Design Management and the SME Product Development Process: A Bibliometric Analysis and Review

Abstract

Academic interest in design management has grown exponentially over the past several decades. Design management in the context of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) is particularly important and challenging. These economically influential organizations generally fail to benefit from good design practices. This study is part of a broader investigation seeking to improve and optimize the process of design integration and management inside SMEs with little or no prior experience in design and who collaborate with external designers. Here we present a bibliometric analysis methodology and review of the main contributions to the literature in the SME design management. Our findings contribute to the analysis of the evolution and quality of research in the field of SME design management and can support future methodological research.

Keywords

• Design management
• SMEs
• Product development
• External design expertise
• Bibliometric analysis
• Systematic literature review