Design Management in an Era of Disruption
Organized by DMI – The Design Management Institute
Hosted by the London College of Fashion, London, United Kingdom
We announce a call for papers for the 19th Academic Design Management Conference to be
held in London, UK September 2–4, 2014. The theme of the conference is Design Management
in an Era of Disruption. The management of design has arguably never played such an
important role as it does today. Changes to the business and social environment are making
consumers more knowledgeable and discerning. Innovations and developments in new
technologies make it possible to respond to these demands in the form of mass-niche, masscustomized, or micro-niche product strategies, leading to changes in business models and the
location of manufacturing as consumers increasingly participate in the product design and
development process. These are all indicative of major disruptions to the ways that products and
services are designed, made, and distributed. The role of the designer is in many contexts
transformed. The purpose of this conference is to explore how design management is changing
in this era of disruption.
We welcome early-career researchers and PhD candidates with work in progress.
We are also seeking proposals for workshops on design management research themes.
Please click here for more information on the workshops and paper submission process
Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2014
Deadline for full papers: May 16, 2014
Conference Organisers
Conference Patron: Michael Westcott, President, DMI, Boston USA; Conference Chairs: Dr. Erik
Bohemia, Loughborough University, UK; Professor Rachel Cooper, Lancaster University, UK;
Professor Jeanne Liedtka, University of Virginia - Darden Business School, USA; Professor Alison
Rieple, University of Westminster, UK
CONFERENCE TRACKS
The conference is organised around 7 meta themes that are divided into 16 tracks:
Design in the creation of meaning
Transformational design management
Contextualised designing
Design management futures
Design thinking, leadership and impact
Educating Design Managers For Strategic Roles
Open Track
Theme 1: Design in the creation of meaning
1a) Designers as cultural intermediaries in an era of flux
Track chairs
Dr. Francesco Zurlo, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Professor Luisa Collina, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Professor Ulrike Rahe, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Dr. Erik Bohemia, Loughborough University, UK
Designers have been described as key cultural intermediaries as a result of their role designing
symbolic goods and services. In this role they play an active role in promoting consumption through
attaching particular meanings and lifestyles to products and services with which consumers will
identify. However, as meanings of the products and services are negotiated rather than determined at
the outset, designers need to develop an understanding of how others negotiate these meanings. In
addition, due to globalization and increasingly interconnected societies through digital technologies
and travel, ‘local' cultures are in a flux on an unprecedented scale. This track therefore seeks to
explore relationships between culture and design. For example questions may relate to: what
challenges and opportunities do designers face when exploring ‘local’ cultural resources? What
processes do designers use to frame ‘local’ cultural inputs? How do they then translate these insights
into new offerings, including ‘disruptive’ service innovations? What processes do designers use to
‘construct’ users whether these are ‘local’ or ‘global’? In what ways do these constructs enable or limit
designers' thinking? How do designers represent ‘culture’ within their designs?
Indicative References:
Buchanan, R. (2001). Design Research and the New Learning. Design Issues, 17(4), 3–23.
du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Mackay, H., & Negus, K. (1997). Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of
the Sony Walkman. London, Great Britain: Sage Publications.
Julier, G. (2006). From Visual Culture to Design Culture. Design Issues:, 22(1), 64–76. doi:
10.1162/074793606775247817
Julier, G. (2007). The Culture of Design (2nd ed.). London UK: Sage Publications.
Negus, K. (2002). The Work of Cultural Intermediaries and the Enduring Distance Between
Production and Consumption. Cultural Studies, 16(4), 501–515. doi: 10.1080/09502380210139089
Shove, E., Watson, M., Hand, M., & Ingram, J. (2008). The Design of Everyday Life (Cultures of
Consumption). Oxford, UK: Berg.
Norman A. D., Verganti, R., Incremental and Radical Innovation: Design Research vs. Technology
and Meaning Change. Design Issues, 30 (1), Winter 2014
1b) Contemporary Brand Design
Track chairs
Dr. Toni-Matti Karjalainen, Aalto University School of Business
Dr. Oscar Person, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture
Professor Shin'ya Nagasawa, Waseda University, Tokyo
Dr Ashok Ranchhod, University of Southampton, UK
Dr Matthew Sinclair, Loughborough University, UK
Professor Joanne Roberts, University of Southampton, UK
This track looks for theoretically driven and practically relevant contributions that shed new light on
the strategies, practices and processes by which contemporary brand experiences are created and
managed by companies in different product fields, from consumer goods to luxury artifacts, from
physical products to more service-driven brands. We are particularly interested in the mediating role
of design in the creation of strong and sustainable brand recognition. In this track theme we hope to
identify possible commonalities and differences in the strategies and approaches that brands in
different fields apply in their product design.
Indicative References:
Kim, Angella Ji-Young @ Ko, Eun-Ju (2010) The Impact of Design Characteristics on Brand Attitude
and Purchase Intention - Focus on Luxury Fashion Brands Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing
and Textiles, Bol.34, Iss. 2 pp. 252-265
Karjalainen, Toni‐Matti, and Snelders, Dirk. "Designing Visual Recognition for the Brand*." Journal of
Product Innovation Management 27.1 (2010): 6-22.
Person, Oscar, and Dirk Snelders. "Brand styles in commercial design."Design Issues 26.1 (2010):
82-94.
Sinclair, M. (2013) 'Connoisseurship as a substitute for user research? The case of the Swiss watch
industry' Nimkulrat, N., Niedderer, K. and Evans, M. (eds.). EKSIG 2013: Knowing Inside Out Experiential Knowledge, Expertise and Connoisseurship: Proceedings of the International Conference
2013 of the Design Research Society Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge, 4th-5th July
2013, Loughborough University, UK, pp.303-318.
Wuts, J., Person, O., Jan Hultink, E., & Brands, M. (2012). Next‐Level Branding: Digital Brand Fit in
Video‐Game Design. Design Management Review,23(1), 74-82.
Kizu, Y., & Nagasawa, S. Y. (2012). Creating the New Brand Equity through EcoDesign of Cosmetics.
In Design for Innovative Value Towards a Sustainable Society (pp. 463-467). Springer Netherlands.
Yin, Y., Pei, E., & Ranchhod, A. (2013). The Shopping Experience of Older Supermarket Consumers.
Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 26(4), 7-7.
1c) Design management and artistic interventions
Track chairs
Professor Antti Ainamo, Aalto University School of Business
Dr. Kirsi Niinimäki, Aalto University School of Arts, design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Marja Soila Wadman, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Professor Lisbeth Svengren Holm, The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden
Professor Clemens Thornquist, The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, SwedenK
It has proved difficult to catch all the flavours and characteristics of design - what it is and how it may
be valued. Many descriptions sound like most descriptions of innovation and product/service
development with their focus on problem solving thereby not catching the character and value of
design.. This might be one reason for why many companies still have difficulties understanding the
strategic value and processes of design. There seems to be an avoidance of the aesthetic and artistic
part of the design process that differentiates design from engineering. In contrast to industrial design,
the field of fashion has rarely had any problem in understanding what design is and the artistic side of
the design process. Despite this, the field of fashion has not traditionally been an empirical nor a
theoretical field for design management research. However, art and design management is now
emerging as a stream of research in both the fashion and other industries focusing on the role of
creative and artistic interventions as a strategic tool in complex, chaotic and interactional global
environments.
We therefore call for papers around such topics as: design fashion and art management - differences
and similarities; artistic interventions and design interventions – as method, as learning process, as
provocation; creative and fashion management – theoretical and empirical implications; the role of art,
design and fashion in fields traditionally not associated with art, design or fashion
Indicative References:
Djelic, Marie-Laure, and Antti Ainamo (2005) “The telecom industry as cultural industry? The
transposition of fashion logics into the field of mobile telephony, Research in the Sociology of
Organizations, 23: 45-80
Dobson, John. "Aesthetic style as a post-structural business ethic." Journal of business ethics 93.3
(2010): 393-400.
Johansson, Ulla, And Jill Woodilla. "Looking At Design Thinking Interventions As Artistic
Interventions." Leading Through Design (2012): 871.
Laura Laaksonen, Antti Ainamo, Toni-Matti Karjalainen, (2011) "Entrepreneurial passion: an
explorative case study of four metal music ventures", Journal of Research in Marketing and
Entrepreneurship, 13(1): 18 – 36.
Thornquist, Clemens. Artistic Development in [fashion] Design. Center for Textiles Research (CTF),
2010.
Niinimäki, Kirsi, and Cosette Armstrong. "From pleasure in use to preservation of meaningful
memories: a closer look at the sustainability of clothing via longevity and attachment." International
Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education ahead-of-print (2013): 1-10.
Person, Oscar, Dirk Snelders, and Jan Schoormans. "Reestablishing Styling as a Prime Interest for
the Management of Design." Advances in International Marketing 23 (2012): 161-177.
Schiuma, Giovanni. The value of arts for business. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Stoneman, Paul. Soft innovation: Economics, product aesthetics, and the creative industries. Oxford
University Press, 2010.
Strati, Antonio. "Aesthetic understanding of work and organizational life: approaches and research
developments." Sociology Compass 4.10 (2010): 880-893.
Theme 2: Transformational design management
2a) User-centred design (UCD): A disruptive business enabler for sustainable consumption?
Track chairs
Dr Debra Lilley, Loughborough Design School, UK
Dr Val Mitchell, Loughborough Design School, UK
Dr Stephen Worrall, E.ON, UK
The aim of this track is to explore the potential benefits of adopting a UCD approach to reduce overconsumption of resources and encourage more sustainable actions, and in doing so, gain a greater
understanding of the potential influence and impact of UCD in a business context. Papers may focus
on employing a UCD approach to encourage resource efficient domestic or industrial practices or
energy, water, transport, or waste reduction; tools, approaches or frameworks for incorporating a
UCD approach within business models; or practice-based case studies of UCD implementation in
business strategy. Central to the debate in all papers, however, should be a discussion of the
potential for UCD to act as an enabler for sustainable consumption in a way that adds value to the
business.
Indicative References:
Wilson. G.T, Lilley. D and Bhamra. T (2013) Design Feedback Interventions for Household Energy
Consumption Reduction, 16th Conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption
and Production (ERSCP) & 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable
Universities (EMSU) (ERSCP-EMSU 2013), 4th-7th June 2013, Istanbul, Turkey
Moreno. M. A, Lofthouse. V. A, and Lilley. D (2011) Enabling Sustainable Consumption through UserCentred Design: an approach, Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, Vol. 5, Issue
4, pp.707-722
Ross, T., Mitchell, V.A., & May, A.J (2012) Bottom-up grassroots innovation in transport: motivations,
barriers and enablers, Transportation Planning and Technology Volume 35, Issue 4, 2012, pages
469-489
Haines, V., Mitchell, V. and Mallaband, B. (2012) ‘Merging a practice-orientated approach with an
engineering-driven product development: a case study on home improvement’, Journal of Design
Research, Vol. 10, Nos. 1/2, pp.28–49.
2b) Exploring collaboration in product development: the good, the bad and the ugly
Dr. Nuša Fain, University of Strathclyde, UK
Dr. Beverly Wagner, University of Strathclyde, UK
Innovation is a key driver of competitiveness and economic growth, but nurturing it is a challenging
task because it involves multiple and constantly changing actors, linkages and dynamics.
Furthermore, although collaboration and cooperation have come to dominate successful innovation,
businesses often run into information and coordination problems at the different stages of the
collaboration process. This means understanding collaboration, coordination and cross-functional
integration processes is essential for effective innovation performance. As design is an integral part of
such collaborations in innovation, contributions within this track should address the challenges new
types of collaboration in innovation bring to designers. Examples include, but are not limited to crossfunctional and cross-disciplinary collaboration of designers with other disciplines and functions, voice
of the designer, working in dispersed design teams, engaging key stakeholders in the design process
and measuring performance and product excellence through cross-functional involvement.
Indicative References:
Brandon-Jones, A., Ramsay, J., & Wagner, B. (2010). Trading interactions: supplier empathy,
consensus and bias. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 30(5), 453-487.
Evanschitzky, H., Eisend, M., Calantone, R. J. and Jiang, Y. (2012), Success Factors of Product
Innovation: An Updated Meta-Analysis. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 29: 21–37.
Fain, N., Kline, M., & Duhovnik, J. (2011). Integrating R&D and marketing in new product
development.Strojniški vestnik-Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 57(7-8), 599-609.
Fain, Nusa, Niels Moes, and Jože Duhovnik. "The role of the user and the society in new product
development." Strojniški vestnik-Journal of Mechanical Engineering 56.7-8 (2010): 513-522.
Greer, Charles R., and David Lei. "Collaborative Innovation with Customers: A Review of the
Literature and Suggestions for Future Research*." International Journal of Management Reviews 14.1
(2012): 63-84.
Lee, S. M., Olson, D. L., & Trimi, S. (2012). Co-innovation: convergenomics, collaboration, and cocreation for organizational values. Management Decision,50(5), 817-831.
Nakata, C. and Im, S. (2010), Spurring Cross-Functional Integration for Higher New Product
Performance: A Group Effectiveness Perspective. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27:
554–571.
Parry, M. E., Ferrín, P. F., Varela González, J. A. and Song, M. (2010), PERSPECTIVE: CrossFunctional Integration in Spanish Firms. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27: 606–615.
2c) Managing consumer involvement in product development
Dr. Ian Campbell, Loughborough University, UK
Dr. Matthew Sinclair, Loughborough University, UK
Professor Francesco Zurlo Deputy Director of Politecnico of Milano and Professor of Strategic Design
and furniture design;
Dr Marco Pironti Turin University,
Dr Paola Pisano Turin University,
Professor Alison Rieple, University of Westminster
Recent developments in both hardware and software have facilitated greater opportunities for
consumers to become more involved in product design and manufacturing. Low-cost, easy-to-use 3D
modelling software and low-cost 3D printers mean that, at least in theory, the same person can
design and make their own simple product. However, for more complex products, much professional
input is still needed. Therefore, a continuum now exists between totally consumer-designed products
and totally professionally designed products (the latter being the norm under the mass production
paradigm). The whole field of mass customisation calls for different levels of consumer involvement in
product design, depending upon the type of product, the consumer's desire for customisation and the
manufacturer's willingness to allow consumer input. Conference paper submissions that deal with any
aspect of managing consumer involvement in design are most welcome. Typical topics include
facilitating consumer involvement; protecting the brand; sharing of IP; deciding upon the level of
customisation; pricing structures; the impact upon product liability; the effect on business models; the
effect on the location of production and design in manufacturing industries; and the competences
designers need in this new type of environment.
Indicative References:
Mugge, R; Schoormans, J.P.L. and Schifferstein, H.N.J.(2009) 'Incorporating consumers in the design
of their own products. The dimensions of product personalisation', CoDesign, 5(2), pp. 79-97.
Dahl, D.W. and Moreau, C.P. (2007), 'Thinking inside the box: why consumers enjoy constrained
creative experiences', Journal of Marketing Research, 44(3), pp. 357-369.
Franke, N; Schreier, M. and Kaiser, U. (2010), 'The ³I Designed It Myself² Effect in Mass
Customization', Management Science 56(1), pp. 125-140.
Hermans, G. and Stolterman, E. (2012), 'Exploring Parametric Design:
Consumer Customization of an Everyday Object, Leading Innovation through Design', Proceedings of
the DMI 2012 International Research Conference, 1-4 July, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,
Thailand.
2d) Enterprise eco system design
Track chairs
Professor Brigitte Borja de Mozota, Paris College of Art
Milan Guenther, Designer – Founder and Associate eda.c
Dr. Alice Peinado, Paris College of Art
Dr Kaja Tooming Buchanan, Assistant Professor, The Cleveland Institute of Art Ohio
In this track we welcome contributions exploring how design can help companies redesign their
relationships with people through improved information systems. In recent years, strategic design
management initiatives have enabled businesses to empower people through new usage paradigms
of their information systems that go beyond a traditional functional focus. The goal for IT management
is to focus instead on building trust by providing people with information relevant for decisions to be
made through modular, innovative, open, mobile, adaptive, co designed and ubiquitous information
technology.
In this track we wish to open the debate on how design can emerge as an enabler for an enterprise
eco system bringing together different elements, media and functions at key intersections: how is
design management explicitly designing transitions in process management at all levels?; how is
meaningful dialogue among all users and stakeholders made possible through the input of design
skills?; how the design process is used in a holistic way to open exchanges with both employees and
business partners within the new IT context?; how is design addressing the complexity of integrating
new artefacts into existing business structures, focusing on changes in people’s mind-sets to support
strategic change?
Indicative references:
Guenther, M. (2012). Intersection: How Enterprise Design Bridges the Gap between Business,
Technology, and People. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Theme 3: Contextualised designing
3a) Co-creating shared value in service design
Track chairs
Professor Tung-Jung Sung, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Professor Lu Yuan, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
Service design plays an increasingly important role in provision of value in a modern economy. Value
co-creation is a fundamental cornerstone of service design while, in addition, co-creation is claimed to
be today's most accepted model for innovation more widely. Therefore, how to effectively manage
value co-creation has become crucial for business enterprises or communities.
Value co-creation with stakeholders under a service-dominant logic can occur in different ways. It
involves an understanding of the different roles of the stakeholders involved in an holistic
consideration of service contents: creating shared value highlights the importance of mutual trust and
dependence (or interdependence) among the various stakeholders. As a result, achieving an
integrated model or framework of value co-creation is becoming a major challenge for service design,
yet there is limited research on this. Therefore, this track theme aims to offer a platform for
researchers and practitioners to present the state of the art research, discuss latest developments,
and envision future directions for value co-creation in service design research.
Indicative References:
Lehrer, M., Ordanini, A., DeFillippi, R., & Miozzo, M. (2012). Challenging the orthodoxy of value cocreation theory: A contingent view of co-production in design-intensive business services. European
Management Journal.
Mager, B., & Sung, T. J. (2011). Special issue editorial: Designing for Services. International Journal
of Design, 5(2), 1-3.
Yang, C.F., Wang, Y. C. and Sung, T. J. (2013, May). Service Experience Image for Value CoCreation: The Creative Communities in Taipei City, In Service Science and Innovation (ICSSI), 2013
Fifth International Conference on (pp. 29-34). IEEE.
Tung, W. F., Yuan, S. T., Wu, Y. C., & Hung, P. (2012). Collaborative service system design for music
content creation. Information Systems Frontiers, 1-12.
Hsieh, Yen-Hao, Soe-Tsyr Yuan, and Hsiao-Chen Liu. (2012) "Service interaction design: A HawkDove game based approach to managing customer expectations for oligopoly service providers."
Information Systems Frontiers: 1-17.
Lin, F.R., Hsieh, P.S. (2011), A SAT View on New Service Development, Service Science, 3(2), 141–
157
Lu, Y., & Baha, E. (2013, May). Engaged Scholarship for Designing Product Service System
Innovation Opportunities in an Industrial Design Course. In Service Science and Innovation (ICSSI),
2013 Fifth International Conference on(pp. 54-58). IEEE.
3b) Design in the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) in an era of disruption
Track chairs
Professor Alison Rieple, The University of Westminster, UK
Dr Irini Pitsaki, Northumbria University
Dr. Natalie Nixon, Philadelphia University, USA
Associate Professor Birgit Jevnaker, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
The term CCI includes experiential services such as the performing arts as well as tangible and/or
scalable products that require exceptional quantities of creativity in their development processes:
examples here being recorded music, fashion, books, art exhibitions and digital media. Many of these
sectors have been disrupted by the development of digital technologies and the Internet. Yet there is
comparatively little writing on the management of design in the CCIs. We believe that research is
needed on the role of design in cultural product development Design not simply as a means of
communication or creation of objects and spaces, but rather as a process that generates experiences,
and helps management to be holistic and user-centred.
We invite questions such as: is design thinking a pre-requisite for success in these types of
organizations; Roger Martin used the world's largest performing arts organization, Cirque du Soleil, as
a paradigm example of design thinking? What aspects are most important - logistics, ticketing,
audience flow, performance environment, workplace ...? How is design used in disintermediated CCI
sectors such as music and publishing? Is there a role for design in providing a substitute for a
physical organization?
Indicative References:
Martin, R. The Design of Business- Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage. Boston:
Harvard University Press, 2009.
Nixon, Natalie and Johanna Blakley. "Fashion Thinking: Towards an Actionable Methodology".
Fashion Practice. Volume 4, Issue 2 Pages 153-176
Pitsaki I. (2010 b). Understanding design for cultural organizations performance. The International
Journal of Design Principles and Practices. Common Ground, Champaign IL, Volume 4, pp. 10-22.
3c) Social and sustainable design management
Track chairs
Dr Rita Assoreira Almendra, University Of Lisbon (Faculty of Architecture)
Jose Andrade Vicente, Escola Superior da Gallaecia, Portugal
Social and sustainable design emerged during the last century as a new field committed to answer
the urgent needs of humanity. Due to its relativity newness, there is a lack of definition about its
territory, scope and practices. This is demonstrated by the multitude of terms and expressions used to
describe almost similar methods and approaches. Some of these relate to collaborative work with
social sector organizations and others to designer's own initiatives to help society face the most
complex social, environmental, cultural, political and economic challenges.
Social design and sustainable design are intertwined since both advocate a change of paradigm.
Sustainable human well-being a common goal to both social design and sustainable design. There is
no sustainable design without balancing social/individual/ cultural dimensions with economic and
environmental ones. And social design can be seen as assuming sustainable design principles and
translating them into practice with a specific focus on social issues.
This track theme will focus on questions such as: Can existing strategies and business models ensure
the success of a social and/or sustainable design project? Are there differences and commonalities in
the management of products and services in the context of social and sustainable design
approaches? What challenges do social and sustainable design practices pose at different levels of
intervention - strategic, tacit and operational? How can results be measured in these type of projects:
which metrics and KPIs?
Indicative References:
Brown, T., Wyatt, J., 2010. Design Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation
Review,pp. 30-35.
Buchanan, R., 1997. Branzi’s Dilemma: Design in Contemporary Culture. Fourth Order: Design,
Management, and Organizational Change.
Carley, M., Christie, I., 2001. Managing Sustainable Development. Routhledge.
IDEO, 2008. Design for Social Impact: How-to Guide, The Rockerfeller Foundation.
Lasky, J., 2013. Design and Social Impact: A Cross Sectorial Agenda for Design Education, Research
and Practice.
Mulgan, G., Caulier-Grice, J., Murray, R., 2010. The Open Book of Social Innovation. Skoll centre for
social entrepreneurship.
Pearson, J., 2006. Design and Sustainability: Opportunities for Systemic transformation The Summit
Foundation., GreenBlue (Green Blue Institute).
Thackara, J., 2008. We Are All Emerging Economies Now. Observatory: Design Observer Blog.
Theme 4: Design management futures
4a) New modes of design management
Track chairs
Adjunct Professor Anne Stenros, School of Arts and Design, Aalto University and Design Director at
KONE Corporation, Finland
Pia Tamminen, BIT Research Centre, Aalto University, Finland
Design is more than giving an artifact form and function; it is a collaborative process by
interdisciplinary teams. Because of the disintermediation of organisational hierarchies and the
disruption to organisational value and supply chains, we believe that there has been a shift in the
state of mind of design management – from coordination to integration. In this track we seek to
explore questions such as: What are the new modes of design management, if any? How do
companies integrate design teams into their product and/or service development systems in a
globalised world? How do new modes of design management operate in different contexts, for
example SMEs and the public sector? How do new modes of design management operate in an open
design context? How is technology-enabled and user centred design-driving entrepreneurial
disruption of large and small firm ecosystems?
Indicative References:
Verganti, R. (2011) How companies can systematically create innovations that customers don't even
know they want, Harvard Business Review, October, 114-120
von Busch, O. (2012) Generation Open: Contested Creativity and Capabilities, The Design Journal,
15(4), 443-460
Berends, H. et al. (2011) External designers in product design processes of small manufacturing
firms, Design Studies, 32, 86-108
4b) Design Management: Future Perspectives
Professor Rachel Cooper, Lancaster University, UK
Dr. Martyn Evans, Lancaster University, UK
Dr Leon Cruikshank LancasterUniversity, UK
Associate Professor Birgit Jevnaker, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Design Management could be considered a mature discipline, whilst design continues its emergent
qualities, expanding from traditional disciplines, crossing boundaries moving and into new areas, for
example service design, social innovation design, designing knowledge exchange. At the same time
design is managed at both macro (cites, systems) and micro scales (object and product) and
anywhere in between. Whilst the breadth of influencing factors and design evidence to be considered
and taken into account in the design become deeper and richer, e.g. sustainability, ageing, health,
wellbeing etc. So how do we think about the future of the discipline? Is 'management' the appropriate
word? How does it need to adapt in relation the changing nature of design and the new management
theories? These are just a few questions that can be addressed within this theme.
Indicative References:
Borja de Mozota Brigitte , 2011, Design strategic value revisited: a dynamic theory for design as
organizational function, chapter 18, The handbook of Design Management, editors Rachel Cooper,
Sabine Junginger, Thomas Lockwood ,Berg publishers
4c) The role of designers in the shift towards Product Service Systems
Track chairs
Dr. Dirk Snelders, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands and Aalto University, Helsinki
Erik Roscam Abbing, Zilver Innovation and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
Dr. Froukje Sleeswijk Visser, Zilver Innovation and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
Christine De Lille, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
Many organizations are making the shift towards Product Service Systems. As products seldom stand
alone these days, companies have to make this shift in order to unlock new value, both for
themselves and their customers). In the midst of this shift, they are confronted with the need to find
new ways of serving their customers. They must re-organise themselves. The number of new
phenomena, models and strategies to deal with seems endless, and the people managing them need
flexibility and openness to be able to adapt. In order to deal with this shift designers, project leaders
and senior managers can play an important role. But how is this role different from designing
products? What skills of designers are important in this shift? How do they organize themselves? This
track aims to raise a discussion between those on the client side (the organization) and designers and
other facilitators coming from both practice and academia.
Indicative References:
Morelli, N. (2009). Service as value co-production: reframing the service design process. Journal of
Manufacturing Technology Management, 20(5), 568-590.
Pawar, K. S., Beltagui, A., & Riedel, J. C. (2009). The PSO triangle: designing product, service and
organisation to create value. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 29(5),
468-493.
DE LILLE, C., ABBINGab, E. R., & KLEINSMANN, M. (2012). A designerly approach to enable
organizations to deliver product-service systems. in Proceedings of Design Management Institute
Conference “Leading Innovation through Design” DMI 2012 , pp. 465–478.
Sleeswijk Visser, F. (Ed) (2013) Service design by Industrial Designers. Sleeswijk Visser, TUDelft.
ISBN 978946186
Theme 5: Design thinking, leadership and impact
5a) Design Leadership
Track chairs
Dr. James Moultrie, the University of Cambridge, UK
Dr. Karen Miller, the University of Cambridge, UK
Design leadership can be viewed in a number of different ways. It might be leadership of the firm in its
market place or it might be leadership regarding design within the firm. It is increasingly evident that
effective design leadership is important in many organisations. Design leaders might have attributes
associated with leaders in other roles, but they are potentially unique in their perspective on design.
This track seeks to explore the latest thinking and research around design leadership in all of its
forms.
So some indicative questions might be: Is design leadership important for commercial success? How
do organisations attain design leadership positions (i.e. capabilities, resources, strategies, structures
etc.)? How do individuals attain, develop and optimise design leadership roles (e.g. education,
training, experience etc.)?
Indicative References:
Joziasse, F. (2011). Design leadership: Current limits and future opportunities. In: R. Cooper, S.
Junginger, T. Lockwood, eds. The Handbook of Design Management. Berg: Oxford, pp. 398-413.
Miller, K. & Moultrie, J. (2013). Delineating design leaders: A framework of design management roles
in fashion retail. Journal of Creativity and Innovation Management, 22, pp. 161-176.
Topalian, A. (2011). Major challenges for design leaders over the next decade. In: R. Cooper, S.
Junginger, T. Lockwood, eds. The Handbook of Design Management. Berg: Oxford, pp. 379-397.
5b) Public policy and services informed by a design approach
Track chairs
Dr Nina Terrey, ThinkPlace, Australia
Dr Sabine Junginger, Associate Professor Kolding School of Design, Denmark
The challenge facing public managers is how to transform public policies and services to be “better,
quicker and cheaper” while at the same time ensure services are meaningful, relevant and helpful to
the community. Design as strategy, method and skills has recently focused on investigating the
transformative role of services as a way to build a more sustainable and equitable society. Design in
public services was recently a topic of a UK parliamentary inquiry that looked into how design can
contribute to renewing public services. The report makes a clear proposition that public leaders can
acquire the skills of design to reshape and refashion the public policies and services that they are
responsible. This track proposes to bring together latest research in design focusing on public policy
and service design answering such questions as: What evidence is there that design approaches
embedded in public organizations is a genuine way for public leaders to succeed? How have public
leaders co-designed effective policies and services with their communities? How are public services
that have been co-designed more relevant and meaningful to communities? How have co-designed or
coproduced public policies or services proven to reduce costs? How has design offered a fresh
approach to rethinking policy, redrawing professional practice and reshaping service delivery?
Indicative References:
Design Commission (2013). Restarting Britain 2: Design and Public Services United Kingdom Design
Commission.
Quirk, B. (2013) Local government can improve public services by hiring designers. The Guardian
Sangiorgi, D. (2011). "Transformative Services and Transformation Design " International Journal of
Design 5(2).
5c) Measuring the impact of design - and design thinking - in an era of disruption
Track chairs
Professor Brigitte Borja de Mozota – PCA, France
Professor Jeanne Liedtka, Darden School of Business, Associate Professor Fabiane Wolff,
UniRitter/Laureate International Universities, Brasil
This track focuses on the impact of design on business performance. One of the particular areas of
interest is in measuring the specific outcomes – whether at the level of the individual, the team, or the
organization – produced by the adoption of a design thinking approach, along with the methodological
challenges of identifying and calibrating them.
We encourage submissions on these and other questions such as : How do designers feel about how
their work is measured and assessed? How can design be valued/measured - for example design
outputs or design skills as knowledge capital? Are design and design management awards pertinent
tools for measurement effectiveness? What kind of strategies and resources can be used to improve
managers’ knowledge about design? What are the best components to include on design balanced
scorecards and other applied managerial tools?
Indicative References:
Borja de Mozota Brigitte, 2011, Design strategic value revisited: a dynamic theory for design as
organizational function, chapter 18, The handbook of Design Management. Editors Rachel Cooper,
Sabine Junginger, Thomas Lockwood. Berg publishers
Cooper, R., Juninger, S. & Lockwood, T. (2009). Design thinking and design management: A
research and practice perspective. In Lockwood, T. (Ed.), Design thinking: Integrating innovation,
customer experience, and brand value (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Allworth Press.
DMI Journal 2011 Special Issue on The Extended Value of Design
Guo, L. (2010). Product design and financial performance. Design Management Journal, 5(1), 5-19.
Candi, M., & Gemser, G. (2010). An agenda for research on the relationships between industrial
design and performance. International journal of design, 4(3), 67-77.
Hertenstein, J. H., Platt, M. B., & Brown, D. R. (2001). Valuing design: enhancing corporate
performance through design effectiveness. Design Management Journal (Former Series), 12(3), 1019.
Hertenstein, J. H., Platt, M. B., & Veryzer, R. W. (2005). The Impact of Industrial Design Effectiveness
on Corporate Financial Performance*. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 22(1), 3-21.
Johansson, U., Woodilla, J. & Cetinkaya. (2011). The emperor’s new clothes or The magic wand?
The past, present and future of design thinking. Proceedings of the 1st Cambridge Academic Design
Management Conference, Cambridge, UK.
Lindberg, T., Koppen, E., Rauth, I. & Meinel, C. (2012). On the Perception, Adoption and
Implementation of Design Thinking in the IT. In Plattner, H., Meinel, C. & Leifer, L. (Eds.) Design
Thinking Research. Heidelberg: Industry Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Seidel, V. & Fixson, S. (2013). Adopting 'Design Thinking' in Novice Multidisciplinary Teams: The
Application and Limits of Design Methods and Reflexive Practices, Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 30 (S1): 19-33
5d) Design(ers) thinking and disruptive business model innovation: creating mental models or
tangible models?
Track chairs
Prof. Petra Badke-Schaub, Professor for Design Theory and Methodology, TU-Delft
Dr.ir. Lianne W.L. Simonse Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology
In this track the aim is to explore the building of the design thinking paradigm by contrasting the
innovation context of product innovation and business model innovation. Specifically we like to
address the question of: what are the similarities and differentiators in taking up design thinking in
contribution to product innovation versus in taking up design thinking in contribution to business
model innovation.
In the discourse about design thinking the emphasis is on human centered innovation. The pace and
proliferation of design thinking publications have reached a point where it is useful to reflect on what
has been learned. Elements for building the paradigm include for example: the description of
designers’ thinking processes including intuitive and rational decision making, adaptive and flexible
thinking processes, and visual and symbolic modeling, etc.
Since e-business organizations became successful, business models have become a new locus for
innovation. Designers are increasingly found in new positions to apply ‘design thinking’ to the
innovation of business models. Thus far, little is known about this process and how design theories
and methodologies (notions, modeling methods and tools) are used. Scholars have taken different
perspectives on the model part of the business models, some referring to mental models that are
created in business model innovation teams others pointing out that tangible models as artifacts of
design are needed.
Indicative References:
Simonse, Lianne, et al. "Mapping business models for social service design in healthcare." Leading
Through Design (2012): 431.
Badke-Schaub, P., J. Daalhuizen, and N. Roozenburg. "Towards a Designer-Centred Methodology:
Descriptive Considerations and Prescriptive Reflections."The Future of Design Methodology. Springer
London, 2011. 181-197..
Theme 6: Educating Design Managers For Strategic Roles
6) Design Management Education
Track chairs
Dr. Erik Bohemia, Loughborough University, UK
Professor Richard Buchanan, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Selena Griffith, UNSW, Australia
A challenge for design and management educators is to prepare future leaders to work in strategic
roles in both traditional and new economy business models. This is re-echoed by a recent European
Design Leadership Board’s report finding which identified the lack of design management skills as a
significant barrier to the adoption and integration of design into Europe’s enterprises, organisations
and governments. A further challenge is to deliver graduates with a passion for lifelong learning and a
capacity to innovate, adapt and adopt emergent design practices within the context of their own. This
track seeks contributions exploring responses by educators to the need to produce more strategic
designers and how emergent design practices are incorporated within the design management
curriculum. The aim is to promote a debate which will inform the development of design and
management education.
Indicative References:
Thomson, M., & Koskinen, T. (2012). Design for Growth & Prosperity (pp. 91). Helsinki, Finland: The
European Design Leadership Board.
Theme 7: Open Track
7) Open track
Track chairs
Erik Bohemia, Rachel Cooper, Leon Cruickshank, Jeanne Liedtka, and Alison Rieple
This track is for papers that do not fit into any of the other named tracks