Design of Business Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage

Most companies today have innovation envy. They yearn to come up with a game—changing innovation like Apple's iPod, or create an entirely new category like Facebook. Many make genuine efforts to be innovative—they spend on R&D, bring in creative designers, hire innovation consultants. But they get disappointing results.

Why? In The Design of Business, Roger Martin offers a compelling and provocative answer: we rely far too exclusively on analytical thinking, which merely refines current knowledge, producing small improvements to the status quo.

To innovate and win, companies need design thinking. This form of thinking is rooted in how knowledge advances from one stage to another—from mystery (something we can't explain) to heuristic (a rule of thumb that guides us toward solution) to algorithm (a predictable formula for producing an answer) to code (when the formula becomes so predictable it can be fully automated). As knowledge advances across the stages, productivity grows and costs drop-creating massive value for companies.

Martin shows how leading companies such as Procter and Gamble, Cirque du Soleil, RIM, and others use design thinking to push knowledge through the stages in ways that produce breakthrough innovations and competitive advantage.

Filled with deep insights and fresh perspectives, The Design of Business reveals the true foundation of successful, profitable innovation.

… among the most fundamental and comprehensive books ever written about the subject of business design and design thinking. — Business Design Association, November 2nd, 2009

…for readers interested in the processes of design…there are some interesting bits of detail and discussions on how exactly this is done. - The Financial Times, October 15, 2009

Insightful analysis of a hot management trend, useful for executives of all levels. —BusinessWeek, October 26, 2009

…a tough-minded elegant survey of why design thinking shouldnt be considered some soft thing thats nice for business at the edges but not necessary at the core. —MIT Sloan Management Review, Improvisations blog, October 2009

...offers thoughtful and valuable insight for all managers, and concludes with important instructions for individuals who want to become design thinkers. An excellent book. -Booklist, October 15, 2009

Most companies today have innovation envy. They yearn to come up with a game-changing innovation like Apple's iPod, or create an entirely new category like Facebook. Many make genuine efforts to be innovative-they spend on R&D, bring in creative designers, hire innovation consultants. But they get disappointing results.

This collection continues the successful Design for Business series, gathering work by scholars, researchers, and professionals that aim to raise awareness of design as a strategic business resource by consolidating it with other divergent, yet highly influential fields. Volume 3 covers such topics as the branding of a nation, care for the aging, public transportation, airports, workplace interiors, manufacturing, economic competitiveness, and public funding for new product development. First presented at the Design for Business research conference in Melbourne, Australia, the contributions assembled here will together keep pushing the interaction of design and business forward in productive, innovative ways.

Gjoko Muratovski is head of the Communication Design and Graphics Departments and the Senior Manager of the School of Art and Design at the Auckland University of Technology, where he is also director of the Design for Social Innovation towards Sustainability (DESIS) Lab. He is chairman of the Design for Business: International Research Conference, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Design, Business and Society. Muratovski has worked for or collaborated with a wide range of organizations, including Deloitte, Toyota, NASA Johnson Space Center, Yahoo, Greenpeace, and the World Health Organization.