A Model for Measuring and Managing the Impact of Design on the Organization: Insights from Four Companies

Increasing numbers of companies are looking to embed design as a strategic capability to meet today’s business and social challenges. However, integrating design in an organization is a challenge, due to the scarcity of knowledge on managing this process and measuring its impact. This study presents a model for measuring and managing the impact of design on the organization (DIMM). The model builds on four levels of design impact identified in the literature: results, perception, processes, and design culture. The model was tested with four service companies that have recently developed design capabilities. To this end, those responsible for the integration of design were interviewed, using the model itself as an interview guide to confirm its usefulness and identify possible improvements. The results showed that the model was useful to assess the impact of design on companies with emerging design capabilities, but also as a reflection and management tool to align design with strategic objectives and promote its integration into the organization. Finally, future research should test the model longitudinally, as well as in a broader scope of organizations, to validate its usefulness for organizations with greater design maturity.

Learning in Chains and What We Can Learn From It

Chains would be interesting if only because their share of GDP is three times that of manufacturing. However, what makes them valuable for management scholars is that they are “learning lab rats”: Each chain has a large number of essentially identical operating units. In addition, chains have two levels of learning: within units and across units. Comparisons within and across units allow us to better isolate factors driving heterogeneity in learning rates. Review of such studies suggests three factors drive differences in learning rates: properties of new practices (design maturity, extent of codification), properties of the operating units (knowledge of practices/implementation, incentives to adopt them), and fit between the practices and the operating unit (extent to which they enhance performance). These insights suggest a number of means to increase learning (even outside chains): better design of practices, more complete codification/training of those practices, and novel organizational designs.