M anagement 2013, 3(7): 368-372
DOI: 10.5923/j.mm.20130307.06
A Sampler Inquiry on the Current Trends of Interference
Between Design Focused SMEs and Innovative
Production Companies in Highly Industrialized Clusters
Alper Çalgüner
Gazi University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Industrial Design, Ankara, 06570, Turkey
Abstract It is consistently observed in the clustering structure of many industrializing countries that the weak ties of the
extensive national network are rapidly being transformed into intensive clusters created by strong ties. This close interaction
through a highly industrialized cluster serves an opportunity for small sized design-focused companies or freelance designers
to expose their potential on increasing the efficiency of overall R&D and innovation spendings, especially by making
products and services more user-friendly and appealing. A pilot study is conducted, subjecting an appropriate sample of a
cluster of medical equip ment production companies that is employed to be in a systematic collaboration with a set of
design-focused SME’s; where both sides of the collaboration have no similar stages experienced before. The process and
products of this activity is enrolled by a contrastive settlement and has paved the way for more sophisticated processes for the
near future. The study exposes that the common view of beneficiaries and users that are, at the same time cluster stakeholders,
explicate that the products produced by the entrepreneurs of the sample SM E city are sufficient in terms of basic function and
quality but not in terms of design and usability, precip itating a sharp recession on the success level of the products.
Keywords Design, Innovation, Highly Industrialized Clusters, National Innovation System, Medical Equip ment
Design
1. Introduction
In the 21st Century, sustainable economic gro wth and
social development performances of countries that are
generated design policies and support programs are
determined by the success in transforming their tradit ional
economies into design-focused innovation economies.
Accordingly; design activity, which has mo re chance for
commercial success than innovation-focused product
development activit ies that do not rely on market demands, is
sticked out as a decisive aspect in the technological and
economical development process.
Technology policies that are designed and applied through
the interaction of trade, industry and culture policies; are
evolved into innovation policies in course of time.
Govern ments, national econo mies and design support
policies as a result of them have drifted apart fro m the
industrial focus to ‘innovation policy’ concept after the 2nd
World War.
Innovation policy can also be defined as the contemporary
vers ion o f industrial po licy that econo mies move fro m
* Corresponding author:
[email protected] (Alper Çalgüner)
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/mm
Copyright © 2013 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved
production base to being service based. Nat ions give massive
importance to the producing, acquiring, using and
disseminating technologies for increasing revenue levels of
countries, life qualities of societies and direct ing their social
and governmental policies. Here the basic aim is reaching the
determined innovation capacity by establishing an impact
scientific infrastructure. In the conditions of our age, the
most prevalently accepted way of attaining these aims is the
generation and operation of National Innovation System.
Many countries – defining design as an integral part of
culture and industry policies- have constituted and operated
specified design support programs through their econo mic,
commercial and social aims. These programs and support
models are designed depending upon the countries’
socio-economic structures and the governments’ perception
of design process.
The term ‘Nat ional Innovation System’ (NIS) has begun
to be used widespread in the generation of technology and
innovation policies especially in 1990s. While encompassing
all the establishments that affect the technological
development process, on the other hand, acted effectively by
bringing on its position in the international division of labor
and international competit ive strength of a country.
Every National Innovation System consists of two
determinative factors that effect the innovation capacity. The
first factor is being defined as the structural and economical
M anagement 2013, 3(7): 368-372
characteristic specialties like the do minancy of SM Es in the
economy, and the sectorial dispersion of activit ies according
to sectors and demand to innovation. The second
determinative factor can be defined as the socio-cultural and
institutional conditions
that support
individuals,
entrepreneurs and sectorial emp loyee about innovation.
It is widely recognized that reg ional policy modalities
have undertaken significant ro les on the generation of
innovation policies in many national attempts through the
recent decades. National and regional innovation approaches
are typically determined by the strucural and functional
outcomes of National Innovation Systems. Considering the
transnational innovation systems applied on developed and
developing countries since 1980’s, it can be deduced that the
homogenity of the design perception and awareness of a
society show parallelis m with the success in collaboration
through relevant sectors.
The convergent clustering and alliance of enterprices
triggering peculiar blends of proficiency stimu lates
interactive learning and capitalizat ion by supply chains or
clustering other than individual managements, eventuating
with a support for cultural change. Herein, a clustering of
value chains forming innovative networks that are composed
of sectoral branches producing goods and services with
similar technologies would probably end up with value chain
clustering allo wing the man ifestation of co mmert ial
potentials. This also refers to an advantage of concrete
reversal. This illustration also provides basis for the case of
the pilot study conducted in this research.
For Porter, industrial clusterings are the repusive forces
behind economical develop ment. Their sintering character
gives energy to innovation, supports improvement, provides
the generation of new enterprices and industries; and
encourages demands for local industries[1]. The
fundamental aim of the clustering studies typically seems to
be investigating the general economical develop ment of the
cluster including added value, employ ment and growth rate
in exportation market shares. Only this approach has been
emerged for integrating the structural features of the
clustering as a whole, by focusing on the critical interactions
between production, development and usage of new
technologies; fro m the earlier stages. As an integral approach
to regional gro wth, OECD’s “National Innovation Systems”
report presented in 1997 has emphasized that the emmission
speed of technology in national innovation systems depends
on the industrial structure and technical proficiency of the
country, institutional regulations, enterprice administration
regimes economical lucidity level and the elasticity of the
organizational and executive structures of the enterprices.
According to the OECD readers; the cluster also includes
foundations generating ensconced policies, ministeries and
institutions specially interested in national and regional level
industrious innovation; by exceeding its analyst and
supporter communities. In this spirit, it can be deduced that
clusters do not obey every sectoral limitat ion. Sectoral data
necessarily encompass both active and inactive enterprices
while keeping out many considerable actors, exh ibiting a
369
fundamental set of criteria fo r determin ing a case structure in
this kind of a study.
2. Innovative Networks and Medical
Clusters
The “National Innovation System” conception cultivated
by Lundvall[2], has been internalized as an inherent
compound of interacting institutions and ultimate practices
providing the emergence of innovation, by this focus group.
This notion has been decisively distinguished from the
previous linear innovative concepts experiencing innovation
as the last step of a process converging to the rapidly
developing concepts in industrial clusterings literature,
substantially carried out by the basic researches on scientific
improvements. A common sight arguing that innovation
emerges from the continuous interaction between scientific,
commertial, pedagogical and social institutions; has been
admitted by a wide mass including the OECD readers,
emphasizing a mu ltid imensional coaction.
De Bresson and Hu[3] stresses the importance of
determining the innovative clusters in terms of investigating
the location of both the growth dynamics and the learning
proficiencies. Internalizing that the determination of these
kind of clusterings ensure the transfer of economical severity
to innovation basin by imp lementing innovation policies to
innovation Dynamics. This approach comprises the
academical background of design centers that comprises the
survey field of this study. The research focuses on clusters
instead of individual enterprices, foreseeing that this
approach could lead to a convenient method providing an
appropriate context for the enterprices to capitalize ‘learning
by interaction’ and support cultural change.
For determining the right case for a research interrogating
the local impacts concerning an initial interaction of
designers and producers, a brief illustration of the major
components of clusters should be presented. It would be
feasible to define industrial clusters as chains comprised of
suppliers, purchasers and information centers (universities,
research institutes, knowledge intensive services,
intermediary foundations). These chains generally
− have supplementary proficiencies allocated for their
own use,
− are bounded to each other by production chains or
value chains,
− develop common industrial processes and final
products,
− are likely to join networks that are focused on
innovation and technological developments.
At any enterprice, innovation can be defined as a function
of the available skills and proficiencies, by the intervention
of the components below:
− Technological innovation
− The ingenuties and qualities of labour power
− The specializat ion strength of the enterprice and
organization on the core ab ilities of its industry, and the
activation capacity of the enterprice on these resources.
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Alper Çalgüner: A Sampler Inquiry on the Current Trends of Interference Between Design Focused
SM Es and Innovative Production Companies in Highly Industrialized Clusters
This basis seems to be the essential circu mstance for a
wider industrial effect of innovation activities as a result of
competitive innovation performance. The movement of these
resources is integrated with the systematic usage of
informat ion and proficiencies stemming fro m the external
resources and basins through the functional and
organizational limitations within the enterprice. By this
standpoint, innovation should be treated both as a multi
functional and a mult i organizational process. By a brief
glance on the field, innovation policy could be perceived as a
learning process as well as innovation itself.
In a study questionizing the external impact of design
innovation in a specialized cluster structure that has not
experienced an organized design process before,
determination of a clustering approach represents the change
in the policy generation process. The Commission of the
European Countries report declared in 2009 state that
user-centered design innovation stresses human needs,
aspirations and abilit ies, and strives for holistic and visionary
solutions with its potential to make products and services
user-friendly and appealing, design ‘closes the innovation
loop’ fro m in itial research to co mmercially viab le
innovations and, as such, has the potential to increase
efficiency of overall R&D and innovation spending.
Studying on the clustering types that could meet the
requirements of the research, the approach of Gelijns and
Thier[4] emphasizing that med ical innovation depends on
extensive interactions between universities and industry,
with knowledge and technology transfer flowing in both
directions, has guided the spotting process. For them, these
interactions have had important public health and economic
benefits. Yet, there is a risk to the university-industry
relationship if the cultural and ethical princip les of one
partner overwhelm those of the other. Therefore, universities
and industry need to maximize the upsides of collaboration
and minimize the downsides by means of internal
organizational change as well as format ion of new models of
collaboration, such as intellectual partnerships or virtual
research organizations. However, sharp critical questions
have recently been posed about the "adverse effects" of
highly productive means of encouraging innovation.
Concerns center on blurring lines between academic research
and the commercial world, closer ties between universities
and business, and the implications of universities' newfound
readiness to behave as profit-seeking entities. Universities
play a mo re pro minent role in the develop ment of medical
devices. Academic clinicians have invented and built a range
of device prototypes, such as magnetic resonance imaging
mach ines, the fiber-optic gastrointestinal endoscope,
laparoscopic tools, and coronary angioplasty catheters. If a
device originates in academia, however, researchers
typically discover at some point that they cannot advance a
project further, because enabling technologies are missing or
are too specialized technically to be developed within the
university, and partnerships with industrial firms ensue. The
device itself is not the only dynamic part of the innovation
process. The early development stage of a new device
typically exh ibits huge variations in operator techniques and
skills. Clinicians are indispensable in refining and
standardizing techniques, which can lead to significant
improvements in outcomes, as reductions in operative
mortality and driveline in fections with left ventricular assist
devices illustrate. This standardization is reinforced by
industrial modifications that render devices more teachable,
learnable, usable, and perhaps less expensive."[5]
Studies on design oriented medical clusters point out that
design oriented structures show more capability on
implementing new technologies on both traditional and
innovative med ical devices, owing to the close product-user
interaction process. "Users of medical devices are involved
in the development and evaluation of medical device
technology due to their potentially vital ro le in the
innovation, development, assessment, implementation, and
dissemination of the technology[6]. Engagement with the
users is also now required under medical device regulations
[7]. However, such engagement is also associated with
benefits and costs[8] that may encourage or discourage
involvement of users in the development and evaluation of a
particular technology. (…) The ev idence also shows that the
direct and active interaction and cooperation between users
and producers enhances quality[9],[10] functionality,
usability, design[11], as well as effectiveness[12], and the
adoption of medical device technologies. For example,
improvements in key aspects of a ventilator[13] and the
development of a innovative but complex medical device
such as a neuromagnetometer[14][15][16] showed how the
involvement of users was crit ical."
3. Pilot Study: A Sample Cluster in an
SME City
According to Woolthuis et.al.[17], clusterings usually do
not match with sectoral boundaries. Sectoral data, of
necessary, encompasses inactive data in clusters while
excluding many considerable actors. The sample universe of
the study is a SM E city with its 17 main sectors, 5000
enterprises and 50000 employees on 139 pro fessions. With
its machines and benches of hundreds of enterprises that
have up-to-date technology, it is a big factory where
thousands of engineers, technicians, masters, experts and
managers work. It could also be defined as an experienced
sub-industry playing big roles on many strategic sectors such
as defense, health technologies, aviation, rail transportation,
construction and energy. Besides, the sample SM E city now
has costumers who prefer products that satisfy needs beyond
identifications made by them. Both current economic
developments and experiences gained fro m their clustering
projects performed within the frame of local development
businesses point out that the ones who produce innovative
products with high added value based on design are to be
successful in the game of co mpetit ion.
An operative organizational pro ject has been applied in
2012 at the sample universe; that has been identified as a
prominent organized industrial region and a SM E city. The
M anagement 2013, 3(7): 368-372
pilot study is designed to questionize the general approach
on the med ical equip ment design of SM Es, alongside the
economic situation of design market and current
emp loyment situation over the medical cluster of the SM E
city. “Industrial Design and Coordination Centre for Health
Technologies Project” is the first step of systematic and
sustainable solutions that the project team has looked for as
an answer to fulfill this need. Based on the conclusions
gathered fro m the pro ject, wh ich has first been performed, on
health sector, two steps have been planned to be taken:
First one is, by the year 2013, realizing “Industrial Design
Coordination Center” which will meet the needs of other
sectors besides health sector. Second one is achieving the
vision of ‘virtual factory’ which will be realized by
organizing domestic and unique designs derived fro m social
needs in the sample SM E city. With the occasion of the
stated project, the project team has expressed their grat itude
to the local develop ment agency, solution partners and
companies that contribute to the development of domestic
production. ‘Health Technologies Industrial Design
Coordination Center Pro ject’ is in the scope of the article
which is the third priority of the Financial Support Program
of the local development agency; “Imp lementations for
Co mmercializing Knowledge Intensive Products and
Innovative Implementations on the Fields of Informatics and
Health Technologies, Developing Projects and Industrial
Designs, Utility Model and Patent” and it involves activities
directly related with the subject.
With the researches made at the beginning of the project, it
is determined that the co mmon view o f beneficiaries and
users which are cluster stakeholders is that products
produced by the enterprises of the sample SM E city are
sufficient in terms of basic function and quality but not in
terms of design and usability, so it negatively affects their
success. Therefore, the main aim of this pro ject is
determined to increase the added value of local health
technologies and medical device manufacturers in the
sample SM E city by industrial design.
As an initial step of systematic and sustainable solutions
that the project team has looked for as an answer to fulfill
this need, “Industrial Design and Coordination Centre for
Health Technologies Pro ject” has first been performed on
health sector. For the pilot study, two steps have been
planned to be taken:
For the first step; “Industrial Design Coordination Center”
which would meet the needs of other sectors besides health
sector is aimed to be materialized, by 2013. The second step
deals with achieving the vision of ‘virtual factory’ that will
be realized by organizing do mestic and unique designs
derived fro m social needs in the sample universe. By the
occasion of the stated project, the project team has expressed
their gratitude to the local development agency, solution
partners and companies which contribute to the development
of do mestic production. ‘Health Technologies Industrial
Design Coord ination Center Project’ is in the scope of the
research which is the third prio rity of the local development
371
agency financial support program “Imp lementations for
Co mmercializing Knowledge Intensive Products and
Innovative Implementations on the Fields of Informatics and
Health Technologies, Developing Projects and Industrial
Designs, Utility Model and Patent”, involving act ivities
directly related with the subject matter.
Considering the in itial findings of the project, it is
discovered that the common view of beneficiaries and users
that are, at the same time cluster stakeholders, exp licate that
the products produced by the sample SM E city entrepreneurs
are sufficient in terms of basic function and quality but not in
terms of design and usability, precip itating a sharp recession
on the success level of the products.
4. Discussions on the Potential
Influences of the Research
In the recent epoch with the effect of changing
requirements and increasing expectations in local, sectorial
and national base; design and other non-price factors
acquired much more significance for being exhib ited by its
continuous and efficient contributions to competitive
strength. It can be seen that it is inadequate to evaluate
innovation that determines the global countenance and has
become a forcing power of improvement, by only
technological innovation originated.
Increasing industrial design awareness, level of
knowledge and skills with concrete products and
implementations of primarily 61 enterprises that are
members of the medical clustering of the sample SM E city;
is aimed through the project. The extended aim is exposed as
to encompass the whole local medical device producers.
“Industrial Design Coordination Center”, that can be
expounded as the most critical outcome of imp lementations
realized in the sample enterprises by aggregation of user and
beneficiary establishments, the usability experts and test
centers, academicians and designers which are also target
groups of the project and stakeholder inventory created
during the project; are aimed to be established to sustainably
fulfill industrial design needs not only in health sector but
also in all sectors related to products. Industrial Design
Center is configured with a business model involving design
process management consultancy, design, engineering,
model and prototype solutions and all needs of producers
during production process.
Exposing SM Es as the basic business structures of a
national economy, this research is assumed as a basic source
for determin ing forward development and industry strategies.
Deductions acquired by the project team has shown that a
previous study with suggested project scale and
qualifications has not been performed. Previous studies
performed on that field are defined more local scaled and
number of samples kept in a nominal level, considering the
limitat ions. Since there is no comprehensive study on this
subject, it is predicted that this study contribute the future
studies subjecting the impact of design on innovative
372
Alper Çalgüner: A Sampler Inquiry on the Current Trends of Interference Between Design Focused
SM Es and Innovative Production Companies in Highly Industrialized Clusters
539-543. 1999.
clusters.
[9]
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