Creative Networking in Developing Countries:A Case Study of Design Industry in Shanghai,China

Creative products are considered as the outcome of a series of interactive processes,covering creation,production,distribution and consumption.The role of intermediary organizations such as distribution channels in establishing the linkages between creators and consumers are valued highly.With a primary purpose of examining whether or not it is true in design industry in developing countries like China,the authors take the design industry of Shanghai as an example,collect data from questionnaires and in-depth interviews which were carried out in nine creative industrial agglomerations in 2007 and 2008 respectively,and use SPSS as an analysis tool to explore the effects of networking relationship on the creativity of design firms.The results show that the design industry in Shanghai does tap into creative energies of other industries through inter-industrial division based on input-output relationship.Undoubtedly,companies from the downstream industries are the key actors in the networking,and their effects on creativity depend more on content of linkages than on intensity of linkages.A couple of universities in Shanghai are also important actors on the basis of the commercial tradition with strong entrepreneurship.Actually,they are incubators of creative firms and sources of talents rather than just providers of professional services.However,unlike developed countries,there are relatively few intermediary organizations linking creators with consumers in China,and the importance of cooperation between design firms cannot be overemphasized.