The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage | Study Guide

In Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage Roger L. Martin discusses why businesses that exclusively rely on business models and organizational structures of the past will have trouble surviving in a fast-changing world. He argues that companies need to engage in what he calls design thinking by using companies that have done so successfully as examples. Design thinking integrates analytical skills and creativity. Martin then lays out general guidelines for readers to engage in design thinking themselves.

The implications for design thinking are profound for the business world and the world as a whole. Martin shows how companies that only maintain their status quo are falling by the wayside. Companies that infuse design thinking into their cultures will continue to thrive.

Martin argues that businesses should be interested in running their operations as global entities. They should constantly look to reinvent themselves by organizing themselves around projects rather than by their permanent organizational structures. Businesses can look to companies such as Apple to learn how to innovate to stay relevant.