Winners: How Successful Companies Innovate by Design

This book is essentially about the winners of the European Design Prize, a project of the European Union's Innovation Programme. The prizes as the author states awarded to a limited number of successful companies; a preference is given to small and medium sized industrial companies located and operating in the European Economic Area-not to a particular product, and not to an individual, such as a designer. The principal criteria used the jury is a company has used design to innovate successfully. In 1997 there were 53 finalist companies and 11 winners, these and previous years winners are used as case examples the author to discuss design and innovation and what makes winners. The introductory chapter identifies drivers of innovation and considers how small companies use design to innovate. Thakera briefly discusses the contributors to success for small companies and other factors which have an impact on such companies, such as technology, the local community, the new consumer, age and demographic and the future of work. The sections in which each of these topics are covered are very short, populated to a great extent reference to recent research and current statistics. For instance, figures from another project Europe's 500 (a five year investigation of Europe's most dynamic entrepreneurs) are used, an example being Critical Success Factors: Europe's 500 companies are at least as concerned with 'soft' competencies-marketing and human resources-as with 'hard' competencies, such as production and technology. Despite its brevity this chapter introduces the reader to the context in which to consider the company case studies discussed in the remainder of the book. The next eight chapters; to be different, reinvent the wheel; Customization, mass production in lots of one; Urban equipment, tools for competing cities; The human factor, usability and safety; Working with wetware, technology and the body; Things that think, microchips and smart material; Ecological limits, a business opportunity; One to one: the Internet and business connectivity, are all based on a driver of innovation relevant to those companies as identified the author. A brief analysis of that driver is followed short cases stories illustrating how the finalist or winning companies used design to innovate new services or products. All the eight chapters follow the same format, in terms of layout and content, as that of the first How to be different. This chapter is chiefly concerned with product differentiation. The argument presented, is that in competitive markets successful companies tend to make their products different rather than cheaper. Thackera suggests that the companies illustrated in this chapter have faced up to the differentiation challenge and gone back to square one. They have immersed themselves in the contexts in which their products are used. They look at performance, ergonomics, aesthetics, maintenance, safety and manufacturing... they also consider what products mean in there contexts. The cases represented include Hultafors, a Swedish hand tools manufacturer, who used the Ergonomi Design Gruppen to rethink entirely the design of a hammer. The result was the T-Block Hammer, for optimum grip with a hollow head filled with small steel balls which relieve the shock caused each blow. The second case used to illustrate this issue is that of the Languiole Knife Company. A small French knife company which was brought back from decline in 1987, using designers such as Stark, Yan Pennor and Eric Raffy to design not only the knives but the architecture of the factory, the packaging and communications. The third case in this chapter is Lamy, a German writing instrument company, which used a designed by approach to move into a high price segment, developing the Persona Mario Bellini. Allegre, a maker of baby bottles and feeding utensils, were also used to illustrate how they used design to differentiate their products. Three further companies were used to reiterate the point: Stokke a Norwegian furniture company, Rexite an Italian Manufacturer of home and office accessories and Dyson the British vacuum cleaner manufacturer. Indeed each did, it would appear, use design to differentiate, but as each case is only described briefly, in possibly three to five hundred words, the entire context in which design was used is missing. This approach can be frustrating if the reader is looking for a richer insight into the successful innovation which apparently occurred. Indeed this is not a book that provides either detailed theory or in depth cases studies rather it provides a useful soundbite approach to the subject, drawing material from well known researchers and commentators. For instance, the Customisation Chapter draws on the work of Lampel and Mintzberg to define the customization/standardization continuum. Similarly the work of Martin Christopher, Britain's first professor of logistics is used to discuss the close relationship between logistics and customisation. The watchstrap manufacturer Hirsch's story is cited to illustrate these concepts in practice. Their leather watch strap collection contains 100 models in 2000 variations, they combine traditional craftsmanship with sophisticated logistics and distribution methods to ensure that each special request can be produced and delivered in days. This level of information is both interesting and intriguing. As an academic one may be frustrated the lack of detail. The cases will not give an insight into detailed innovation and new product development processes or the determinants of success. However the book is not aimed at the academic