Page 256 - The Design Thinking Playbook

Design thinking as such offers a great basis for initiating transforma- As described in earlier chapters, collaboration with partners is becoming more and more vital for success
tion and innovating in an agile way. We consciously bank on interdis- in the digitized world. Many components can be provided by companies in the business ecosystem, in
ciplinary teams and radical collaboration, promote an experimental particular when it comes to technologies that we don’t master ourselves. Collaboration can be stimulat-
process through iterations, and thus maximize the learning success. ing for the development of the actual idea. The advantages are obvious: We boost speed and efficiency,
Nonetheless, many of our ideas fall by the wayside and never get participate in new trends and technologies, and reduce development costs. As a company, however, we
to market. As mentioned, one of the core problems here is that the need the ability to deal with open innovation models for this, especially in the form of collaboration, and
stakeholders in the company are not part of the creative nucleus explorative/exploitative skills. With regard to the latter, we are swiftly confronted with the problem of
and often act within the structures and mindset of yesteryear. The intellectual property (IP). But what seems to be even more important today are aspects such as who owns
style in which leadership is lived is frequently resistant to change in the data of digital solutions and the question of usability.
implementation projects. Even at a late stage—just before the market
launch—willingness to change is greatly in demand. Just prior to the How can we, as an “oil tanker,” act like a speedboat?
launch, we might realize that others were faster at bringing the solu-
tion to market. This is the point at which we ought to ask ourselves In the collaboration of traditional businesses with start-ups, two cultures clash, each of which follows
a number of important questions, because the answers to them will different rules and has different hierarchies. Companies that are open to a so-called intrapreneur approach
ultimately decide if our idea is on top or a flop: have the opportunity to develop a corporate culture in which higher risks are taken. Such approaches
benefit from the fact that autonomous teams develop their ideas independently and with an entrepreneur-
• How can we nonetheless achieve a market success with other ial spirit, scale existing innovations, or establish themselves on the market as a spin-off. This approach is
approaches? antithetical to the idea of central decision making etched in the DNA of traditional companies; in addition,
• Have we thought through all types of business models? it holds the risk that the skills provided and limited resources will not be able to scale the idea successfully
• What value proposition creates a “market buzz” on the part of on the market.
the customer?
• Are there any possibilities of partnership projects in the ecosys-
tem so that our solution gets scaled?

Customers
The innovation ecosystem with an Start-ups
open, collaborative innovation dynamism
Company HR Suppliers
Research & Devel- Others
opment
Business develop-
ment External people
Internal Collaboration Competitors
collaboration
Marketing
Players from other indus-
Legal Universities tries (blue ocean)
Procurement
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