Experimenting with the design, pedagogy and practice of business design at one b-school

Abstract

This paper examines the posturing, positioning and practice of Business Design (BD) at Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, exploring its evolution since the late 1990s to today. It outlines BD’s introduction as a design thinking-lite approach to strategy innovation and its evolution to an experimental design-driven innovation pedagogy for MBA students. A triangulated theoretical foundation combines design principles, innovation theory and management education with the aim to teach and study BD as an innovation management learning construct. The resulting Business Design Method is examined with early findings of its impact, however offers more of a provocation rather than proof of a successful design curriculum for b-schools.