Measuring competitiveness of chinese professional design firms

Professional design firms are knowledge-intensive firms that provide customised solutions for clients through their highly educated, professionally trained and accredited employees. Design services are strategic services important to the trade and development of all countries. Design services are a key part of the innovation process in the project development as well as a key input in the value creation process for stakeholders. There has been little research- into how Chinese design firms have changed in order to operate successfully in the social market economy and how they will grow and compete in the future. This research considers the factors affecting the competitiveness of the Chinese design sector. It primarily looks into the large design firms and focuses on the domestic design market. The research aims to answer the main question: "What are the factors that affect the competitiveness of design firms in China's design market?" The research uses a theoretical framework deduced from the literature. The essence of the framework is that both the external and internal environment of a firm must be taken into account when considering its competitiveness. A PEST analysis, the modified five forces model, and the resource-based view were all employed. The research used a cross-sectional analysis of data gathered from questionnaire and interview surveys of industry experts. The qualitative data was the main basis for the contribution to this research; the quantitative data was used to analyze and support the qualitative data. A Competitiveness Assessment Model for Designers (CAMD) was developed. The CAMD consists of a competitiveness index including the sources of competitive advantage of Chinese design firms, and competitiveness aggregation methods comprising the logical procedures and the data collection and processing methods. The CAMD was validated through case studies.