DESIGN AS A STRATEGIC RESOURCE:
RECOGNISING AND REDUCING SILENT, PARTIAL, AND DISPARATE DESIGN

Enterprises are increasingly seeking to raise the priority of design, believing that effective design provides competitive advantage in the marketplace. They recognise that in a competitive market only one can be the cheapest. They appreciate the demand for relevant, easy and pleasurable services and products. Where highquality products and services are becoming plentiful and affordable, even commoditised, a firm must forge a meaningful emotional connection with its customers, and it is primarily through strategic use of design that this can be achieved. This paper presents the findings of the first phase of an ongoing study which, through case studies with a variety of enterprises, investigates attitudes and practices that can hinder design’s contribution to an organisation. It aims at formal theory building, towards developing practical guidelines for identifying and reducing these practices.

The strategic value of design is understood to include contributions from all design disciplines, beyond just industrial design within production. Successful companies apply and integrate design values to all aspects of the business, internal and external, to really understand their customers, and create a unique relationship with them, hence build a (non-price) competitive advantage. This holistic and integrated use of design is not reflected in Porter’s ‘classic’ value chain model for strategic analysis.

The term silent design, after Gorb and Dumas (1987) is commonly used to mean any actions or decisions that influence the design process, however indirectly, such as those of management, finance or board-level executives. Several authors describe this as not only unavoidable, but necessary. However, another interpretation sees it as simply when design work is done by the ‘wrong person’, reducing design quality and integrity. To distinguish these two views, the terms constructive and destructive silent design are suggested.

The first phase of the study comprised research of strategy and design management literature and interviews to identify areas of concern. Interviews conducted with design professionals and advisors suggest design effectiveness is hindered by practices, here termed destructive silent design, partial design, and disparate design. Although documented in literature, they are still problematic and poorly understood. This paper includes value chain representations of these phenomena and of an integrated design practice.