In section three, the characteristics of firms that carry out design activities including industrial and size distribution of firms, percentage of full-time employees engaged in research and development (R&D), adoption of advanced technologies, expenditures on design activities, and exporter status are presented. [...] Results of the SAT 2007 show that the majority of the firms that carry out design activities are exporters and that firms that carry out design activities are more likely to be exporters than firms that do not. [...] In all of the above-mentioned cases, substantial parts of the knowledge content of the production processes of firms are being outsourced to high wage nations, 8. Core activities are deemed to be those that underpin the ability of the organization to outperform the competition (McIvor, 2000). [...] Design workshops of the world: the production and integration of industrial design expertise into the product development and manufacturing process in Norway and the United Kingdom.