A Study Focused on Design Outsourcing in the Turkish Economy: Factors Affecting the Success of Design Projects


YAVUZCAN H. G., Gur B.

DESIGN JOURNAL, vol.22, no.1, pp.29-49, 2019 (AHCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 22 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/14606925.2018.1560593
  • Journal Name: DESIGN JOURNAL
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.29-49
  • Keywords: product design outsourcing, project design stages, design service performance, target setting, prototyping, INNOVATION
  • Gazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Today, although supply and demand in design are increasing notably and design consultancies are holding key supplier positions, previous studies note that a noticeable number of outsourced design projects end up with unexpected costs, latencies and unachieved manufacturability. In this research, failures of design outsourcing are taken as the main focus. A consultant firm in Ankara, Turkey has been selected as a case study, and 19 of its customers participated in the research. Feasibility and design stages have been observed and factors affecting success measured. Qualitative research complemented the quantitative findings in a partially convergent parallel mixed method. A number of managers failed to set manufacturing budgets, sales price and volume. One-third of the projects could not be completed, two-thirds did not proceed to production, and one-third did not stick to the schedule. The observed relevance of target-setting ability and success measurements was significant, as well as the prototype quantity and project completion rate.