(907)KIT-VPD: A COLLABORATIVE UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE FOR IMPLEMENTING VALUE PROPOSITION DESIGN TECHNIQUES IN SMES

摘要

Today many small companies are confronted with harsh market conditions. The current economiccrisis has weakened the financial health of many small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), especially inindustries in which foreign, low-cost producers have entered the market and are threatening thesurvival of the existing competitors. Thus, European SMEs are becoming more aware that business asusual is no longer sufficient and that their future depends on their ability to offer innovative productsand services, innovate and improve their value propositions and associated business models, or theircapability to innovate their business processes. Changing market conditions thus force smaller firms toadapt or reinvent their business through new technologies or unique value propositions.At the same time, small firms face several constraints in differentiating their products and changingtheir business model. A major liability is that small firms lack the required resources, knowledge andtechnical capabilities. They therefore must collaborate with external partners to innovate successfully,to develop new sources of income, and to reach more profitable positions in the competitivelandscape, and university-industry collaboration is one efficient approach towards that aim. SMEsoften do not know how to confront their innovation approach and the role of emerging approaches andtools in terms of value proposition. Therefore, both enterprises and individuals need to increase theirinnovation management capabilities and skills to improve their competitiveness through ValueProposition Design (VPD), as a logical step for many SMEs to take.A good value proposition is one of the most important elements for the competitiveness of SMEs inactual marketplace, as they reflect and capture the value that a company, product or service offeringprovides to a customer. The stronger the value proposition, the more value customers perceive thatthey get and, therefore, the more willing they are to buy. Thus, VPD addresses the relationshipbetween customer segments and value propositions through a process of developing and confronting,with the market, the different options of a company when defining their value proposals, and thereforeadds new and necessary resources for strategy and business development to existing businesses.In this context, the aim of this paper is to show Mondragon University?s approach to theimplementation of a collaborative university-industry experience focused on the implementation ofVPD in SMEs. The present paper shows the development and results achieved through the projectKIT-PVD. Concretely, this paper explains the processes, tools and outcomes of this value propositiondesign experience in several small SMEs, as long as the lessons learned and proposals for SMEs andUniversities approaching this challenge.