Exploiting Industrial Design Advantage in Korea

A key role for R&D in technology-followers can be used to build independent industrial design capability. That is, with aesthetic design superiority, technology-followers can capture the higher value-added market segment. This is exactly what the Korean electronics firms have succeeded to move up the economic food chain.

LG electronics established an in-house design institute for the first time in the domestic industry. European design center was set up in Dublin, Ireland in 1991 and expanded its global design network by opening more centers in New Jersey and Tokyo in 1993, Beijing in 1998 and California in 1999. Samsung electronics also doubled its number of designers to 300, opened four design bureaus in U.S., Europe and Japan, and began picking up the international design awards. This move has reflected Samsung’s belief that products should be designed and developed in a way to reflect local customers’ tastes and preferences.

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