Use of design as competitive advantage in the furniture industry at Santa Maria/RS

This article shows the contribution of innovative and proactive professional design to increase the competitiveness of the supply chain sector. Thus, the question that motivates the study were: how the design as a strategy, aligned to quality, can act as a competitive to micro and small enterprise in the furniture sector? The study conducted individual interviews with furniture industry managers and used questionnaires to furniture consumers in Santa Maria, located in the center of Rio Grande do Sul State. The research has shown that the search for mechanisms that create competition between companies is increasingly intense and the race for innovative methods to achieve efficiency has great importance. The design adds value to product in terms of aesthetics, ergonomics, comfort and functionality, besides being a very important element in the rationalization of productio