UC Berkeley, Management of Technology (MOT) Program Course: Design as a Strategic Management Issue

Design as a Competitive Strategy
EWMBA 290T/ENG 290
3 Units (beginning Spring 2012)
Jon Pittman

This is a Multidisciplinary Team Project course of the MOT program.

Companies are increasingly looking to design as a source of competitive advantage. In a world made increasingly competitive through globalization and technological advancement, design is a differentiator that creates customer value and competitive separation. In fact, innovation is the only sustainable form of competitive advantage. Design is the process of systematically creating successful innovation. Many think design is primarily about form – the creation of beautiful objects - but good design balances form, function, and performance. Further, the kind of thinking that is applied to the design of products can also apply to services, processes, customer experiences, and business models.

The purpose of this course is to help students learn design – the skill to systematically create innovative solutions to business problems. The course will explore the relationship between business strategy and design. Students will learn:

the competitive value of design and innovation
how to understand unarticulated customer needs
design skills, methods, processes, and tools
how to apply a systematic and holistic design approach to business problems<

This course complements the Management of Technology (MOT) core curriculum New Product Development (NPD) and Design and Systems Thinking (DST) courses. Whereas the NPD course focuses on specifically product development, this course applies design methods to a broader business context.

Through readings and cases, students will learn how design is applied to a variety of business problems. They will develop design skills through a series of short exercises. They will have the opportunity to work with a team on a project to apply design a business problem and create a solution in the form of a product, service, customer experience, or business model. Students who successfully complete the course will possess a deep understanding of the role of design as a competitive weapon, a set of design skills and methods, and a tangible result from their team design project. They will be prepared to address business challenges in a creative way and will possess unique skills that will be increasingly valuable in a competitive world.

Course Syllabus (pdf)

FACULTY