Journal Article

A cross-cultural assessment of leading values in design-oriented companies

Calabretta, Giulia, Montaña, Jordi, Iglesias, Oriol

2008

Overview

This study is an attempt to approach design management from a cultural perspective. Specifically, the paper assumes that design orientation reflects an underlying organisational culture that distinguishes design-oriented companies from the rest and reinforces their capability to generate competitive advantage from design management. The aim is to disentangle the main characteristics of this culture. A case study research approach was adopted to gain some initial insights on the cultural characteristics of the population considered in the present study. The results of the field study identify a set of general values and product-related values shared by the design-oriented companies considered in this research. In addition, the existence of functional sub-cultures and cross-cultural differences is analysed, together with a discussion on how organisational culture and functional sub-cultures can co-exist in this specific context. Although a rich set of qualitative data was garthered, the number of cases is still too small to consider replications and opportunities for theory building. The paper proposes a structured description of design orientation from a multiple level of analysis (organisational culture and individual sub-cultures). It provides useful insights on interaction and harmonisation between these levels, leading to a better understanding of the drivers of design-oriented behaviour. Additionally, the cross-cultural setting of the study addresses the interconnectedness of cross-cultural design practices and design-oriented managerial values.

• Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subject: Competition / Competitive advantage / Corporate culture / Design / Design optimization / Industrial design / Innovations / Multiculturalism & pluralism / Product design / Product development / Strategic management / Studies / Subcultures