the design of business----Roger L. Martin

the design of business

Why design thinking is the next competitive advantage

Roger L. Martin

商业设计：为什么设计思路是下一个竞争优势

Design Thinking

设计的思考

How Thinking like a Designer Can Create Sustainable Advantage

THE FIRST TIME I VISITED the Research In Motion(RIM) headquarters several years ago,I couldn't find the right building.

I'd driven about ninety minutes from Toronto to the twin cities of Kitchener and waterloo.

The landscape was as flat as Kansas,with farms flanking either side of the expansive superhighway.This area of southwestern Ontario strikes a unique balance.

Just outside town and off the highway,the buggies and carriages of Old Order Mennonites are still a common sight.

They mark a stark contrast to Waterloo itself,a city of about a hundred thousand people.

Waterloo,traditionally sleepy university town,has become a high-tech hub,as scores of technology companies have sprouted up,

building on the strength of the renowned engineering program at the University of Waterloo.RIM is one of them.

As I wound my way though the streets of Waterloo,I felt I could have been in Anywhere,North America ---a shopping mall here,a power center there,a Chinese restaurant,a section of single-family houses,several Starbucks.Eventually I found 176 Columbia Street,RIM world headquarters.I was surrounded by an unruly cluster of squat buildings,none more than eight stories tall.The building all looked petty much the same ,with no hint as to which contained the executive offices. I tried one.Wrong.I hopped back in my car and drove to another.Eventually,I found the right one.

As I was ushered in,I looked around,expecting to see the usual trappings of a teach-firm head office.There was the usual high-tech corporate security.But beyond that,there was no fancy, avantgarde furniture,little in the way of art,no design flourishes,and certainly no foosball tables.The conference rooms,functional but not ornate,were named after legendary Canadian hockey players such as Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.Walking around,you might guess you were in the regional office of a prosperous but unexceptional Canadian company,rather than in the global headquarter of one of the world's most innovative enterprises.

It's not that the folks at RIM don't care about design.As makers of the ubiquitous BlackBerry,they've built a company with a market value of as much as $84 billion on the design.manufacture,and marketing of wireless communications devices.But for them,design isn't a cooler-than-thou office compound with beanbag chairs and cerulean walls.Design isn't just about making things beautiful;it's also about making things work beautifully.Design is about moving knowledge along the funnel,starting