English   Danish

2017/2018  KAN-CCMVV1415U  Managing design in business

English Title
Managing design in business

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 80
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • John Christiansen - Department of Operations Management (OM)
Please find contact information for Student Hub, student Gudiance Services etc. on My.cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation
  • Management
  • Strategy
Last updated on 08-01-2018

Relevant links

Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors: The course will provide the participants with a base for understanding the various aspects of design and the different perspectives on managerial challenges related to management of design and design processes. The students will learn how companies can increase their competitiveness by better managing the design process and the value creation process of products.
  • Understand how managers and organizations constantly design products, processes and structures.
  • Identify the different views on how to understand and manage design in organization and as related to products and services.
  • Have knowledge about different theories and models on design and design management.
  • Reflect on different ways companies can manage their design of new products and services to stimulate innovation activities, and the implications of different choices
  • Be able to identify implications of different ways of addressing a given design challenge
  • Be able to argue for use of a specific theory or model and reflect on its application
  • Reflect and compare across the different perspectives, theories and models
Examination
Managing design in business:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Individual or group exam Individual oral exam based on written group product
Number of people in the group 2-4
Size of written product Max. 20 pages
Definition of number of pages:
Groups of
2 students 10 pages max.
3 students 15 pages max
4 students 20 pages max

Note that the exam is a group exam. If you are not able to find a group yourself, you have to address the course coordinator who will place you in a group.

Students who wish to have an individual exam might be able to write a term paper in the course. Please see the cand.merc. rules for term papers for more information.
Assignment type Project
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Re-take exam is to be based on the same report as the ordinary exam:

* if a student is absent from the oral exam due to documented illness but has handed in the written group product she/he does not have to submit a new product for the re-take.

* if a whole group fails the oral exam they must hand in a revised product for the re-take.

* if one student in the group fails the oral exam the course coordinator chooses whether the student will have the oral exam on the basis of the same product or if he/she has to hand in a revised product for the re- take.
Description of the exam procedure

Students prepare in smaller groups their exam project that has to be delivered before the oral exam. The proejct should depart from an issue or problem adressed in the course, and the project should further explore the issue by adding new information, as additional theories or models or additional emperical data.  E.g. in the form of a case that are dicussed and related to theor theoretical material. The exam is individual, oral, departing from the wrtitten proejct and departing from the written project, as a dicussion of the topic(s) adressed. The course curriculum is mandantory, and the student should be able to discuss all aspects related to the course lectures and theories.

Course content and structure

Background
As a starting point the course will discuss how design makes a difference and where we can identify good and interesting design. The course will provide examples from leading Danish companies on how they work with design, and there will be guest lecturers that present cases on how companies have worked with design. As design is an important element in innovations, there will also be examples that show how this happens in practice. Design incolves creativity. How can we stimulte creativety in design thinking? How can we manage creativity?

Design is today considered involved in all kinds of human activity. Companies design products and services to be delivered on the market. Managers design business processes, organizational structures and information systems to have efficient internal processes. Companies try to become and/or stay competitive by presenting newly designed innovations on the market and use design processes that makes it possible to not only follow the market but lead the market development. Design involves not only professional 'designers' - we are all involved in design and design thinking. So how can we understand and work with the challenges of managing design and design processes in companies?

Course structure
The course will start by identifying the many meanings of design and what design thinking has been in the past, and how we can use the notion of design to understand managerial issues in companies. Next, different views or perspectives on management of design will be identified and used to structure the discussions. For example design can be studied as: product design, craft design, engineering design, organizational design. Third, a number of theoretical lenses or paradigms that we have identified in past research on management of design will be used to discuss and analyze how a specific design challenge in an organization or company can be addressed based on a certain view on what design and design management is.
Successful product design is vital to many firms. Well-managed, high-quality design offers the company several benefits: corporate distinctiveness, value for a newly launched product so that it stands out from its strong competitors, and it can be used to reinvigorate product interest for products in the mature stage of its life cycle. Moreover, design can be used also to foster radical product innovation.
The students attending this course will learn how is possible to contribute to the competitiveness of the firms by learning not only how to manage in a more efficient and efficacy way design products and services, but also by reflecting on the value creation processes in a design product.
This course is meant to strength the  theoretical foundation with the empirical discussion through case studies and invitations of practitioners.

Teaching methods
A mix between at least one design-workshop in the CBS-studio facilities, lectures, case-based discussions, content analysis of journal articles and small assignments that will support the learning objectives of the course and improve the analytical skills of students on different aspects of management of design. When possibile practitioners involved in design management and design processes from industry will provide real life cases and examples.
Feedback during the teaching period
The feedback happens in multiple ways:
a) As comments on the students proposals for written projects.
b) Comments on the students comments on other projects.
c) Comments on the written project during the exam and expressed in the final grade.
d) Comments and discussions during the class and lectures.
Student workload
Forberedelse 121 hours
Undervisning 35 hours
Exam with group assignment 50 hours
Expected literature

Heskett, J (2005) Design: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
 
Lockwood, T. (2008) Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives; Alleworth Press: New York 

Andersom, P. and Tushman (1990). Technological discontinuities and dominant design: a cyclical model of technological change, Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (4): 604-633                  
  
Christiansen, J. K., Varnes, C. J., Gasparin, M., Storm-Nielsen, D., & Vinther, E. J. (2010). Living twice: How a product goes through multiple life cycles. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(6): 797-827. 
  
Callon, M., Méadel, C., & Rabeharisoa, V. (2002). The economy of qualities. Economy and Society, 31(2): 194-217. 
                      
Dell’Era C. and Verganti,. R. (2009). Design Driven Laboratories: Organization and Strategy of Laboratories Specialized in the Development of Radical Design Driven Innovations”, R&D Management, 39 (1): 1-20, 
  
Hargadon, Sutton I (2000). Building an innovation factory, Harvard Business Review, May-June. 
 
  
Hertenstein J., Platt , M. J., Veryzer R. (2005). The Impact of Industrial Design Effectiveness on Corporate Financial Performance, Journal of product innovation management; 22:3–21 
  
Krishnan, V. Ulrich K. (2001). Product Development Decisions: A Review of the Literature, Management of Science, 47 (1), January: 1-21 
  
Leonard, D. A., and Rayport. J (1997). Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design. Harvard Business Review75, no. 6 (November-December 1997): 102-113. 
  
Raisch, S., Birkinshaw, J., Probst, G., & Tushman, M. L. (2009). Organizational ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organization Science: 20(4), 685. 
  
Randall, Ulrich (2007) user design of customized products, Marketing Science: 26, (March- April): 268- 280 
  
Verganti, R. (2003) “Design as brokering of languages. The role of designers in the innovation strategy of Italian firms”, Design Management Journal, 14 (3): 34-42. 
  
Veryzer R, (2005) The Roles of Marketing and Industrial Design in Discontinuous New Product Development,Journal of Product Innovation Management; 22:22–41

Case studies provided in the course.

Last updated on 08-01-2018