Interjecting Design into an Existing Business Culture to Enable Innovation

Abstract

Design for many years has been considered an aesthetic tradecraft. However design has, more recently, come to be regarded as a strategic business asset offering a new way to solve problems and innovate. The rapidity of change demands that businesses must seek new ways to systematically create value as a means to retain competitive advantage. Recent technological advances offer a means of greater social connectivity. Brands can take advantage of this connectivity, and businesses can use design to more validly connect with the marketplace. How does a company interject design into an existing business culture to enable innovation? This thesis is a case study of a Kansas-based international animal health equipment manufacturer and its efforts to introduce a program of design as a means to cultivate new ideas through design thinking and improve its existing business and innovation culture. The following report documents this effort and its various productive outcomes.