| Summary: | Companies that want to compete in the actual business environment need to be innovative. The shortening of product life cycles and the increasing competition force the companies to successfully come up with new ideas. In previous research some quantitative studies have been done on small companies using design management, notably in Italy and Spain. Sweden is both known for its small companies and its design. The purpose of the study is to explore design management in small Swedish companies. This thesis aims to continue exploring the field of design management especially in small companies. We outline the following research questions: “How do small companies using design management generate their ideas?” and “How do small companies using design management select their ideas?”. To find an answer, we reviewed relevant literature concerning this topic and based on this we developed a theoretical frame including our own research platform. Concerning our methodological approach, we choose the abductive approach since it enables us answering our research questions by extending our theoretical framework for this complex topic. Our research strategy is a qualitative study and our research design is a multiple case study using semi-structured interviews. Our empirical findings consist of four interviews divided in two sets. The interviews were conducted in London, Gothenburg and Skellefteå. The first set of interviews addressed design management consultancies with the aim to have an overview of how small companies generate and select their ideas. The second set of interviews addressed small companies in Northern Sweden. Our findings are a synthesis of the broad view of the consultants and the case specific views of the small companies’ managers. From these interviews, we have concluded that the design management knowledge in Swedish small companies varies and is rather rare. Nevertheless, small companies can follow design management principles without knowing the term design management (what we call silent design ...
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