Design strategy: Towards a post-rational, practice-based perspective

Abstract

This paper critically reflects on the concept of design strategy as deployed in design management literature. It starts by describing current discourses in the wider field of strategy research and then discusses how, by conforming to orthodox theories in strategic management, design management literature has tended to overlook alternative streams of strategy research. In many instances, studies in design strategy adopt taken-for-granted assumptions from rational planning approaches, and analyses of firm performance tend to take precedence over actors and their actions. Thus, it highlights the need for new lines of inquiry grounded in practice, letting go of the economic rationality and theoretical abstractions that have permeated mainstream strategy research. Hence, for future studies, it suggests a post-rational, practice-based perspective to advance our understanding of strategy as it relates to design management.

Design thinking as sensemaking: Developing a pragmatist theory of practice to (re)introduce sensibility

“…These theoretical contributions all point to the importance of design thinkers’ situated creative practice as they interact with people and environments. However, with a few notable exceptions (Carlgren et al, 2016b; Liedtka, 2015; Navarro Aguiar, 2014; Verganti et al, 2020), the notion of “practice” itself is rarely given careful consideration in the design thinking literature and is treated as an unproblematic empirical category associated with the application of methods and tools. This leaves the critical notion of “practice” untheorized in the design thinking literature.…”