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Design‐Driven Innovation Process Model

Article · December 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1948-7177.2010.00013.x

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 ARTICLE

Design-Driven
Claudia Acklin,
Innovation Process
Head of BA Design
Management,
International; Head of
Model
Research Group by Claudia Acklin
Design and
Management,
Lucerne University of
Applied Sciences and
Arts, School of Art
and Design

According to the Cox Review (2005), various internal

and external factors both advance and hinder the
innovation capabilities of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). Regarding the lack of customer demand, manufac- tion between design and the innova-
use of creative talent and innovation turing or development issues, lack tion capabilities of a firm.
capabilities, the report mentions the of access to external designers or Two applied research projects
following obstacles: lack of aware- creative skills, regulatory issues ⁄ in Central Switzerland aimed at
ness and experience; lack of belief government bureaucracy, and design introducing design and design man-
in the value of, or confidence in, not being considered as important. agement to 11 SMEs with little or
the outcome; not knowing where to On the other hand, an earlier no design experience. After assess-
turn for specialized help; limited study (Bougrain and Haudeville, ing current use of design in each
ambition or appetite for risk; and 2002) comes to the conclusion that of the SMEs and introducing
too many other pressures on the the presence of in-house design them to design’s potential benefits,
business. Regarding the use of teams enables companies to absorb researchers worked with the com-
design, the report mentions the know-how from industrial networks panies’ project teams to develop
following obstacles: cost, lack of of the regional innovation systems specific design strategies and inno-
in-house design or creative skills, more quickly. So there is a correla- vation projects. These ranged from

50 ª 2010 The Design Management Institute

improving customer experiences the other SMEs overlook factors resource to improve company
through optimizing Web sites and relevant to design management, for positioning or the relationship
other touchpoints to developing example, the early inclusion of all with the customer. Designers
design guidelines for the product relevant stakeholders in the product were rarely involved in the prod-
language of such items as pressure development process. uct development processes; they
and temperature measurement Two projects (Acklin and were used on an ad hoc basis,
devices or for the corporate identity Hugentobler, 2008; one ongoing) mostly for the development of
of a business-to-business (B2B) undertaken by the Lucerne School corporate communication mate-
company entering the business-to- of Art and Design investigated the rials. Furthermore, the culture
consumer (B2C) market. state of design integration in 11 of companies with little or no
During theory building within SMEs in Central Switzerland. design know-how—for example,
these two projects, we explored the These projects were aimed at technology-led SMEs—tended
contribution of design research, increasing the innovativeness of to be goal oriented and favored
design leadership, and design regional SMEs by intensifying a decision-making attitude with
management to a generic innovation cooperation either with the univer- a strong focus on effectiveness
management model. In a second sity or with other relevant actors in and efficiency. In these compa-
step, we developed a design-driven the regional innovation system. Of nies, design appeared to be a
innovation process model featuring special interest to the researcher ‘‘nice-to-have’’ rather than a
six phases: impulse, research, devel- were companies with little or no ‘‘must-have’’ factor in the devel-
opment, strategy, implementation, know-how in applying design and opment process.
and evolution. Our model is inte- design management to their d Innovation. Most of these com-
grative, multidisciplinary, and per- research and development (R&D) panies lacked adequate
meable in order to meet the needs activities and their innovation plan- resources (space, time, people,
of SMEs for easy implementation ning. Within those SMEs the money) for innovation. In some
and cost and risk reduction. potential of using design as an aid of these firms, innovation pro-
to improve the so-called bottom cesses did not exist, mainly
line is especially high. because they were in the origi-
Past and current projects in Central
The main findings from these nal equipment manufacturing
Switzerland
two applied research projects refer- business and had not been
Central Switzerland is home to ring to the integration of design exposed to the consumer mar-
many SMEs that face all of the and design management and to ket. However, some of them
above-mentioned obstacles. A pro- their innovation capabilities are: had considered entering the
ject undertaken by the Lucerne B2C market to become more
School of Business Administration d Design integration. All the com- independent from their B2B
(Wolf, Schweikert, Küchler, and panies did have a basic under- customers. In some cases
Stössel, 2005) identified typical pat- standing of design as a means to designers were part of the staff,
terns of innovation capability. improve the functionality and but the companies were lacking
While the majority of the most ergonomics of products beyond the preconditions for more radi-
innovative SMEs give recognition to making them look more beauti- cal innovation because the
aspects of design management in ful. However, few companies boundaries of new product
their innovation processes, most of considered design as a strategic development and innovation

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 Design Management Journal

A basic understanding and acceptance of design and design management need to be

established in a company (sensitization); second, design methods need to be
introduced and practiced within a specific problem area or pilot project
(application); and third, design management has to be implemented in a
sustainable way into the processes of the company (implementation).

processes were blurred together, were and still are manifold: First, a device, the ‘‘Design Management
causing incremental improve- basic understanding and acceptance Travel Guide,’’ was developed
ments of products to be mis- of design and design management (see Figure 1).1 With this guide,
taken for (game-changing) need to be established in a company SMEs are able to assess their level
innovation. This was not helped (sensitization); second, design meth- of design integration and, with the
by the fact that a clear innova- ods need to be introduced and support of a design consultant,
tion strategy was often missing. practiced within a specific problem come up with a basic design strat-
d Implementation. Many of the area or pilot project (application); egy to improve market positioning
projects undertaken by the 11 and third, design management has and customer focus. The guide
companies were postponed or to be implemented in a sustainable was developed at the end of the
even shelved at some point in way into the processes of the com- first research project with the
the process of collaboration with pany (implementation). intention of validating it in a fol-
the researchers. The capability To overcome these challenges, lowing project of similar scope.
to carry an idea or an innovation we are building on the following The guide was successfully tested
project through to completion assumption: If design or design with the next batch of SMEs:
and to commercialization management is not to be perceived They were able to use it and to
intending to achieve market suc- by SMEs as something separate and self-reliantly draw some conclu-
cess was often missing. Pressure unintelligible done by somebody sions about their then-current use
from daily business and, more else, models and tools need to (1) of design.
recently, concerns because of the integrate well-known concepts of
financial crisis were pushing business sciences and processes that
1. The basic underlying metaphor comes from
innovation projects into the are already (at least partly) imple- the field of cartography. It displays a sea map
background. This was magnified mented in these companies and (2) of a fictitious archipelago of four islands. Each
represents a specific degree of design maturity
by the lack of a culture that sus- be easy to use and understandable, (cf. the Danish Design Staircase, 2001), with
tained a climate for innovation. for example, through using visuali- routes departing from one island and arriving
zation or storytelling to support at the next, where one can find and learn
more about the resources necessary for
their application. achieving improved design integration. A
The problem at stake
For the early phase of sensiti- ‘‘wind rose’’ represents the challenges and
winds of change for all islands of the archipel-
The challenges for the researchers zation of SMEs, an easy-to-use, ago. For more information, see Acklin and
in the above-mentioned projects visually attractive orientation Hugentobler (2008).

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 Design and the Innovation Process

Figure 1. The ‘‘Design Management Travel Guide’’ is meant to help SMEs assess their level of design integration. A design consultant can help
them come up with a basic design strategy to help the company with market positioning and customer focus.

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 Design Management Journal

To lower company barriers to tested before they ever go on the

Idea Generation
the integration of design and design market; their viability on the
management during the application market will be considered both
of design—for innovation projects, R&D / after conception and before their
Conception
for example, or during implementa- final implementation.
tion of new processes and procedures, The funnel model depicts the
Product
classic innovation management and Market innovation process like a tunnel with
models were adapted to include Test a bottleneck, from which only the
design thinking. (The term design strongest projects emerge; only the
thinking, as coined by Boland and Imple- very beginning of the process is open
Collopy [2004] or Brown [2008] is men- to the full ecosystem of a company
tation
understood as the introduction of (i.e., its environment, including cus-
design methodology—for example, tomers, suppliers, partners, and com-
the design process—to companies petitors). This model also leaves
and, in the long term, anchoring open the methods by which the fun-
Figure 2. Innovation funnel according to
design in the company culture.) Benkenstein (1998). The bigger the mouth of nel is ‘‘filled’’; ideas essentially fall out
In the following, we first discuss the funnel, the more ideas will be introduced of the sky and find their way into the
into the R&D activities of the company.
the contribution of design research, funnel. It is our understanding that
design management, and design lead- stages or design management in the the early phase of innovation man-
ership to innovation management. later phase of the commercialization agement—the fuzzy front end—is
Second, we present a design-driven of product development, remains crucial to the later direction and
innovation management model that untapped. Ulrich and Eppinger result of an innovation project. This
operates on the above-mentioned (1995) included design in the prod- phase is also a stage at which the
requirements of ease in understand- uct development process but did not systematic and proactive buildup of
ing and familiarity with use. mention the contribution of design customer insights is neglected, and
and design management to the consequently early ideas are often
Classic innovation management so-called fuzzy front end or to the not connected to existing or latent
models final product launch. customer needs.
In the model displayed in For SMEs with few financial or
Many innovation management Figure 2, idea generation is human resources, the funnel model
models—the stage-gate variety, for described as a funnel through poses a few more problems. Very
instance (Cooper, 1996; Cooper and which many ideas flow into the often the ideas are there, coming
Kleinschmidt, 1990), and the company. The bigger the mouth of from R&D, marketing, sales, or
innovation funnel (Benkenstein, the funnel, the more ideas will be senior management. But the com-
1998)—do not mention the use of introduced into the R&D activities pany still has to digest a large number
design explicitly. Industrial design is of the company. During their flow of ideas in order to select the most
considered to be part of the com- through the funnel, ideas will be promising for further development,
pany’s R&D, or it is included in the constantly tested; some will be mostly without having the means to
conception phase. So the full poten- discarded, and only a few will turn do initial market or user research
tial of design methodology, such as into full-fledged innovation projects. beforehand. Essentially, SMEs tend
design research methods in the early The resulting products will be to be risk averse because they have

54
 Design and the Innovation Process

few fallback positions, and therefore For instance, Turner and Topa- alignment of projects to the identity
the early assessment of the ideas with lian (2002) subdivided design man- and brand of a company are central
the most market potential is vital to agement into two dimensions or tasks of design leadership. Design
them in order to be able to use their fields of activity: design management leadership also establishes the nec-
financial resources parsimoniously. and design leadership. Design man- essary structures and processes
Another hurdle is the alignment of agement is considered reactive inside a company through which
company processes needed to launch because it mainly manages the organizational learning and the
a new product or service and to fol- resources, time, people, and money observation of emerging market
low up on subsequent customer expe- necessary for design activities in a trends form the foundation for a
rience issues. The new offering also company; and design leadership is future innovation strategy. A start-
carries with it questions that must be considered proactive in setting the ing point of innovation projects can
addressed regarding proper branding agenda of an enterprise using design be the creative reframing of the
and communication strategies. for competitive advantage and envi- problem the project sets out to
sioning the future. We include a solve; by reframing the problem and
third dimension into our definition formulating a first hypothesis, new
Contributions of design and design of design management: design think- approaches and solutions beyond
management to innovation ing, which acts as a bridge between incremental changes become more
management the reactive and the proactive feasible. The process of idea
notions of design management by selection is accelerated as well.
Design and design management are establishing a sustainable culture for First hypotheses will have to be
able to make many contributions to design in a company (Acklin, 2009). researched in more depth in a
innovation management, from the Figure 3 places the above-men- triangulation of market, user, and
very beginning through to imple- tioned aspects of design, design technological research. Design
mentation on the market. In this research, design leadership, and design research provides insights into
paper, we have divided these contri- management and its deliverables into (latent) customer needs through the
butions to innovation management a framework that connects them to use of ethnographic research or the
into categories of design, design the phases of a generic innovation research of contexts in which prod-
research, design management, and management model. uct and services are being used.
design leadership. All of these catego- In the early stages of idea During concept development, fur-
ries offer various activities, tools, generation and selection, the main ther research phases can deepen the
methods, and processes to comple- contributors are design leadership understanding of customer behavior,
ment innovation management and design research. Design-driven use of the new product or service
processes. innovation management and the through user testing, and so on.

A starting point of innovation projects can be the creative reframing of the problem
the project sets out to solve; by reframing the problem and formulating
a first hypothesis, new approaches and solutions beyond incremental changes
become more feasible.

55
 Design Management Journal

Figure 3. Contributions of design and design management to innovation management and its deliverables.

Finally, design management is and processes of large organizations, market observation and analysis and
an activity that is helpful for the we propose to intertwine strategy an assessment of what the company
implementation of innovation building, innovation management, has learned so far. This stage aims
projects inside the company as well and design management into a pro- to describe what kind of market
as connecting management func- cess that includes the six stages and customer trends have been
tions and processes and connecting defined in our design-driven innova- emerging and to formulate a first
philosophy with strategy and deliv- tion management model (see hypothesis. In the research phase,
ery. Design management will also, Figure 4): impulse, research, devel- appropriate methods are applied to
by operating as a coordinator, opment, strategy, implementation, understand the question in more
design a coherent customer experi- and evolution. These stages do not depth: these can include ethno-
ence for the new product or service necessarily need to be executed in a graphic, trend, and experiential
at all customer touchpoints. linear succession but can be carried research, but also technological and
out concurrently.2 market studies. The development
The more or less formal stage should be informed by criteria
Design-driven innovation
starting point of the process is the deducted from the analysis of the
management model
impulse stage; it comprises a mix of research material.
For SMEs with processes that are In this model, the strategy
often flat and sometimes less stan- 2. An early contribution to the model building
phase follows the impulse, research,
dardized compared to structures phase was made by Norbert Welti. and development stages and is not

56
 Design and the Innovation Process

Impulses
from
Ecosystem

Open Innovation,
Stakeholder Company Impulses Market,
Feedback Trend and
Observational
Research
R&D,
Re-Design Desk Research,
Experiental
Research

internal

Operations
Concept Development
Planning

Launch Business Strategy Tests

external

Stakeholder
Involvement

Figure 4. A design-driven innovation management model. The stages do not necessarily need to be executed in a linear succession but can be
carried out concurrently.

the starting point. The logic behind suppliers and other stakeholders, to the new offering. The last stage,
it is that it puts the new offerings which will improve market power. with a strong emphasis on stake-
themselves in the forefront, rather In the implementation phase, holder involvement and customer
than the business analytics. Switch- appropriate adjustments of opera- feedback, is the evolution phase, in
ing around the sequence of stages tions and measures for the launch, which the innovative product or
allows business strategy develop- such as an adapted brand and com- service is improved.
ment to be enriched by data on munication strategy, can be made
Main characteristics of the model
trends, customer needs, emerging involving design management as a
technological trends, and so on, as coordinator and enabler of the over- Our design-driven innovation man-
well as by the involvement of all customer experience connected agement model has the following

57
 Design Management Journal

main characteristics: it is integrative, needs. Fortunately for them, SMEs done in a company. Integrating
multidisciplinary, and permeable. find it easier to change and adapt design into all activities connected
processes than do larger companies. to innovation management allows it
Integration to become a part of everybody’s
According to ‘‘The New St. Gallen Multidisciplinarity business.
Management Model’’ (Rüegg-Stürm, To consistently involve members
2003), in recent years process from a variety of management func- Permeation
organization (Ablauforganisation) tions—marketing, engineering, sales, Each stage includes a more inner-
has become more important and communication, design, and so oriented or outer-oriented activity;
has pushed back the organizational on—in the innovation process has this does not mean that an SME
structure of the company itself been described as the ‘‘sashimi should completely dispose of its
(Aufbauorganisation) as an organiz- approach’’ in a reference to design boundaries and its distinctness
ing system for companies. In short, management styles from Japan (cf. from others. To consistently
the focus has shifted from hierarchy Cooper and Press, 1995). Multidis- encourage, attract, and include
to process, and this has been done ciplinarity is also a central ingredi- know-how from the ecosystem and
for reasons of efficiency. Borja de ent of design thinking. Stanford’s from stakeholders into the com-
Mozota (2003) has described a shift D-School3 currently builds on a pany calls more for a particular
in management models from ‘‘a model of collaboration in which the frame of mind than for an organi-
hierarchical Taylor model of man- intersection of business, technology, zational principle. For example, the
agement to a flat and flexible orga- and human factors is explored. R&D activities of a firm can be
nizational model, which encourages Besides the more obvious reasons of combined with methods of open
individual initiative, independence capability building and risk control innovation by inviting consumers
and risk taking’’ (p. 67). Design and in innovation projects, multidisci- and lead users to cocreate new
design management can be the advo- plinary teams—and more precisely offerings. Many (technology-based)
cates of this new management style. the early collaboration of engineer- SMEs take pride in their innova-
There is also a correlation ing and industrial design—function tions—at times so strongly that
among strategy, structure, and cul- as an accelerator; products are more they exhibit the ‘‘not invented
ture and the way in which they easily and speedily pushed to the here’’ syndrome. Using frequent
shape processes. Intertwining strat- market through combining techno- feedback loops with customers,
egy building, innovation, and design logical development and human- suppliers, and other stakeholders
management allows the creation of centered design. An additional side throughout the development pro-
new and meaningful products, ser- effect of multidisciplinary teams is cess means SMEs will have a bet-
vices, and experiences to become what Dumas and Mintzberg (1989) ter shot at reducing the risk of
the company’s core activity. Innova- called ‘‘infusion.’’ Design methodol- market failure for a new product
tion becomes the driver, and all ogy is implicitly being included in or service. In a market environ-
processes are designed around the the above-mentioned stages; it is ment in which sudden shifts make
bigger goal of staying on the mar- simply part of the way innovation is it difficult to plan or even to
ket. One could even say that the understand market dynamics, an
innovation process is actually the SME with a more flexible, open,
3. For a look at the Stanford model, visit
iterative process of designing a com- http://stanford.edu/group/dschool/big_picture/
and permeable attitude may find it
pany to meet customer and market design_thinking.html. easier to survive.

58
 Design and the Innovation Process

Discussion Conclusion Network Symposium, Bern,

Switzerland.
An integrated model in which The present formulation of a
Benkenstein, M. (1998). ‘‘Besonderhei-
strategy building, innovation, and design-driven innovation process ten des Innovationsmanagements in
design management become one model has been developed particu- Dienstleistungsunternehmungen.’’
unified process has advantages. We larly for SMEs with little or no In M. Bruhn, H. Meffert (Eds.),
did not test the model yet; how- design awareness so far. It will have Handbuch Dienstleistungsmanagement
ever, some of the first reactions of to be validated through further (pp. 689–703). Gabler, Germany:
SME chief executive officers to it applied research with companies. Wiesbaden.
were positive. The model made SMEs have fewer financial resources Boland, R. J., Jr, Collopy, F. (2004).
sense to them; the phases of available than their larger competi- ‘‘Design Matters for Management.’’
impulse, research, development, tors and are less inclined to include In R. J. Boland, Jr, F. Collopy
strategy, implementation, and evo- design consultants or designers in (Eds.), Managing as Designing (pp.
3–18). Stanford, CA: Stanford
lution were easy to understand and their activities and innovation pro-
University Press.
familiar to them and resembled some cesses; thus another challenge for
Borja de Mozota, B. (2003). Design
of the processes of their own compa- future research will be to address
Management: Using Design to Build
nies. The model also implements the the question of whether more tools Brand Value and Corporate Innovation.
prerequisites we formulated early in and models based on design New York: Allworth Press.
this paper: adapting frameworks that methodology and design thinking Bougrain, F., Haudeville, B. (2002).
already existed and visualizing for (as well as being inexpensive in ‘‘Innovation, Collaboration and
ease of use. their application) can be developed SMEs’ Internal Research
The disadvantage of this model to support SMEs in the integration Capacities.’’ Research Policy, 31,
is that it blurs the boundaries of of design into their company activi- pp. 735–747.
design and business notions to an ties and innovation processes. & Brown, T. (2008). ‘‘Design Thinking.’’
extent that the design and design Reprint #10051ACK50 Harvard Business Review, June, pp.
management contributions are no 1–9.
Cooper, R. G. (1996). ‘‘Overhauling
longer recognized as such. (In prop-
References the New Product Process.’’
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‘‘Design Management for Small and
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59
 Design Management Journal

Design Staircase: Facts & Insights Design and Development. New York: School of Art and Design in
about Design Motivations and McGraw-Hill. Lucerne ⁄ Switzerland. She has been
Barriers. (2001). Copenhagen, Wolf, P., Schweikert, S., Küchler, W., the head of the program ever since
Denmark: Danish Design Centre. Stössel, Z. (2005). SME Innovation its start in 2006. She is also the
Dumas, A., Mintzberg, H. (1989). Demand Report. Project Regional head of a research group, ‘‘Design
‘‘Managing Design ⁄ Designing Innovation Strategy for Central
and Management,’’ and has been
Management.’’ Design Management Switzerland (RISforCCH). Lucerne,
doing research in the area of acces-
Journal, 1(1), pp. 37–43. Switzerland: Lucerne University of
Rüegg-Stürm, J. (2003). Das neue Applied Sciences and Arts, Business
sibility, design management for
St. Galler Management-Modell. Administration. SMEs, and design-driven innova-
Grundkategorien einer integrierten tion. In 2008, she co-founded the
Managementlehre: Der HSG- Author biography association ‘‘Swiss Design Transfer,’’
Ansatz. Bern, Switzerland: Haupt Claudia Acklin studied social peda- a regional center for design promo-
Verlag. gogy and journalism and worked tion and support for SMEs. Last
Turner, R., Topalian, A. (2002). ‘‘Core
for more than 12 years as a journal- year, together with the Commission
Responsibilities of Design Leaders of Technology and Innovation
ist. During that period she pro-
in Commercially Demanding (a national research body), she held
duced and directed two full-length
Environments.’’ Paper presented at a ‘‘Swiss Design Initiative’’ that
the Design Leadership Forum documentary films. In the past years
she has mainly been working in invited stakeholders from the design
Inaugural Session.
research and the educational field field to discuss the question of whether
Ulrich, K. T., Eppinger, S. D. (1995).
developing new study programs a national design policy for Switzer-
Product Design and Development. A
Resource for Students and such as the BA in Design Manage- land was needed. The result was a
Professionals in the Field of Product ment, International at Lucerne first position paper on this issue.

60

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