Abstract

The importance of design has been increasingly recognized by companies in recent years, expanding perceptions of design and enlarging its role. However, the reality of how design is actually perceived within companies has not been fully elucidated, nor has a universally accepted definition of design emerged. Moreover, the relationship between the perception of design within companies and product development performance, design management styles, and even the external environment has not been clearly established. Through a quantitative survey of Japanese manufacturing companies and a comprehensive analysis based on survey results, this study aims to clarify how design is perceived within companies and to reveal the relationship between a company’s perception of design and its product development performance, design management style, and market environment. Using survey responses, a cluster analysis was conducted, which allowed for the classification of companies into layers with similar patterns of design perceptions, and a comparative analysis of these layers was performed. The analysis produced several useful insights: (1) There are clear differences in the perception of design among companies; (2) Companies that perceive design more broadly and multidimensionally tend to have superior product development performance; (3) Companies that perceive design more broadly and multidimensionally tend to utilize designers more extensively in their product development activities and engage them in organizational management to effectively leverage design; and (4) Companies that perceive design more broadly and multidimensionally tend to face markets with a high design intensity.