Review of uses of positioning analyses: In pursuit of new viewpoints for design creation

We reviewed the uses of positioning analyses by examining usefulness of setting new viewpoints for analysis in design creation. We sorted out positioning analyses from the viewpoint of management strategy and confirmed that positioning analyses using images as the viewpoint for analyses is related to the design business. Taking up notebook-size personal computers (hereinafter referred to as Notebook PC) of nine manufactures based on the size of shares as an example, we conducted two types of positioning analysis using six evaluation items of product characteristics and seven evaluation items of self-presentation, and compared the results. The results suggest that the positioning relationship among manufacturers differs, and new design viewpoints can be obtained by changing analytical standpoints. The addition of user segmentations such as gender of subjects and differences in their knowledge about Notebook PCs appears to make the design creation further effective.