Design Thinking for Strategy Innovating Towards Competitive Advantage

The business environment is changing more rapidly than ever before, and new business ideas are emerging. This book discusses applying insights from design thinking and the jobs-to-be-done framework to craft novel strategies that satisfy customer needs, make use of available capabilities, integrate requirements for financial success, and provide a competitive advantage. It guides readers through the jungle encountered when developing a strategy for sustained growth and profitability. It addresses strategy design holistically by applying abductive reasoning, iteratively observing customers, focusing on empathy and prototyping ideas, and validating them by actual customers.

This second edition extends the original design thinking for the strategy process by adding a robust framework for strategic decision-making based on customer value creation and firm value appropriation rooted in the jobs-to-be-done theory. It particularly focuses on how market structures, including peer-to-peer markets, impact strategy design. Uniquely applying insights from design thinking to strategy, this book is a must-read for graduates, MBAs, and executives interested in innovation and strategy, as well as corporate strategists, innovation managers, business analysts, and consultants.

Part I: The Concepts and Theories Behind Innovative Strategy Design.- 1. Understanding the Need for a New Approach to Strategy Development.- 2. How Design Thinking Adds Value to Strategy.- 3. Customers and their Needs.- 4. How Value Impacts Strategy Design.- 5. Revisiting the Business Model Canvas as a Common Language.- Part II: A Structured Approach to Strategy Development.- 6. Gaining a Collective Understanding of the Strategy Development Challenge.- 7. A Novel Strategy Development Process Based on Design Thinking.- Part III: Laying the Foundation for a Successful Strategy.- 8. Understanding the Industry Environment and Its Implications to Strategy.- 9. Choosing a Tangible Strategic Focus Rather Than Building Upon an Abstract Vision.- Part IV: Iteratively Developing the Business Model Underlying the Strategy.- 10. Gaining Insights by Observing Target Customers in Their Natural Environment.- 11. Understanding Target Populations and Their Jobs Through Learning.- 12. Shaping the Strategy by Designing Business Model Prototypes.- 13. Managing Uncertainty Through Experiment-Based Validation.- Part V: Exposing the Designed Strategy to the Competitive Environment.- 14. Exploiting Findings from Game Theory to Succeed in a Competitive Environment.- 15. Laying the Groundwork for Strategy Implementation Through Stakeholder Focused Communication.

Dr. Claude Diderich, founder of innovate.d, specializes in design thinking-based business model innovation. With over 20 years of experience, he focuses on strategy development and modernizing business models. His expertise ranges from creating innovative strategies to implementing novel technologies, enhancing profitability in the digital age. Claude holds a doctorate and master's in computer science engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, a certificate in strategy from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, and a specialization in design thinking from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia in the United States. He mentors at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business online design thinking program and contributes to the Journal of Business Models.