Design Capabilities and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Envisioning a New Role that Design can Play in Manufacturing

This study investigates the relationship between design capabilities and entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) aiming to expand the discussion on new product development (NPD) in manufacturing. While the strategic contribution of design to NPD in terms of firms’ competitive advantage is widely acknowledged, the rapid technological transformation and disruptions occurring between the production and consumption systems make the adoption of the ecosystems perspective for NPD a promising direction for companies in order to compete and survive. This paper focuses on the manufacturing sector in order to better understand how design capabilities might support manufacturing companies in building EEs for NPD. Therefore, by adopting a bottom-up approach, this study develops a framework that correlates design capabilities to the necessary capabilities for accessing and strengthening entrepreneurial knowledge in EEs. Capabilities correlation derives from the development and interpretation of six case studies that identify design capabilities throughout strategic design experiments for NPD in six food-packaging companies within the Chicago region (IL). A qualitative comparative analysis of the two main representative case studies led to the conclusion that when design capabilities are required to support NPD through EEs, they have possibilities of intervention, but they should be managed on the organizational dimension for the nurturing of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities of EEs. The framework represents a practical tool for managers that intend to employ and organize design capabilities for NPD by following an incremental innovation and economic adaptation logic.