Journal of Design, Business & Society - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2016

This study examines the extent to which design is adopted by organizations in China to support their strategic development. China is in transition from being a country known for cheap manufacturing to a country that offers value-added products and services. Given the role of strategic design in supporting organizational change and innovation in other countries, it could be expected that design strategists soon will be in high demand in China. From educational, cultural and historical perspectives, however, it can be explained that for many years in China imitation strategies have been more popular than innovation strategies. This study shows that there is evidence to suggest that utilization of design in China will become more strategic in the near future. This is supported by recent government policies and by the current success of companies innovating in the ICT sector. However, a lot of effort from experienced strategic designers will still be needed for the transformation of the existing traditional manufacturing sector.

This study examines the role of design in creating multi-stakeholder business models.

An essential goal for the energy sector is a complete conversion to sustainable energy; however, this sector is characterized by fragmented clusters competing for subsidies who sub-optimize their individual business models.

The case study used is based on a concern for the energy sector with the following research question: How can we design a business model that will enable actors across industries to exploit shared synergies for a greater good?

The article discusses findings from an action research initiative in the energy sector aimed at designing and developing co-created cross-sector business models using a strategic visualization design vehicle.

The findings highlight how designing shared business models can play an active role in building the foundation for transforming traditional business models into co-created multi-stakeholder business models. The case study shows how strategic visualization can become a design vehicle by creating clarity for those involved, as well as initiating communication across the actor landscape and building shared engagement platforms.

Electricity distribution businesses across Australia are facing many market disruptions, such as the increasing demand from the rapid uptake of domestic air conditioners and the contrasting problematic generation from solar power connections to the grid. In this context, the opportunity to proactively leverage forthcoming technological advances in battery storage and electric vehicles to address the steeply rising cost of electricity supply has emerged. This research explores a design approach to support a business to navigate such disruptions in the current market.

This study examines a design-led approach to innovation conducted over a tenmonth action research study within a large, risk-averse firm in the Australian energy sector. This article presents results describing a current foresight gap within the business; the response of the business to using design-led innovation to address this issue; and the tools, approaches and processes used. The business responses indicate their perception of the value of qualitative customer engagement as a path to addressing, and potentially benefiting from, disruptive innovation. It is anticipated that these results will further business model development within the company, and assist in leveraging disruptive innovations for this industry participant, thus limiting future increases in the cost of electricity supply for customers in Australia.

We review the design and management literature to identify and define key components of a design thinking mindset and report initial findings from fifteen in-depth interviews with innovation managers, who reflect on their practices while implementing design thinking in their organizations. Our study confirms a set of commonly understood and applied mindsets, but also reveals organizational constraints on translating cognition into behaviour. We argue that further mapping of design thinking mindsets and linking them to leadership theory provides a suitable point of departure for the study of design thinking and its role for innovation.

This article presents an investigation into understanding the role of design and designers when managing creative brand strategies for social media, and was conducted in Portugal and the United Kingdom during 2011–12. It combines results from an online survey (103 participants) and interviews (21 interviews) regarding the role of design in branding for social media. Based on the results, two models were elaborated; these models allow the integration of a social media strategy by adding to the existing design ladder model. Model validation was achieved by an online survey (30 responses) completed by a panel of experts.

Three different research domains were considered for this study: namely branding, design and social media. With regard to branding, we opted to focus on the branding literature that is concerned with strategic brand management, as well as social marketing management literature. Concerning design, we focused on its importance to both branding and social media, while also addressing the importance of design management in branding today and how it is connected to new research in social media. An analysis of how social media has developed into a growing and important platform for brands to connect with consumers (and vice versa) was also conducted. In addition, we analysed how social media generates business and return on investment. The article connects aspects of branding and design that are crucial to the social media field. Our goal is to clarify the importance and impact of design management in social media strategy, branding and business.