20241 - MANAGEMENT OF DESIGN

This course is meant to introduce you to tools, concepts and experiences aimed at increasing your understanding of how business firms can take advantage of design (in the form of an internal design centre and/or collaborations with design consultancies) in order to build and sustain competitive advantage.

• Design as an open system.
• Design and differentiation strategies.
• History and phenomenology of design.
• The design process: main stages.
• Different aproaches to design.
• The main tools: briefing, concept, mood boards.
• Distributing design and communicating design.

• Understand the design process and learn how to improve its effectiveness.
• Practicing creative activity.
• Acquire fundamental knowledge of design history and phenomenology.
• Familiarize with the “design industry” and learn about how different types of design consultancies are structured and operate.
• Familiarize with the perspective of designers and the logic of design thinking.
• Understand the potential contribution of design and designers to competitive advantage, value creation and strategic renewal.
• Understand the purpose and structure of a design brief, and learn how to improve its effectiveness.

• Manage a design process.
• Understand the creative activity.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Group assignments

• Case studies: IDEO, Alessi, Bang & Olufsen in order to understand the different aproaches to design.
• Group assignments: in order to understand the history and phenomenology of design and in order to practice a creativity process.

The final grade is based:

• In part (30%) on group assignments.
• In part (70%) on a final, written exam.
• In addition, up to 2 (two) extra points can be discretionarily assigned by the instructor to reward outstanding contributions to class discussions.

Final written exam.

• Slides from instructor.
• J. HESKETT, Design. A very brief introduction, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9).
• D. RAVASI (edited by), Course pack (Management of Design: Cases and readings).