This PhD thesis studies how eight SMEs with little or no design experience absorb new design knowledge, how they build design capabilities during innovation processes, and how able or unable they are to turn potential into realised absorptive capacity and organisational renewal. It attempts to answer the question whether and how the organisation learns and retains design knowledge, processes, approaches and tools, and whether this organisational learning process impacts on the existing resources of the company such as strategy, new product development, innovation management, or organisational structures.
Biography: Claudia Acklin was the founder and head of the first Design Management Bachelor Programme at the Lucerne School of Art and Design in Switzerland and, currently, is the head of a research group in design and management. She was also a founding member of the regional design support programme, Swiss Design Transfer.