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Measuring design investment in firms: Conceptual foundations and exploratory UK survey

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  • Moultrie, James
  • Livesey, Finbarr

Abstract

The importance of design to company and national performance has been widely discussed, with a number of studies investigating the value or impact of design on performance. However, none of these studies has measured design investment as an input against which performance can be compared. As yet, there is no established way in which design investment might be measured. Without such a method, we cannot develop a reliable picture, akin to that for R&D spending, on the impact of design spending on company performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Moultrie, James & Livesey, Finbarr, 2014. "Measuring design investment in firms: Conceptual foundations and exploratory UK survey," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 570-587.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:570-587
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2013.08.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hirschey, Mark, 1982. "Intangible Capital Aspects of Advertising and R&D Expenditures," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 375-390, June.
    2. Haskel, J & Pesole, A & Galindo-Rueda, F, 2010. "How much does the UK employ, spend and invest in design?," Working Papers 5971, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandro Montresor & Antonio Vezzani, 2017. "Design, innovation and performance in European firms," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2017-01, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Laima Gerlitz, 2016. "Developing a Design Management Model for Innovating SMEs in the Context of Regional Smart Specialisation," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 8(2).
    3. Dan, Sujan M. & Spaid, Brian I. & Noble, Charles H., 2018. "Exploring the sources of design innovations: Insights from the computer, communications and audio equipment industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1495-1504.
    4. Roper, Stephen & Love, James H. & Bonner, Karen, 2017. "Firms’ knowledge search and local knowledge externalities in innovation performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 43-56.
    5. Ghisetti, Claudia & Montresor, Sandro & Vezzani, Antonio, 2021. "Design and environmental technologies: Does ‘green-matching’ actually help?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    6. Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Stephen Kehinde Medase, 2024. "Extracting Innovation Value from Intellectual Property: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 8933-8967, June.
    7. Filitz, Rainer & Henkel, Joachim & Tether, Bruce S., 2015. "Protecting aesthetic innovations? An exploration of the use of registered community designs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1192-1206.
    8. Herz, Benedikt & Mejer, Malwina, 2021. "The effect of design protection on price and price dispersion: Evidence from automotive spare parts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Doris Schartinger & Michael Barber, 2025. "Firms’ intellectual property protection with national versus European design rights: a count model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(8), pages 4157-4186, August.
    10. Kristof Van Criekingen & Carter Bloch & Carita Eklund, 2022. "Measuring intangible assets—A review of the state of the art," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1539-1558, December.
    11. King Carl Tornam Duho, 2022. "Intangibles, Intellectual Capital, and the Performance of Listed Non-Financial Services Firms in West Africa: A Cross-Country Analysis," Merits, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-25, June.
    12. Roper, Stephen & Micheli, Pietro & Love, James H. & Vahter, Priit, 2016. "The roles and effectiveness of design in new product development: A study of Irish manufacturers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 319-329.
    13. Herz, Benedikt & Mejer, Malwina, 2020. "The effect of design protection on price and price dispersion: Evidence from automotive spare parts," MPRA Paper 104137, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Nov 2020.

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