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Product design defines the functions that qualify a product or service, in order to identify and organise the distinctive specifications of the company offer, and to develop goods and services based on analysis of the needs of demand (customer satisfaction). The first imperative for global corporations is, indeed, to deliver value to empowered customers (market-driven management). For global corporations, achieving a differential advantage in terms of product design therefore means designing an offer based on the best interpretation of corporate imitation and innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For global corporations, achieving a differential advantage in terms of product design means designing an offer based on the best interpretation of specific distinctive characteristics, and to this end, information must be collected in continuum from the market, about customers and competitors. Corporate imitation and innovation processes have come to represent a primary condition to stand up to global competition on the markets, which takes the shape of identifying by the design management products with 'new' features to propose to customers that change in time and space. A global firm's success is conditioned by its ability to manage the system of corporate intangible assets (corporate culture, corporate identity and information system), and product intangible assets (product design, brand equity and pre/aftersales services). In global firms, design is a strategic element linking the product intangibles and the firm's intangible assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the early Sixties, and yet in the Seventies, competition imposed significant advancements in design and reengineering of products for the intense export policy into international markets pursued by large corporations. The nowadays globalisation phase (competitive globalisation) is characterized by the R&D activities as a key-intangible asset, whose role is to develop the innovation and imitation policies of the large corporations, to anticipate demand trends and the initiatives of the competition, even collaborating with key competitors on particular projects. Over-supplied markets emphasises the critical nature of research for customers empowerment because the condition of excess of production presents strongly unstable demand and unstable supply structures. In over-supply competition, research for customers empowerment maximises the opportunity to produce goods focused on design, smart innovation and creative imitation to satisfy specific demand bubbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition in global markets shapes a multi-dimensional space so that a given geographical context can imply the simultaneous presence of very different competitors. Research and innovation are acknowledged to play a key role in maintaining sustainable levels of growth and employment. Restoring sustainable growth will only be possible if the EU boosts competitiveness and promotes innovation in the industry and services sectors. In recent years, the so-called 'smart specialisation' has assumed great importance in the policies for economic growth of European regions. The smart specialisation strategy defines itself as a flexible and dynamic innovation strategy for a new phase of development, which passes through the global transformation of the economic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the beginning of the 2010s and up to these years, a fourth phase of globalisation produced a structural change in network's competition (network globalisation 2010-2020). The global capitalism, in effect, determines profound changes in economics and social bonds and radically modifies the traditional basic principles of industrial production. The global capitalism introduced indeed a new dimension of worldwide competition based on collaborative networks. For example, in several industries fusions have involved a 'mega-merger' of corporate giants that has radically transformed the competitive balance in these sectors. The new basic driver of global capitalism specifically regard: Health; Energy; Food; and Communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the beginning of 2010s and up to these years, a fourth phase of globalisation produced a structural change in networks competition. Over the last years, a neo-liberal spiral in the search for minimal production and marketing costs increasingly marked firms. As a result, companies are nowadays exposed to socio-environmental forces on a vast scale, facing the new drivers of global capitalism that specifically regard Health; Energy; Food; Communication. This calls for a modern code of corporate social responsibility that clearly demonstrates the company's global corporate responsibility in the overall framework of sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global boundaries of innovation, creative imitation and imitation have significantly changed the relative position of many Nation-States and their competitive positions face to global networks and local firms' development. Chinese production organisations, not casually, are actually involved in the global economic growth as a process of continuous technological innovation and industrial upgrading (creative imitation), with a massive engagement in the local development. Globalization shifted also India to become an important R&D hub in many industries. After years of self-imposed exclusion (for the long, post-colonial license orientation) India has gone beyond the limit of reverse engineering of products developed elsewhere (creative imitation) and has finally joined the global business of innovation and imitation. Finally, the growth model of Italian businesses abroad is consistent with the characteristics of Italian designer products and the country's fragmented industrial structure, which are reflected in a 'global gap'. Italian firms are therefore progressively oriented to confine their competitive policies to internal markets, with productions focused on imitation and creative imitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global competitive landscapes of innovation and imitation have significantly changed the relative position of many Nation-States and the business relations between global networks and local firms. The US large corporations have lost their historical leadership in innovation. As a matter of fact US in the past had ruled the diffusion of innovations and the 'block' of imitations, but now they are looking for a new role in the control of the innovation and creative imitation processes, without any engagement in the local development. In addition, the main European countries (such as Germany, UK and the Russia) lost their leadership in innovation, although they played a leading role in the social and economic development of last century closed markets. At the same time, global markets have expanded the market power of corporations based in countries with high investments in innovation (e.g. the Japanese firms) or focused on creative imitation (e.g. the South Korea and Taiwan corporations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation has been driven by multinationals' capital and technology and produced a structural change in business networks. In this sense, one of the most important changes in industrial organisation is the transition from multinational corporations (MNCs) to global networks particularly focused on management of innovation and creative imitation. The global competitive landscapes of innovation and imitation have significantly changed the relative position of many Nation-States. The US corporations have changed their worldwide competitive position. Meanwhile the globalisation has expanded the market-space of corporations headquartered in countries with a high propensity to innovation (e.g. the Japanese companies), and has also promoted the growth of new countries, especially in the Far East (e.g. South Korea, India, Taiwan), where domestic firms have favorable conditions (especially in terms of social responsibility and low labor costs) to develop advanced skills for imitation and creative imitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With globalisation, since the early 80's, the companies compete in open markets with articulated, widespread and highly interconnected organisations (business networks). The competitive upgrading imposed by global markets determines particular organisational and strategic priorities for corporations. In the automotive industry, characterized by an intense global competition, the economic instability and the stagnation in sales have stimulated all manufacturers to create competitive alliances and enable global innovation and imitation processes. To align with the growing attention towards pollution and, more generally, environmental issues, the big automotive corporations have invested substantial financial resources and capabilities in re-engineering power systems; on the one hand focusing R&D towards new power systems (i. e. Full Hybrid and Mild Hybrid), on the other one, developing imitation processes to obtain less emissions and better performance by traditional engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In open markets where competition is strong, innovation loses its role of 'ideological hierarchy' over imitation; both have the common goal of maximising company profitability, with the constraint of optimising performance results in the very short term. With these objectives and result constraints, the success of research and development activities is measured by the real improvement in the competitive supply potential, expressed by indicators such as time-to-market or patent use rate. The capacity to exploit the competition acquires prime importance, while the capacity to accumulate know-how becomes less important (for example with the traditional indicators of the number of patents per year). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 80s, given the markets globalisation springing up (product globalisation), the 'core activity' of R&D was focused on corporate internal structures. In the 90s and 2000s the new globalisation phase (firm globalisation), the R&D has faced a remarkable transformation. In fact the R&D was no longer centralized in the headquarters, but localized according to the network logic, with a competitive advantage optimization in reference to specific local companies. Finally, since the early 2000s, a third globalisation phase (finance globalisation), has determined a new and important shift in research and development activities. The globalisation of markets pushed the firms to face not only increasing competitive dynamics but also to handle and to manage the limits deriving from the global economies of scale, recessive markets and, frequently, from the over-supply condition. In the nowadays globalisation phase (competitive globalisation), characterized by a widespread recession, and by many over-supplied markets, the R&D structures assume a new key-role for the firms development and represent a continuous stimulus for the competitive dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]