Framing the multifaceted nature of design thinking in addressing different innovation purposes

Framing the multifaceted nature of design thinking in addressing different innovation purposes

Magistretti, Stefano (Politecnico di Milano)
Bianchi, Mattia (Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research, Stockholm)
Calabretta, G. (TU Delft Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior)
Candi, Marina (Reykjavik University; The University of Edinburgh)
Dell'Era, Claudio (Politecnico di Milano)
Stigliani, Ileana (Imperial College Business School; South Kensington Campus, London)
Verganti, Roberto (Politecnico di Milano; Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research, Stockholm; Harvard Business School, Boston)

2022

Scholars and practitioners acknowledge the role of design, and specifically design thinking, as a driver of innovation and change. Design thinking is gaining attention in the business community beyond the traditional product innovation realm and is increasingly promoted as an engine for the creation of novel user experiences, new businesses, strategic transformation, organizational and cultural change. Is it reasonable to assume that the same set of practices fits such a broad range of applications equally well? This study addresses how design thinking applications are differently framed when addressing diverse innovation purposes. Specifically, we compare two purposes: innovation of solutions, encompassing traditional product and service development projects, and innovation of direction, encompassing strategic and organizational renewal projects. Based on data collected from 146 design thinking projects conducted by European consulting firms we investigate the relationships between the design thinking practices adopted and the value generated by the projects. We then analyze how these relationships vary depending on the purpose of the innovation project, namely whether focused on innovating solutions or direction. The results show that different purposes indeed call for different practices. In projects aimed at innovating solutions, market value is positively related to capturing current user needs and envisioning future society. Conversely, in projects aimed at innovating direction, market value is positively related to challenging current assumptions.

Consulting firms
Design thinking
Innovation
Strategy
Transformation

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4738708f-cdad-49b3-9981-8d849f672336

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102163

2023-07-01

0024-6301

Long Range Planning, 55 (5)

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 Stefano Magistretti, Mattia Bianchi, G. Calabretta, Marina Candi, Claudio Dell'Era, Ileana Stigliani, Roberto Verganti