Definizioni:
“Simply put, design management is the business side of design.

 

Design management encompasses the ongoing processes, business decisions, and strategies that enable innovation and create effectively-designed products, services, communications, environments, and brands that enhance our quality of life and provide organizational success.”
– Design Management Institute

"Design management is the cultural, strategic and operational use of the design resources (internal and external) available to an organisation, directed towards the creation and attainment of business and organisational objectives".
– Professor Peter McGrory, University of Art & Design Helsinki TaiK

 

Il Danish Design Centre ha effettuato nel 2003 una analisi  sugli aspetti economici del deisgn. questa analisi 'sia pure limitata al contesto danese è stata la prima analisi di questo tipo effettuata a livello internazionale. nello stilare le conclusioni il Danish Design Centre scrive:
"All findings of the analysis indicate a very clear correlation between the employment of design and the economic success businesses achieve, which in turn benefits society as a whole. The correlation is so marked that it cannot be disregarded or questioned. The correlation is especially marked for companies that adopt a comprehensive approach to design. This correlation also applies to companies that purchases design both internally and externally, i.e. companies that employ professional designers and purchase design services externally. These companies experience an increase in growth that is statistically significant. Their increase in export share of turnover and their apparent increase in gross revenue performance corresponds to the degree at which a comprehensive approach to design is adopted, represented by the two top steps of the four-step design ladder developed by the Danish Design Centre."
– The economic effects of design, Danish Design Centre, 2003

“For a company that has achieved ‘world-class’ in all other dimensions, the next challenge is design… Quality design and the many contributions it can make to a global corporation as a facilitator, differentiator, integrator, and communicator is, like most strategic resources, not an event but a process.”
– Professor Robert Hayes, Harvard Business School

"When all business are designing value added, user oriented, desirable products it will be those with good design management practices that will be able to stay ahead"
– Darragh Murphy/PDR, Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), 2007.

 

• Design for Growth & Prosperity - Report and Recommendations of the European Design Leadership Board
• The incorporation of design management in today’s business practices / An analysis of design management practices in Europe, Gert L. Kootstra MBM, 2009
• The Economic Effects of Design, Danish Design Centre, September 2003
• Design management for Small and Medium sized Enterprises: Development of a Design Management guide for the use of design and design management within corporate R&D and decision-making processes,C. Acklin and Hans K. Hugentobler, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Art & Design, Switzerland,
• The handbook of Design management, Edited by R. Cooper, S. Jungunger, T. Lockwood, Berg Oxford/ New York, 2011
• I Lunedì dei Distretti Tecnologici- Strategie Collaborative per la crescita della competitività- Design Management: Why?. La progettazione come strumento di business, [ PPT]V. Nicolò,  2012
• http://www.designmanagementeurope.com/site/index.php
• http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/index.htm
• http://prezi.com/4ear0xep80dp/an-introduction-to-strategic-design-management/
• http://www.worlddesigncapital.com/
• http://www.icsid.org/about/about.htm