Abstract
The author identified more than 120 designer owned manufacturing companies in Québec. He interviewed 50 designers who owned such companies, and obtained detailed information on more than 75 companies. He examined these companies for: area of activity, size, longevity and economic impact. The companies are highly concentrated in the area of lifestyle products and are of comparable size to other manufacturing companies, show similar revenue per employee and have similar economic impact. They are also much more successful than other Québec manufacturers as far as longevity is concerned. These designer-owned companies create more direct employment than do industrial design consulting firms in Québec. The author proposes several hypotheses for the business success of designer-producers.
Keywords
Professional Practice, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Business, Success, Québec
Citation
Desrosiers, A. (2010) The Success of Designer-producers in Québec, in Durling, D., Bousbaci, R., Chen, L, Gauthier, P., Poldma, T., Roworth-Stokes, S. and Stolterman, E (eds.), Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7-9 July, Montreal, Canada. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/30
The Success of Designer-producers in Québec
The author identified more than 120 designer owned manufacturing companies in Québec. He interviewed 50 designers who owned such companies, and obtained detailed information on more than 75 companies. He examined these companies for: area of activity, size, longevity and economic impact. The companies are highly concentrated in the area of lifestyle products and are of comparable size to other manufacturing companies, show similar revenue per employee and have similar economic impact. They are also much more successful than other Québec manufacturers as far as longevity is concerned. These designer-owned companies create more direct employment than do industrial design consulting firms in Québec. The author proposes several hypotheses for the business success of designer-producers.