Designer-led NPD implementation issues in Chinese SMEs

Design-oriented New Product Development (NPD) has been recognised as beneficial for company growth; however, there is limited reporting on the understanding of its effectiveness in a real-world context especially in Chinese SMEs. This paper aims to explore issues related to the implementation of designer-led NPD in a Chinese SME. An experiment was setup whereby two NPD teams were assigned to conduct NPD concurrently. One of the teams carried out the conventional NPD process model used by the company, and the other adopted the designer-led NPD process model. A metrics tool was built in the form of questionnaires for obtaining the views of the participants. Results indicate that designer-led NPD is perceived to be more inclusive of team member’s views, resulting in what we termed a ‘democratic’ NPD. Although, it was relatively resource intensive as it required more time. , it provided an opportunity for the company to produce a radical new product. This research is a single case study suggesting that the marketing performance of new products can be valuable for further understanding the effectiveness of designer-led NPD and that the long term effectiveness of designer-led NPD in Chinese SMEs requires further investigation