Research Information System
NordDesign 2016, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, 10 - 12 August 2016, pp.360-369, (Full Text)
Al design manufacturers (ODM) before starting their own brand
manufacture (OBM).Therefore, those companies started production
basically by producing for other companies, while they started product
design activities by designing for other brands. Design fixation is
defined as the tendency to be fixated to design solutions that are
previously seen before starting a design process (Jansson & Smith,
1991). It may be hypothesized that, it will take longer to develop a
brand identity in an upcoming product concept for those companies that
have an OEM and ODM background along with an incremental innovation
capability. In their studies, Dell’Era and Verganti (2007) also found
that companies that have a radical innovator character seem to have a
more integrated brand identity when compared to incremental innovators.
It is also hinted in literature that companies which have OEM and ODM
background have difficulties about transitioning to build more radical
innovations (Hobday, 1998). In this study, brand identity integrity of
companies that have an OEM and ODM background are evaluated along with
others that have more radical innovation capabilities. This evaluation
of brand identity integration is conducted through DFA. The DFA method
is originally used for analyzing the brand identity characteristics of a
company; however, in this study it is used in a more critical way to
observe how scattered the product portfolios are for companies with OEM
and ODM backgrounds. As the result of the study, it may be claimed that
companies that could become affected by design fixation, may have less
integrated brand identities.