Contract furniture which is manufactured depending on the client&amp / #8217 / s design or specification requirements on a contract basis is executed in small and medium sized furniture companies in Turkey. This one-of-a-kind production organization provides component manufacturing opportunity to furniture SMEs via subcontracting. In this study, the use of design consultancy is investigated to understand how it should be used in the current organization, in order to implement this production system efficiently. This study also examines contract furniture production to have foresight for the development of furniture SMEs in Turkey. In a literature review, the generic context of contracting activities in relation to design activity is investigated. Methods of design consultancy use in product development processes are searched. Design consultancy in construction industry is examined Data about design and production capabilities of Turkish furniture SMEs is collected. Production planning processes of a contract furniture company was investigated and discussed in a case study. These two groups of data were compared in order to drive conclusions.

Increasing competition and technological improvements have created new challenges for the firms. In Turkey, low-tech small and medium scale furniture industry does not seem to be well equipped to compete in this respect due to their weak economic and cultural capital. Necessity of innovative and distinguishing design-led policies has already arisen for improving the position of the low-tech small and medium scale furniture producers. However, to generate effective policies for them, it is essential to understand the design process and production domain related to cultural factors which affect the position of design and the designer. Within this perspective, this thesis examines the position of design and the designer within the product development process in eight cases of small and medium scale furniture companies based on the data gathered from, firstly, in-depth interviews with the owners, and secondly, product development stories narrated by the owner, the designers and head of the production departments of the companies.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:57:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 1 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação trata da estimação das equações de exportação para o total da economia brasileira e para o setor madeira e mobiliário do Brasil, a partir de dados trimestrais, no período entre 1985 e 2006. Os procedimentos econométricos utilizam o conceito de co-integração de Johansen associado a um modelo de correção de erros. É dada especial atenção a um possível problema de instabilidade dos parâmetros resultante, principalmente, do impacto da abertura comercial no início do período, das mudanças associadas ao Plano Real e da elevação nos preços de exportação no final do período. Um dos aspectos mais interessantes, relacionado com a abertura comercial brasileira, está presente na demanda por exportações onde a renda externa passa a ter uma importância relativa muito maior ao longo do período quando comparada ao câmbio. Esta mudança está presente no âmbito do setor madeira e mobiliário, mas também é destaque no agregado. Outro resultado importante, agora no lado da oferta por exportações, mostra a relação / This dissertation is about the estimation of export equations for both Brazilian total economy and Brazilian wood-furniture sector, using quarterly data, from 1985 to 2006. The econometric procedures use the Johansen’s co-integration concept associated to an error-correction model. Special attention is dedicated to a possible problem of instability in parameters resulting, mainly, from the impact of the opening trade in the beginning of the period, from changes associated to the Real Plan and from the raise of the export prices in the end of the period. One of the most interesting aspects, related to the Brazilian trade opening, occurs in the export demand where the foreign income starts to have relatively higher importance along the period when compared to the exchange rate. This change is present in the ambit of the wood-furniture sector, but it also stands out for the aggregate. Another important result, now related to export supply, shows the relation of significance between the main sources of exporter