The article under consideration is “A process for practicing design innovation” written by Vijay Kumar. The article was written in 2009 in the Journal of Business Strategy. The broad area of this article is the innovation and its role in the functioning of modern companies. It is important to remember that to remain competitive and meet customers’ needs, the company should use different kinds of innovations.
The article under discussion is closely related to the Business Process Management Course because the main idea of the article is to meet customers’ requirements by means of using innovations, and the main purpose of the course is to teach students focus on all aspects of the organization which may help satisfy clients’ needs.
Thus, it may be concluded that the article and the course are really interrelated and those who study the discipline should check this information. This article is really interesting and informative. It not just offers the information about design innovation, but also provides the reader with specific examples.
It is interesting to read how such powerful companies as Apple, FedEx, etc. managed to use the innovation in the satisfaction of clients’ desires. Moreover, this information may be really useful for the future profession.
The key learning points in the article are related to the design innovations and planning a competitive business. The main idea of the article is to show that the manufacturing in the world should be based not on the products but on people who want to buy those products.
It is easy to understand the main focus of the article if to consider the words and phrases which kept repeating in the text: technology, business, innovation process, design process, innovation design, innovation culture, design, design management, user studies.
While reading an article, it was easy to identify the blocks of the article which focused on different information. Thus, the following building blocks of the article may be considered, the introduction, the main body divided into parts, the theoretical research and the practical understanding of the problem, and the final part.
The introduction of the article covers the information about the necessity of the innovation in the modern business world. Using the concrete examples of the companies which have already applied design innovation process in their work, the author tries to show that the research is really up to date and necessary.
As it was mentioned above, the main body of the paper is divided into two parts. The first part of this block refers to design models in the innovation and to the principles which should be used for practicing design innovation.
There are four principles:
- the innovations should be built around human experience,
- innovation is not just a product, it is a system,
- innovation culture should be cultivated in the organizations,
- innovation design processes should be rigorous and perfectly structured.
The second part of the main body considers the process of the design innovation in detail. The author of the article generates seven modes for design innovation process and describes those minutely. The modes are really helpful for those who want to check the actions that should be completed for implementation of a successful design innovation process (Kumar 92).
The final block of information in the article comprises reference list and the information about the author. One of the main limitations of the article is that there is no concise and informative conclusion. The reader cannot check whether the conclusions he/she made coincide with the conclusions of the author. Furthermore, the conclusion should summarize the information discussed in the article and state the author’s personal opinion.
I was really pleased with what I have read. First of all, I got to know the design innovation process better, understood its main purpose (to meet customer’s desires and to be able to compete in global markets) and considered the companies which use this method in practice.
Indeed, four principles for practicing design innovation on the basis of the analysis of the most innovative companies in the world were considered. This information may be helpful in the future as for a business manager. Moreover, the modes for design innovations were offered. The detailed information makes it possible to implement knowledge acquired from this article in practice.
Still, there are a number of limitations which were noticed in the reading. The first limitation was considered previously, that is the absence of precise conclusion. In addition, each new method and technology has both advantages and disadvantages. The author of the article dwells upon only positive and strong features of the design innovation without stating the limitations of it.
Furthermore, it would be better if the author not only mentioned the modes with brief description of each one, but provided the reader with the specific example of a company which used those modes for design innovation. This information could help the reader understand the main idea of the process in detail.
In fact, the general impression from the read text is positive. The author inserted a number of tables and schemes which helped understand why innovation is business-technology driven. Furthermore, the detailed information about seven modes is presented in a form of a table that helps understand the process structurally.
One more positive feature of the article is that the author provides the examples when discussing principles for practicing design innovation. Thus, by the example of MP3 player and the company focus on human experience of listening to music but not on the device, I understood the main idea of the first principle for practicing design innovation that states that the innovations should be built around human experience.
The useful information in the article may be related to the sources which were analyzed there. The author of the article tried to use the sources which supported his opinion and disclosed the main idea of some facts.
For example, writing about the emphasis the creator of the innovation should use to make it successful, the author refers to Kumar and Whitney who state that the creator should focus on human behavior, their activities and needs, and motivations. Only in this case the successful innovation may be possible.
Using the example of Nabila Muhammad Usman charity organization in Dubai, it is easy to consider whether it is easy to apply the information from the article to real business or not. The main idea of the organization is to help people who really need it. The development of the Internet made it possible for the organization to reach the global level. People from all over the world are allowed to donate.
The organization has created its website and tries to deliver all the possible information to people who care. Different projects, like International Volunteers Day – Dec 5th, would have been impossible if the created had not used the innovative facilities like the Internet and the e-mail.
Those items helped both deliver the invitation to people, to tell about the organization of the day on the web site and search for the necessary information. The Volunteers Day on the international arena may be created only if the work is provided with the help of specific steps (Nabila Muhammad Usman).
In conclusion, the article under consideration opened my horizon on such a new thing as design innovation and the use of this process in practice. There were a number of lessons which I learnt. Firstly, innovation is the engine of development. Only those companies who apply innovative processes and ideas in their manufacturing are able to compete within the county and especially in the global markets.
Secondly, I got to know that the design innovation process should be completed in accordance with specific steps expressed in the article via modes. I also understood that it is better to apply innovation to the whole complex of the procedures in the manufacturing rather than to the product only. Having considered this article, I understand that innovative ideas are important.
Having checked the theoretical information on design innovation process, we should turn to practical implementation of the ideas we have. But, a thorough research on the topic should be conducted to get to know more information.
Then, we should choose a sphere, identify the needs of this sphere and get down to design innovation process of the required idea according to the modes presented in the article. It is also important not to forget about the principles.
Works Cited
Kumar, Vijay. “A process for practicing design innovation.” Journal of Business Strategy 30.2/3 (2009): 91-100. Print.
Nabila Muhammad Usman. “International Volunteers Day – Dubai.” Nabilausman.com. 29 Nov., 2009. Web.