Investigating the Interplay between Brands and External Design on Product Innovativeness: The Role of Brand Innovation Capital

Abstract : Several studies indicate that collaboration between brands and external design agencies can increase new product’s innovativeness. Yet, few researchers investigated the influence of the interaction between branding and design agencies on the level of product innovativeness, limiting the understanding of the creation of competitive advantages for companies. Our study is addressing this gap using the concept of brand innovation capital. Based on a sample of 103 new products built using the historical approach, a partial least square analysis was used. Results reveal that the higher the brand innovation capital, the higher the product innovativeness and that the characteristics of the design agency and its relationship with the brand moderate this link: the impact of the brand’s innovation capital is positively moderated by the design agencies innovation orientation but negatively moderated by the existence of a previous relationship between the brand and the external design agencies.