Is Japan a design backwater? Why design is essential for management.

In May 2018, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Japan Patent Office announced the "Design Management Declaration." This declaration calls for more proactive adoption of "design management"—a business methodology leveraging design. However, many likely find it challenging to actually implement within their businesses.

Dentsu Inc. Business Design Square (BDS) is collaborating with CIID (Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design), an educational institution in Copenhagen, Denmark, to host the "CIID Winter School" in Japan in February 2020. This program offers participants the opportunity to learn design methodologies and approaches. In this article, Masahiko Sakamaki of BDS explains why "design" is now being demanded in "management."

Does "Design" Help Improve Brand Power and Innovation Capability?

Hello, I'm Masahiko Sakamaki from BDS. First, let me discuss the role of "design" as it's framed within the context of "design-driven management." The previously mentioned "Design-Driven Management Declaration" states that design helps "enhance brand power" and "boost innovation capabilities."

The reasons for enhancing brand power are relatively easy to imagine: "making things visually appealing through design," "improving experiential value through UX design," and "communicating brand value as a consistent message."

On the other hand, explaining why it helps innovation might be a bit trickier. The "Design Management Declaration" mentions that design excels at discovering unrecognized needs. This is a concept influenced by "design thinking."

"Design thinking" is essentially a framework that systematizes the designer's mindset, promising that "using this, anyone can think like a designer."

A marketing approach typically involves looking at the big picture, segmenting the target audience, and so on. In contrast, "design thinking" follows this sequence:

empathy → definition → ideation → prototyping → testing

This approach involves

First, you go to the field, immerse yourself in the perspective of someone likely facing the problem, and define the problem by empathizing with them. From there, you generate ideas to solve that problem and create prototypes to test those ideas. Repeating this cycle helps you discover the more accurate problem and derive the more accurate solution.

Having explained this much, you can probably more easily imagine how design can help enhance innovation capabilities.

The Era of Implementing "Design Thinking" Among Frontline Staff

To understand why "design-driven management" has become so important now, let's briefly look back at the evolution of design.

In the 1960s and 70s, innovation was called "technological innovation." Creating new technology gave you a competitive edge in the market. However, as more people pursued new technology, creating it became commonplace, and it alone was no longer enough to win.

Next, design—creating competitive advantage through a product's appearance and aesthetics—became crucial. As everyone started focusing on looks, that too became commonplace. So, the idea of "design thinking"—design for innovation—emerged as a new way to drive innovation.

I believe the original "design thinking" achieved certain results precisely because it emerged in the 20th century, when there were still many clear problems to solve and digital technology wasn't yet so widespread. Up to this point, a top-down approach was feasible.

Then, as we entered the 2000s and 2010s, the world became increasingly complex, ushering in what is now called the "VUCA era."
・Volatility (highly volatile),
・Uncertainty (high uncertainty),
・Complexity (high complexity),
・Ambiguity (high ambiguity)
...in other words, "You have absolutely no idea what's coming next!"

Furthermore, since the year 2000, we have entered the digital age. Lower barriers to entry into business mean that many people can now enter the market if it involves digital services. The quality of the customer experience significantly impacts the success of a business offering digital services.

With multiple businesses emerging simultaneously and uncertainty increasing, companies must rapidly create and improve services to establish competitive advantage. This requires a bottom-up approach—not top-down—where everyone on the front lines conducts various trials, allowing the organization to evolve in a good direction, somewhat like an amoeba.

This has led to renewed attention on "design thinking" in a different form.

The trend is toward implementing "design thinking"—including service design and prototyping—among frontline employees, fostering continuous new challenges to build competitive advantage. Today, many leading global companies have integrated design methodologies into their management practices.

When using "design thinking" to consider interactions with people, society, and various other elements, the most crucial aspects are the "empathy for those facing challenges" and the "definition of the challenge" mentioned earlier. Overseas, where opportunities to work with people from diverse backgrounds are common, it has long been standard practice to pin ideas on Post-it notes or similar tools to clarify the meaning of each word, delve deeper, and build consensus.

In contrast, Japan often involves working among Japanese colleagues. Meetings progress under the assumption of a certain shared understanding, so there hasn't been a strong need for the "design thinking" approach of clarifying the meaning of words or digging deeper.

This cultural background may be one factor delaying the practical implementation of "design-driven management" in Japan.

Why a social perspective is crucial for "design" today

With concepts like the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) gaining global prominence, companies can no longer pursue economic activities solely for consumers or themselves. It has become essential to create a better environment for society as a whole—that is, to achieve both "social good" and "economic good."

Furthermore, while more companies are collaborating with others to drive innovation, a key success factor for such activities is transforming them into social innovation initiatives that engage society. Therefore, design methodologies themselves must also be "socially conscious."

Therefore, BDS has invited CIID, a design school based in Copenhagen, Denmark—a country renowned for its expertise in social innovation—to Japan. We will host a program where participants can learn design methodologies and approaches. The program targets new business managers, designers, students, and others.

CIID excels at balancing three key elements: "design thinking," "technology," and "engagement with society." It is an ideal school for learning approaches that focus particularly on "engagement with society" to drive innovation.

Through hosting this school, we at BDS also hope to take on the challenge of implementing their solutions and approaches in Japan. More details about CIID and the "CIID Winter School" hosted by BDS will follow next time. If you're interested, please consider applying for the school.

CIID Winter School Information