CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

This section aims to communicate the contribution to knowledge resulting from the research findings within this thesis. A driving motivation for conducting this research was that there is limited literature available which focuses on the Design Thinking practice being applied within industrial design entrepreneurship. Also, the existing knowledge of business model design is broad, and there are few contextual and descriptive research projects on the topic.

The overarching aim of this study is concerned with understanding the application of Design Thinking in practice, and drawing attention to the interrelationship between two concepts to induce context derived results. The desire was to understand what designers really think and do when they create products, services and enterprises. The research questions evolved as the scope of the study became more defined.

5.3.1 Contribution to academic research

The Design Thinking rules are an overarching consensus of a concept. In the ‘Design Thinking’ research book published by Meinel & Leifer (2012) there was no evidence-based understanding of these rules being applied in a particular context by practitioners of design. Rather it provided the opportunity to use this concept to direct the application of Design Thinking. In essence, it created the space for testing the application of the concept ‘on the ground’. The emergent Design Thinking categories (sub-question 3) in the analysis of the data gave rich description of what designers and engineers are really doing when they are designing. These findings contribute to the very little primary research that has been done here in South Africa.

Furthermore, the research identified limited academic work which focused on Design Thinking being applied outside it normal boundaries. Work that shares some similarities with the South African context is the work written by Viljoen & Zyl (2009), called Design Thinking - Crossing Disciplinary Borders. It looks at ‘moving the concept of design beyond the design discipline itself, creating new and exciting opportunities, not only for the various other disciplines involved, but also for design education’ (Viljoen & Zyl, 2009:66). This study, therefore, contributes to the body of research on Design Thinking being applied across borders.

The results of this research justify Plattner’s (2012:v) statement that:

‘the method of Design Thinking melds an end-user focus with multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative improvement and is a powerful tool for achieving desirable, user-friendly, and economically viable design solutions and innovative products and services’.

This statement provides a picture of the core aim behind Design Thinking and that is developing product and services, but also it describes attributes of Design Thinking that make up a business model, such as multidisciplinary collaboration for example addressing the key resources and the structure of the business model.

In a recent study, “Parts Without a Whole” by the d.school that looks at the current state of Design Thinking practice in organisations, Schmiedgen et al. (2015) seek to understand how Design Thinking is diffused across organisation, as well as which organisational functions

can be developed optimally by employing Design Thinking. Similarly, in the paper “Design in the Organisation: Parts and Wholes” (Junginger, 2009), she develops an archetypical to be able to assess the role of design in an organisation. Because this study looks at how designers enact Design Thinking in the business model, it contributes to this branch of research, namely, understanding the role of design in an organisation.

Lastly, addressing the scope of business model design, key authors such as Zot and Amot, Fraser and Osterwalder, and Pigneur and Lockwood look at a business model as an object of design. Moreover, authors, such as Lockwood and Fraser, see Design Thinking as a methodology to develop business strategy.

The outcomes of the present research illustrate how design logic may be used in order to optimise business model design, especially with respect to those business which wish to become more design orientated organisations. The resultant focus areas which have been described are the categories that related the context, application and the benefits of Design Thinking.

5.3.2 Contribution to design education

Revisiting the initial problem in design education at CPUT in the FID, this study addresses aspects as stated in the report Panel Evaluation Report for FID ’the institution’s mission and planning, needs for students and other stakeholders, intellectual credibility, coherence, articulation, characteristics and needs for professional and vocational education’ (CPUT, 2013). To date, it is not clear what development has taken place since the evaluation of the National Diploma and B. Tech. in 2013 which claimed that the ‘curriculum and assessment procedures do not adequately address the integration of Design Thinking in the business domain’ (CPUT, 2013:13-14). However, this research can serve as a reference for courses, providing useful tools, such as the business model canvas. The study may also assist with the integration of Design Thinking in this business domain, as reference guide to identifying key attributes for the Industrial design praxis.

5.3.3 Greater significance of the results

On a broader level, CCDI is implementing a Western Cape Design Strategy to create an enabling environment for design, by assuming that ‘Design is a key for unlocking value of innovation, innovation is a driver of competitive advantage and innovation drives economic growth’ (CCDI, 2012). Therefore, the results of this research contribute not only to an

educational movement and need, but also suggest strategies for promoting design throughout a diverse set of sectors outside of the creative industries and encourage the use of design, or the methodologies used by industrial design in particular, to develop the South African economy, as way of solving problems and stimulating the economy through products and services.