摘要:In order to reposition the design activity in a strategic level, an applied research was carried out with five Brazilian companies. However, throughout this activity, different challenges that hindered the strategic positioning of the design activity were found. In this sense, this article focuses on describing such difficulties, which was grouped in six categories: Communication, Knowledge, Processes, Projects, Human Resources, and Strategy. These data were extracted from case studies and an action research that was developed between September 2012 and October 2014. At the end, it became clear that, before repositioning the activity of design within the companies, it is necessary to know their context in order to understand the challenges they face and how they impact the design activity within the companies. Keywords: design, repositioning, companies, challenges.