The Role of Design in the Development of the Made in Italy Brand in China

摘要

Nowadays, the world-wide globalization process has brought a new economic and production scene and a different economic geography. The progressive liberalization and deregulation of markets, together with the ICT development have led to the birth of a New Economy. This new context is defined by a high level of competition, by the reduction of production costs, and by the use of intangible assets to create value-added products and services. The Western industrial systems - both of which lead to or have endured this change - and the new Eastern ones - generating competitive advantage from globalization opportunities - now coexist and compete with each other. This paper presents the results of two studies led by DesignFocus in 2005 on a sample of SMEs that trade in China. The goal was to identify critical areas and opportunities within which design can develop policies, strategies, and tools to consolidate or renew the Made in Italy brand on new worldwide markets; these should stimulate innovation processes so that both Italian SMEs and government are able to promote the Made in Italy system in China and in other emerging markets.