Position Paper: Synthesise of the Literature

Author (Name Surname)1 Co-author/supervisor (Name Surname)2

1

University of Venus, University address, Phone:+ 353 91 512292, Fax + 35 391

562894; email @uni-venus.de

University of Venus, University address, Phone:+ 353 91 512292, Fax + 35 391

562894; email @uni-venus.de

Abstract
Business owners have been always caught between two extremes: run the
business as always (conservative approach) or take risks and invest money in
uncommon but innovative ideas. In this case, the risk is whether to hire or not a
designer who can bring innovation to the business process and helps the
organisation expands. The problems is that sometimes the risk do not pay off but
in other cases huge benefits are obtained like it was in the case of three SMEs
from Ireland.
Keywords: Design Thinking, SMEs, resources, Innovation
1. Introduction
For designers enhancing the look and functionality of products has been always a
target. Recently, they have begun using design tools to tackle more complex
problems. Businesses were first to embrace a new approach, called Design
Thinking (Brown & Wyatt, 2010). Design Thinking is a creative process that
uses mechanisms to identify problems and generate innovative solutions (Brown,
2008). The implementation of DT normally requires a change in the organization
culture, the creation of new job positions and new physical spaces ( Rauth,
Carlgren & Elmquist, 2014). This shows that the use of DT often involves a cost
for the company which naturally leads to a demand for evaluating the impact of
Design Thinking on the organization.
In light of this, this project aims to analyse how the managers in Irish SMEs
measure the influence of DT in the new product performance. The following
questions will be addressed:

How Design Thinking influences the new product performance in Irish

SMEs?

What efforts are made to legitimize DT?

The specific objectives are:

Identify limitations of DT implementation by SMEs in their business

strategy.

Identify benefits of DT implementation by SMEs in their business strategy.

Identify how DT can contribute to the growth of a SMEs.

To answer those questions and meet those objectives, a survey will be conducted
in relevant Irish SMEs which have been adopting design thinking practices for a
minimum of one year. This research intends to contribute to the design and
management literature by analysing how managers implement and measure the
Design Thinking practices in Irish SMEs. Moreover, it can also help other SMEs on
how to legitimize DT and secure organizational support.
2. Key concepts
In recent years, Design Thinking (DT) has gained ground in the industry,
especially in the United States and Europe. This is because companies - such as
Apple, Google, and Starbucks - are seeking competitive advantage by becoming
design leaders (Chang, Kim & Joo, 2013). Before going into details of DT, the
mechanism and steps behind this process must be explained.
According to Brown (2010), DT exploits the capacities we all possess but are
disregarded in problem-solving processes. Intuition, pattern recognition and
propos ideas based on emotion but still functional are the foundation of DT
process. It may be argued that is futile to run a business on feelings and intuition
but the same can be said about supporting decisions only with rational and
analytical reasoning. Design Thinking proposes an integrated approach which, at
least in theory, should select and encompass only the advantages of the two
extreme methods for running businesses (Kelly & Littman, 2005). The DT can
be best described as a network of overlapping spaces which are not always
performed sequentially but in a more chaotic order, based on the specifics of the
project.
The overlapping areas are:

Inspiration the problem/opportunity that drives the problem-solver to

come up with a solution
Ideation the process in which ideas are created and tested
Implementation the process which takes a validated idea and puts it in
practice.

The debate between different designers starts from the sometimes chaotic
characteristic of the Design Thinking process. By now, one should know that in DT
the three areas are in a loop which is not always run in the same sequential order.
For some, this unpredictability and lack of standardisation is a problem ( Carr et
al. 2010; Fenner, 1995; MsDonough & Braungart, 2002). For others, this is a
process which can enhance the final solution (Brown, 2008; Chang, Kim & Joo,
2013; Starr, 2008). In the following section, few examples of Irish SMEs which
implemented DT in their way of running business will shed some light on how one
organization can squeeze the most out of DT. Before doing this, there are few
issues that must be explained in a more detailed manner. Therefore, the next
section of this paper reviews the problems and benefits associated with
Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation.
3. Benefits and limitations
Although it was already agreed that DT process do not move between the three
spaces in an orderly sequence, Inspiration is usually the first space the problem
solving process begins with and it starts with a brief. According to older literature,
the brief should act as a set of constraints based on which a framework is built
(Fenner, 1995; MsDonough & Braungart, 2002) . On the other hand, in last

few years a new hypothesis has been born: the brief is not an algorithm but
rather a procedure which should allow some room for unpredictability. In this way
mediocre products or solutions will be avoided (Starr, 2008; Ambrose & Harris,
2010).
After spending time in the field observing and doing research, the design group
will try to arrange the collected information and come up with ideas. This
approach helps multiply options to create choices and different insights about
human behaviour (Chang, Kim & Joo, 2013). Alternative ideas about how an
existing product can be improved or choices among existing options are typical
examples of outputs in this step. It was always proved that a head-to-head
analysis of competing concepts led to bolder and astonishing solutions ( Carr et
al. 2010). Unfortunately, there were and will always be limitations in which ideas
should be tested. The natural behaviour of enterprises is to restrict choices in
favour of the obvious and simpler to implement idea ( Carr et al. 2010). On one
hand, this action seems to be the correct solution on short run but makes the
company inflexible in the long run, on the other hand, more choices mean more
complexity, which sometimes can make life difficult ( Rauth, Carlgren &

Elmquist, 2014; MsDonough & Braungart, 2002 ).

The best ideas generated during ideation must be turned into action plans. This
takes place during the Implementation stage and it is based on building
prototypes. Prototypes become more and more expensive and complex once they
get closer to the final stage of implementation. After this part, the design team
will sit with the stakeholders and explain them how the problem was solved and
how the solution is performing (Brown & Wyatt, 2010).
4. Critical success factors
This paper will argue that it is not an easy task to convince SMEs managers to
adopt DT practices but it will pay off when this is done right. In a context of small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the efforts to convince the managers and
legitimate the DT are even harder (Acklin, 2010). This happens because the
SMEs have fewer financial resources available than their larger competitors, thus
the managers are less inclined to include design thinking activities in their
innovation process. However, in the next lines it can be seen how an organization
can benefit from DT once the manager overcome the fear of investing resources
in this direction.
To provide a better insight, the results of a research conducted on three Irish
SMEs will be explained here (Lawlor et al, 2015). By SMEs is meant an
organization with a number of employees greater than 10. A wide range of
sectors were investigated by now but this paper focuses on Engineering, Software
and Medical.
Anord Control Systems Ltd has a long tradition in electrical industry in Ireland.
The company was quite successful but the further growth was limited because the
enterprise was seen as an assembly shop and nothing more. When an UK water
supply company asked for variable speed drives for the water pumping network,
Anord seized the opportunity: there was no control system for these pumps and
Andord won the auction for designing the system (Lawlor et al, 2015). The
company decided to hire a designer and introduced him early on in the business
to help the company differentiate from the competitors, thus it increased the
chances of winning a project. Without going to details it is clearly how design was
used at a critical moment in the growth of a company, Anrod is today present on
US and Canadian markets and has approximately 90 employees on its payroll.

Mcor Technologies Ltd is and Irish company who innovated the 3D printing. In the
past the costs of model making were huge (Rayna & Striukova, 2014). Dr. Conor
MacCormack, the owner of the company, put a lot of effort in building a 3D
printer that will allow everyone to access this technology. A traditional 3D printer
can produce in metal, plaster, plastic and other materials (Weinberg, 2010). Mcor
came with the idea that paper can be part of the list of materials that can be used
in 3D printing. The new printer should be easy to use, without toxic fumes of old
3D printings, friendly working system: software, electronics and mechanical
design. In December 2012, the enterprise launched its first 3D printer, called
Mcor IRIS (Lawlor et al, 2015). The Mcor approach can be summarized as follows:
with respect to Anord who has to design from scratch a new product, Mcor come
with the idea to improve an already existing product: replace the expensive
materials with a cheaper one and make the product available to a wider range of
customers.
Aerogen is a medical device company from Ireland, Galway. For this present
study is interesting to discuss how the company decided to bring the assembly of
its aerosol generator along with its main product, the Aeroneb Solo, back to
Ireland, from China. In order to find a good solution, the company seek out help
and decided to start collaboration with strategic partners but also with research
and development institutes (University of Limerick). Putting together the effort of
all this bodies, a solution which led to lower manufacturing and logistic costs,
improved product quality and reduced working capital (Lawlor et al, 2015). The
company had the skills to identify and satisfy the needs of a niche of customers
and apply a high level of science and technology with the help of partners.
5. Conclusion
This article provides answers to both questions raised in the introductory part.
Moreover, all objectives have been met. The paper is a small sample of literature
review and case studies that supports the implementation of Design Thinking.
However, this research presents two different points of view: first, which are the
limitations that a small business owner has to overcome when deciding to
implement DT, and second, how companys business strategy can benefit from
this innovation.
On reflection it was found that is indeed hard for a SMEs to implement DT but the
braves will always be paid off. Three examples of successful implementation of
Design Thinking in SMEs were provided the situation in Ireland is a little different
(de Eyto et al, 2007). It seems that in Ireland SMEs do not appreciate the value
of Design Thinking and only few business owners learn about it. For all that is
matter, it is true that design industry in Ireland is quite disintegrated and it does
not know how to sell itself. The results of surveys showed that people think that
there was a poor awareness of Design Thinking process for enterprises and that
the scope of design was poorly understood. Therefore, it can be concluded that
challenge for the near future is to change peoples attitude about Design
Thinking.
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