznowska A., Mostowicz E., Udział wzornictwa przemysłowego w rozwoju przedsiębiorstw; Prace i Materiały IWP, 9; Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego; Warszawa 2004.

Mamica Ł., red.; Wzornictwo Przemysłowe w Małopolsce – oczekiwania firm i stu-dentów; Centrum Design w Krakowie; Kraków 2007.

14. Bibliography

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National Survey of Firms 2002, A report prepared by PACEC on behalf of Design Council (G. Britain), London 2003, (Internet: www.pacec.co.uk).

POIG 5.2 Wspieranie instytucji otoczenia biznesu świadczących usługi proinnowa-cyjne oraz ich sieci o znaczeniu ponadregionalnym; Fundusze Unii Europejskiej; 2007 (Internet: www.fundusze-ue.com.pl).

Prawo własności przemysłowej, Dz. U. z 2003 r. Nr 119, poz. 1117 z późniejszymi zmianami.

Program Operacyjny Innowacyjna Gospodarka; Polska Agencja Rozwoju Przedsiębiorczości; 2007, (Internet: www.parp.gov.pl).

Ramlau Hovgaard U., In Denmark, Design Tops the Agenda; Design Management Review, Fall 2004.

Roy R., Potter S., The commercial impacts of investment in design, Design Studies, Nr 2; 1993

Stowarzyszenie Projektantów Form Przemysłowych, (Internet: www.spfp.diz.pl).

Ustawa o prawie autorskim i prawach pokrewnych, Dz. U. z 2000 r. Nr 80, poz. 904 z późniejszymi zmianami.

Ustawa o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji, Dz. U. z 1993 r. Nr 47, poz. 211.

1��

5th Avenue Pro bikedesign: NPD Department in KROSS

manufacturer: KROSS S.A.Exhibition: „Designed in Poland” Berlin 2005/2006

15.Report distribution

and contact

Report distribution and contact

170

Distribution and public quoting of the report requires the reference to the re­port’s author, i.e., the Institute of Industrial Design.The Institute of Industrial Design is entitled to use the report, wholly or partially, in its own projects or publications.Pursuant to the IWP’s experience, we recommend to prepare abridged or dedi­cated report versions for the purposes of the widespread disclosure of the report to the media, companies as well as administration and institutions of the busi­ness environment.The scope and range of the research is comparable with the research carried out in other EU countries, while the results show a huge development potential of the Polish economy. We suggest to prepare a presentation of the research results for the media, combined with a press conference.The contact person with regard to reports and analyses at the Institute of In­dustrial Design is dr Iwona Palczewska, Director of Research and Development Division; e­mail: iwona_palczewska@iwp.com.pl, phone no.: +48 22 860 02 37.

15. Report distribution and contact

171

21� Mc railbusdesign: Arkadiusz Sobkowiak, Marek Adamczewski

Jakub Gołębiewski, Mariusz Gorczyński, Barbara Kusz, Bartosz Piotrowskimanufacturer: PESA BYDGOSZCZ S.A. Holding

Directors’ Award from the Institute of Industrial Design – Designer of the Year 2006, Good Design 2006

Limitationof the author’s liability

Limitation of the author’s liability

172

The report’s author, i.e., IWP, bears no liability for consequences of decisions made on the basis of the present report.

1�. Limitation of the author’s liability

173

EM-11C ORKA aircraftdesign: Edward Margański, Grzegorz Sadłek, Tadeusz Zboś, Mariusz Wolak

Łukasz Kielar, Tomasz Jasiński, Paweł Zyzakmanufacturer: Zakłady Lotnicze Margański & Mysłowski Sp. z o.o.

Design of the Year 2006, Good Design 2006

17.The Institute

of Industrial Design

The Institute of Industrial Design

174

The Institute of Industrial Design is an All­Polish institution, with 50 years of experience with regard to the popularization of design and development of new products, providing expert and advisory services for companies and administra­tion.The current activity of the IWP is focused on 3 main areas: design promotion and popularization, research and development, education.

It organizes national and international exhibitions, conferences, contests and events promoting design. The leading programme, organized by IWP since 1993, is the “Good Design” programme including monitoring, contest and exhibition of the best designed products on the Polish market. It is the most prestigious – having the expert nature ­ programme dedicated to design in Poland.Design Centre prepares and publishes publications, including “e-Biuletyn” and manages the Internet website www.iwp.com.pl. For 50 years, it has been collect­ing and sharing books and magazines on design and currently it owns one of the largest European libraries dedicated to design, resources of which are gradually digitalized and shared online.

It carries out scientific research with regard to ergonomics and biomechanics as well as design management and development of new products. It develops re­quirements, ergonomic and anthropometric standards for designers and manu­facturers. It carries out market research with regard to design application and market trends. It compiles expert opinions and advisory projects ordered by companies, institutions, state and self­government administration.

It runs trainings, workshops and conferences for designers and entrepreneurs with regard to design management and introduction of a new design product on the market. Since 2008, it has been running, together with SGH, postgraduate studies on design management aimed at product managers and designers.

17. The Institute of Industrial Design

175

In 2007, IWP compiled the following expert opinions and reports:

Design as an opportunity for development of the jewellery and amber industry in Poland – an expert opinion ordered by the Department of Economic Regu­lations at the Ministry of Economy;

Analysis of awareness of the customer needs in companies during the develop-ment and introduction of a new product – an expert opinion compiled for the purposes of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the Ministry of Economy;

Gdynia for imaginative people – a concept of a strategic programme for the self­government of the City of Gdynia, ordered by the City Hall of the City of Gdynia;

Gdynia Design Days 2008 – a concept of a programme for a design festival, ordered by the City Hall of the City of Gdynia;

Expert opinions, ordered by courts, on disputable issues concerning protec­tion of the intellectual property.

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Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego Sp. z o.o.ul. Świętojerska 5/700­236 WarsawPoland

tel.: +48 22 860 00 66fax: +48 22 831 64 78e­mail: iwp@iwp.com.plhttp://www.iwp.com.pl

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Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego would like to thank the following manufac­turers for the provision of product photos and given their permission to use them in the report (in alphabetical order):

ARTEFE Sp. z o.o.,

CIARKO Sp. z o.o.,

Com40 LIMITED Sp. z o.o.,

Fabryka Mebli BALMA S.A.,

Fabryka Porcelany KRZYSZTOF S.A.,

Flowair Głogowski i Brzeziński Sp.j.

GlobalDom Sp. z o.o.,

IKER Sp. z o.o.,

KROSNO S.A.,

KROSS S.A.,

Moho Design Sp. z o.o.,

Noon Yachts S.A.,

NOTI,

PESA BYDGOSZCZ S.A. Holding,

PROFIm Sp. z o.o.

Puff­Buff Design,

Sztuka Beskidzka Rękodzieło Ludowe i Artystyczne,

Zakłady Lotnicze Margański & Mysłowski Sp. z o.o.,

Zakłady Mebli Giętych FAMEG S.A.,

ZELMER S.A.

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