Integrating Design Management and Innovation Management: A Conceptual Framework for Creative Entrepreneurship

Background: Design management and innovation management have long developed as two closely related yet rarely integrated bodies of knowledge, particularly within the context of creative entrepreneurship. Objective: This article aims to generalize a four-quadrant design management model (Strategy, Creation, Implementation, Evaluation)-originally grounded in a case study of the Jepara carved-furniture industry-into a cross-context conceptual model applicable to creative industries in general. Methods: Using a conceptual (theory adaptation) paper approach, this study maps each design management quadrant onto stages of innovation and product development management, and positions creative entrepreneurship as a cross-cutting driving layer. Results: The result is a conceptual model, the Design-Innovation-Entrepreneurship Integration Model, accompanied by five theoretical propositions explaining the relationships between design management capability, innovation management stages, and creative entrepreneurial orientation toward market-ready innovation outcomes. Conclusion: The article contributes theoretically by bridging two historically separate bodies of knowledge, and practically by informing entrepreneurship teaching in design and product-development management programs.