Abstract
One factor determining an industrially produced product’s success is how well it complies with customer needs. When small and medium size enterprises (SME) launch products onto new foreign markets, it is important to conduct cultural research to take customer design preferences in to consideration. This study, based on experiences from field studies in three countries, the USA, South Korea and Germany, can offer the SME´s designer with guidance of how to collect information about cultural design preferences in practice. The aim is to show the SME how to conduct design studies by themselves and what the benefits are of doing so. Conventional methods, such as questionnaires to attain quantitative data along with observations and interviews to attain qualitative data, were used. The goal was to explore different approaches to acquire sufficient amount of interviews and answered questionnaires from varying target groups. The SMEs can benefit from these experiences, therefore perform their own design research more efficiently and profitably. The outcome of a successful design study in a foreign culture is greatly affected by the preparations done before the actual field research, such as acquiring contact persons in the target country and ensuring that the chosen methods and approaches apply.
Keywords
design research methods for designers, design and culture, product design, small and medium sized enterprises
Citation
Haarakoski, M., Johansson, M., and Lundberg, J. (2006) A Guide to Methods for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Designing for New Markets, Based on Cultural Research Experiences, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/33
A Guide to Methods for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Designing for New Markets, Based on Cultural Research Experiences
One factor determining an industrially produced product’s success is how well it complies with customer needs. When small and medium size enterprises (SME) launch products onto new foreign markets, it is important to conduct cultural research to take customer design preferences in to consideration. This study, based on experiences from field studies in three countries, the USA, South Korea and Germany, can offer the SME´s designer with guidance of how to collect information about cultural design preferences in practice. The aim is to show the SME how to conduct design studies by themselves and what the benefits are of doing so. Conventional methods, such as questionnaires to attain quantitative data along with observations and interviews to attain qualitative data, were used. The goal was to explore different approaches to acquire sufficient amount of interviews and answered questionnaires from varying target groups. The SMEs can benefit from these experiences, therefore perform their own design research more efficiently and profitably. The outcome of a successful design study in a foreign culture is greatly affected by the preparations done before the actual field research, such as acquiring contact persons in the target country and ensuring that the chosen methods and approaches apply.