Design Thinking as Innovative Management Method

ABSTRACT: Business organizations are constantly looking for new managerial techniques and tools, to satisfy customer needs for new products, processes and services. Customer satisfaction is in the focus of contemporary organizations because of its great importance for performance and shareholder value creation. Design thinking has been recognized as innovative management method for product innovation and process or service improvement. In contemporary business organizations, design thinking is increasingly gaining importance because, on the one hand, it is directed towards customer; while at the same time it is managing multidimensional problems. As a new innovative management method, design thinking concept was created by studying the work of successful designers and applying their best practices into business world. Today, it is used in processes of innovation management, product development, and the improvement of customer relationship management. As design thinking is still a relatively new and insufficiently researched management method, the aim of this paper is to explore its role and development in contemporary business practice. In addition, in this paper we will describe the tools and techniques that are used in the process of design thinking. This study will contribute to entrepreneurs and managers in terms of understanding the design thinking concept, along with the possibilities of its application in business practice in order to improve performances and increase shareholder value. KEYWORDS: design thinking, management method, innovative management, managerial technique, customer satisfactio