Linking design management skills and design function organization: An empirical study of Spanish and Italian ceramic tile producers

Design management is an increasingly important concept, research into which is very scarce. This paper deals with the fit between design management skills and design function organization, ranging from solely in-house to solely outsourced and including a mixture of the two. We carried out a survey in the Spanish and Italian ceramic tile industry, to which 177 product development managers responded. Our results revealed that companies have different degrees of design management skills depending on the approach to design function organization. Solely in-house design approach companies are the most skilled firms and solely outsourced ones are the least skilled. Despite the fact that the design function has apparently evolved towards outsourcing, this research supports the idea that, under certain conditions, the in-house design department is the best option in order to attain higher degrees of design management skills. Implications of the findings for both academics and practitioners are examined.