Introduction
The concept of design thinking has been fronted as one of the most effective ways of solving organizational problems in the recent past. The term design thinking is however not new. In a 1969 book titled ‘The sciences of the artificial’ Herbert Simon, an American political scientist and professor at the Carnegie Mellon University distinguished critical thinking as the breaking down of ideas and noted that a design mode of thinking is a way of ‘building up’ of ideas and this is the foundation of this term, design thinking. In this book, Herbert defined design as the transformation of the existing conditions in to the preferred ones (1969)
After Robert (1973) in his book, ‘experiences in visual thinking’ discussed the same subject. Peter Rowe was however the first notable author who first used the term Design thinking. Richard Buchanan’s article was also hailed as one of the highly influential on the same, and was titled, ‘wicked problems in design thinking’. All these works have significantly shaped the subject of design thinking in modern society.
More recently, however, there has been a lot of attention on this subject, after it appeared in the Harvard business review and Bloomberg business week. However, the business approach to design thinking was overly simplified in these articles and models that the business can be able to adopt in order to solve business problems. According to these articles, design thinking is a way to get business people to think like designers in their bid to solve business problems. Design thinking is however, more than this definition.
According to Roger Martin (2010) ‘A design thinking organization is capable of effectively advancing knowledge from mystery to heuristic to algorithm, gaining a cost advantage over its competitors along the way. And with that cost advantage, it can redirect its design thinking capacity to solve the next important mystery and advance still further ahead of its competitors.” (P. 105)
Understanding design thinking
Businesses in modern world are faced with unique problem, especially due to significant changes in technology, as well as the aspect of globalization. Stakeholders are also becoming more aware of their needs and this is all piling pressure on the management of organizations to deliver value to the stakeholders. This means that the mangers of these organizations cannot afford to run these organizations using traditional wisdom, in the face of the changing and dynamic business environment. There has to be a shift in paradigms, and also in the way issues are addressed, problems are solved and decisions are made, and this brings in the aspect of modern problem solving through design thinking.
Design thinking, as defined above is a way of thinking that enables managers to look at a problem and issues facing the organization through the eyes of a designer. You must know how the designer looks at problem, from all angles in a bid to ensure that the final product is really fine. This therefore means that even business managers must look at the issues that face an organization from all angles and also consider the implications of their decisions not only on the current business performance but also relate the decisions to the future business prospects as well as the impact of these decisions on the business environment, which includes competitors, governments, customers, employees etc, mainly the macro and micro business environments.
This paper seeks to promote the aspect of design thinking by exploring the business model of Microsoft, a company that is involved in the manufacture of computer software and related products. The paper will focus mainly on the problems that face this giant technology company and guide through the process of using design thinking in finding solutions to these problems.
MICROSOFT
Microsoft Corporation is an American company that has operations all over the world, and its headquarters are at Washington. Its core business is the development, licensing and manufacturing as well as support of computer software and consumer electronic. Best known for the Ms Windows line of operating systems, the company was incorporated in 1975 by Bill Gates and Allen Paul, and is one of the world’s most valuable companies as well as one of the largest by revenues (www.microsoft.com)
In 2011, the company acquired Skype technologies for a whopping $8.5 billion, one of the largest acquisitions ever made. In the recent past, the company has been facing significant market share loss, especially due to rising competition from other technology companies such as HP, apple, oracle and others. This competition has had deep seated effects on the shares of this company which is believed to be one of the most admired companies globally.
The choice of this company for the purpose of this project is informed by the fact that the organization has been on everyone’s lip for decade now, as a most admired company and therefore, any drop in the value of this company will draw a lot of attention, both local and international. Additionally, the company’s line of businesses is easily researchable and therefore a good choice for this project.
While we appreciate the efforts that the management of the company is putting in an effort to remain on top, we do not fail to notice the impact that competition has had to this company in terms of market share as well as stock prices in the New York stock exchange. In order to continue and even improve on these efforts, it’s important that the management of this company adopt a design thinking philosophy in the management of the affair of the company.
Microsoft also has a lot of opportunities that can be explored within the technology industry, without requiring many investments. There is the issue of mobile software which has become the in - thing nowadays. Microsoft already has the equipment and capacities to be able to develop these software’s, and may actually have started already. But what is the potential of this market? Recent surveys indicate that smart phones are flying off the shelves and this can only portray a growing demand of software to fit in these gadgets (Alex, 2013, p.15) Microsoft can extend her partnerships to most of the smart phone manufactures and embed superior features into the smart phones and this is a great strategy that would enable her to not only beat competition, but also raise the company’s stock prices at the NYSE.
This design way of thinking is not only helpful in ensuring that the company maximizes revenue and recaptures her market share, but also ensures that resources in the company are well utilized, and even expenses are brought down. Management will also appreciate the new business models of solving problems through thinking in a design way, which maximizes the value of a decision, and also ensures that each decision that the organization makes not only impacts on the business present circumstances but also the future business fortunes, as well as creating a culture of accountability amongst the users of the products of the company.
Notably, by ensuring that there are no counterfeit software in the market, the company is not only increasing her revenues but is also creating a culture of accountability in the global market and if this is fully implemented, then even the culture of counterfeiting software may even come to an end, for the benefit of not only Microsoft, but also any other company that operates in this industry.
Secondly, by working with other businesses in the technology industry such Smartphone makers, the company shall not only benefit from the extra profits or funds that come from this project, but will also be able to market their brand to anyone who purchases a Smartphone that is fitted with a Microsoft software, and this of course has far reaching impacts on the success of the company both financially and also as a brand..
CONCLUSION
Designs thinking is a very critical aspect of success in business, especially in this fast changing and dynamic business environment that today’s businesses operate in. Where traditional view points and problem solving mechanism seem to fail, management must adopt the design thinking philosophy so as not only to succeed, but also explore opportunities that are presented by this new philosophy of business.
References
Simons, H., 1968.The sciences of the virtual. Carnegie Mellon University press
Microsoft website: available from: www.microsoft.com
Norman, D., 2013. Rethinking designs thinking. Prentice hall
Mootee, I., 2013. Excerpt: Design thinking for strategic innovation. Available from: http://www.agencypost.com/excerpt-design-thinking-for-strategic-innovation/
Alex, 2013. ‘Wall Street Journal on Design Thinking and Thoughts on a Crucial Turn for Design’. Wall street journal
Nussbaum, B., 2013. Design Thinking Is A Failed Experiment. So What's Next?
Robert, N (1973) experiences in virtual thinking.
