Dear Ken,
Thanks for the lessons, though I'm not sure they help me understand the insights Terry got from thinking about transaction costs of design.
As for your challenge, I won't be winning those honorary doctorates. I have no inclination to re-invent myself as an economist and demonstrate how design contributes to value chains.
What I am interested in though, is researching the economic representations that design is using in order to strengthen and reproduce itself as an economic and social institution. This is the type of research that Entwistle attempts.
David Ruccio, who is Professor in Economics and Policy Studies at Notre Dame, writes there are "diverse representations of the economy - what it is, how it operates, how it is intertwined with the rest of the social and natural world". He thinks "...scholars in disciplines other than economics often refer to economics as a singular method or set of conclusions, thereby overlooking or ignoring the variety of theoretical approaches that together make up the discipline of economics." At the same time, " academic economists rarely acknowledge, let alone read or engage with the academic analyses carried out by non-economists" (p.3-4).
Ruccio asks what might happen if we rethink the boundary between economics and politics or ethics, "recognizing the political or ethical moments in the choices that are made within and between economic representations..." (p.15) He looks forward to theories, pictures and stories of the economy that do not rely entirely on the notion of markets.
This would be the goal of any research I undertook into the impact of design in product development. Unfortunately, because this would not immediately < affect trillions of dollars in management decisions > there are probably not many people in governments, businesses, industries, and universities who would like to see it answered.
Best wishes,
Amanda
Ref: Ruccio, David F. (Ed.)(2008) Economic Representations: Academic and everyday. London: New York. Routledge.
On 26/07/11 1:01 AM, "Ken Friedman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi, Amanda,
Hmmmmmmmm.....
You write that your view is that "Entwistle is applying Callon's
ideas to the research of fashion as a cultural economic phenomenon. I
would argue that the contribution that design makes to products and
services within the firm may be similarly approached. I don't believe
that domains of market, design and firm are as easily separated as you
suggest."
I'm not suggesting that these can easily be separated. I'm arguing
that one must understand the different kinds of research that one
requires for different levels and units of analysis. The domains of
market, design, and firm are all related one to the other. The levels of
units and analysis determine what we can learn.
Unless I'm wrong, Entwistle's approach will not answer Jurgen's
questions.
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