The Evaluation Report - Assignment Example

?The evaluation Report Summary This report is intended to analyse the current situation of design management with reference to two different companies. The two companies that are selected for the study are Landor Brand and Consulting Company, one of the leading brand consulting company from US and Street Voice Company, which is the biggest media website in China and Taiwan. The report has reviewed many existing studies and literatures regarding design management. Different theories and models from existing literatures were reviewed for analysing the companies. Four powers of Design Management and DM Staircase are the two models that are used for analysing the two companies. From the analysis it is found that Landor has to incorporate a Design oriented work culture. Also it was found that Landor lacks an inclusive growth model. Landor can be rated very high in terms of brand equity. Similarly, Street Voice appeared to have a highly differentiating factor from others. But it lacks an inclusive growth model and expansion plan. Table of Contents Sl. No Topic Page No. 1 Introduction 3 - 5 2 Main Body 5 - 9 3 Analysis 9 - 13 Analysis of Landor using Four Powers of Design Management Analysis of Landor using DM Staircase Analysis of Street Voice using Four Powers of Design Management Analysis of Street Voice using DM Staircase 4 Conclusion 13 Introduction Design Management is a very comprehensive process for the success of any business organisation. “Simply put, design management is the business side of design.” (DMI, 2011) Design Management is an all encompassing term. It refers to the process of integration of strategies of the business to its everyday functioning for the benefit of creating better products or services. Therefore, to have a better design management in process in an organisation, a company should have a good business strategy, good product and production policy and a drive for continuous innovation. Thus it can be seen that design management is not a separate functional activity in an organisation. It is an activity that requires continuous attention and contribution of all the functional departments in an organisation. However, the ultimate authority for a better design management in an organisation lies with the top level executives or the chief strategists. Considering the growing importance of design management in the modern business management, most of the premium management institutes have introduced it as an important course of study. Design of a business can be classified mainly into three broad categories namely Strategic Design, Industrial Design and Service Design. (BDI, 2011) Strategic design comprises of the vision and mission of a business. It lays out the framework for an organisation’s mode of operation. Industrial design is the area that involves policies regarding technology, engineering, branding and the like. Service design comprise of policies regarding people, infrastructure, public relations, etc. This report is intended to give an evaluation of design management in the present time with reference to two business organisations of different industries Landor Strategic Brand and Consulting Company and Street Voice Company of media industry. Landor is a company which was established in the year 1941. Landor is one of the major consulting companies in the world with a presence of more than 20 offices in 16 countries. (Landor.com, 2011) Landor is a specialised brand consultant and provides its services to all the big names in the industry as well as the emerging players. Therefore, Landor helps the clients with Industrial design of design management. Starbucks, Pepsico, Coca Cola, Apple, Adidas, etc are some of the clients of Landor. The core strategy of Landor is to provide services to businesses that are facing challenges with branding issues. As Landor is a brand consulting company, it hardly interacts with the ultimate consumers. But the services rendered by them are entirely based on the requirements of the ultimate consumers. Thus it can be noted that the operations of Landor is mostly on a B2B model. Business houses approach Landor with their branding related challenges. Landor’s expertise is applied on understanding the customer preferences for helping the business to face the challenges. Thus it has a model of a B2B relation with industries as well as individual companies. The business design of Landor, its suitability and its relevance to the present day design management will be discussed in this essay. The second company that will be compared is Street Voice Company which is the biggest media website in China and Taiwan. The main feature of Street Voice Company is that it provides a complete platform for people to showcase their music and design creations. It is unlike a traditional music or media website where you provide a platform for just downloading and sharing. This feature has invited much popularity for the company among the music and art lovers. Unlike that of Landor, Street Voice Company has a B2B as well as B2C operational modes. The company earns revenue from both the ends. Street Voice Company has carved itself a separate market model unlike other players in the market. As of now the company has a market presence only in China and Taiwan. The main services rendered by the company includes platform for uploading and sharing music, blogs, meeting friends, gallery and the like. All these services are for the general public or the ultimate consumers. It also serves organisations through its B2B model. Through this model, Street Voice conducts music concerts, art exhibition, competition, and other music festivals. Thus Street Voice is a fully entertainment oriented business concern. (Street Voice, 2011) The mode of operation at both the ends differs greatly. The services provided to the consumers are fully online based. Online platform enables the people to upload and share music and creations. On the other hand the services provided to the corporate customers are the ones that require specialised event management skill. Service provided to one customer is entirely different from the other. No too services can be similar. Therefore, it is more of a challenging task. This essay will analyse the service design of Street Voice Company in the present design management context. Main Body There are many recent as well as not so recent literatures on Design Management. One such study named ‘The four powers of design: A value model in design management’ was conducted by Mozoto, 2006. The article provides a value based research model that can be applied to a business enterprise. The author identifies four powers of design management. They are design as differentiator, design as integrator, design as transformer and design as good business. Design as a differentiator is intended to create a difference for itself from the other players in the market. (Mozota, 2006) This can be done mainly by better brand equity, maintaining customer loyalty, and by extreme customer orientation. Design as an integrator is all about market oriented production and growth models. The author states that a design should enable market oriented changes to be incorporated within it rather than being very rigid in structure. A rigid structure will lead to obsolescence of business practices and will not help a business to cope up with changes. This power also includes a timely entry into the market and efficient forecasting skills. Timely entry into the market is very crucial for achieving a first mover advantage. Identifying a new market opportunity should be followed by immediately entering into the market with necessary preparations. This will give an edge for the business in the segment. Efficient forecasting skills are very much important for a business concern. A decade back, none of them would have even dreamed that money transfer would take place through a mobile phone. But technology has changed the way things are being done. Only a highly efficient forecasting skill can help the business in identifying the possible future changes in the market. Such a forecasting skill will help to build a design that will timely incorporate the changes. The fourth power, design as a transformer also speaks about transforming the company with changes in the market conditions. This can be done by identifying new business opportunity. It includes diversification strategies. If situations are viable diversification should be done either to related industries or to unrelated industries. The final power design as a good business is most important of all in the present day business context. It speaks about an inclusive business strategy whereby the business activity will lead to sustainable benefit for the business as well as the society. Overall the four powers of design management provide a framework for design management for a business. The author says that the design can be implemented as Value using Balanced Score Card. As per the BSC method, companies should focus on four major perspectives while designing. They are value for client, value for the process, value for employee and knowledge management and value for shareholders and society. These perspectives are a 360 degree view on the situations. These perspectives look into all the four powers of design management. Therefore, knowledge of the powers and consideration of suitable perspectives will lead to better design management in an organisation. Another recent study was conducted regarding incorporation of design management in today’s business practices. Though the study was conducted in Europe, the findings of the study can be applied to business houses elsewhere. This study is mostly related to integration of innovation to foster a growth oriented business design. The report of the study begins by stating the findings of many studies conducted in UK, Scandinavia and the US. “The results of these studies showed that design does indeed impact positively on business performance in terms of, for example, profitability, quoted value (share price), employment and export. Furthermore on a macroeconomic level, there is a strong positive link between the use of design and home-market competitiveness.” (Kootstra, 2009) The report also states that companies need to have good innovation capabilities for exploring new markets. The growth of companies that invest heavily in innovation tend to be higher than that of the one that invest less in innovation. And for being innovative, an organisation has to have a better design in practice. Gradually such organisations will incorporate those designs into its strategy thus being able to operate better than the peers. Another most notable and helpful framework that is mentioned in this study is the design management Staircase. This model mentions four levels of a staircase. The lower or the first level of the staircase is ‘No Design Management.’ As the name signifies this level speaks about those companies that does not view DM as a crucial part of the business. The second level is ‘Design Management as project. Such organisations views design as a project oriented task and not as a continuous process. The next level is ‘Design Management as a function’, which is still better a working style. But still this practice gets confined only to specific areas. The final level is ‘Design Management as a Culture.’ This is the level that is followed by companies that are innovative and first movers. Such companies embed design into the everyday working of the organisation. In order to better understand the levels, the study has brought out five factors. They are an understanding of the benefits of design, the process, the planning, the expertise and the resources. Overall the author has come up with a very scientific design management tool, the DM Staircase. DM Staircase can be used by a company to evaluate its current status in its design management implementation. The findings of this study have proved that expertise and awareness are the two main factors of the DM Staircase. Present day design strategies should enable better communication between the elements of innovation process. Innovation process happens at the R & D facility. But R & D cannot introduce a product in itself. It needs to be in continuous interaction with the marketing team for understanding the customer perception about the products and with the production department to understand the production limitations and related information. A design that enables proper communication and integration of R & D facility with the other departments is crucial for a better innovation process. (Chiva & Alegre, 2009) In 2003, the UK Government has conducted a study ‘Competing in Global Economy: The Innovation Challenge.’ The entire study revolves around the idea of a good design strategy for innovation. The study points out that a good design strategy will lead to better financial performance which comes as a result of innovation. It also states the most successful companies have a better design in practice. (DTI, 2003) The Design Council has conducted a qualitative study on eleven different organisations to find out how much does design management contribute to the return on investment of these companies. The companies that were studied are Alessi, BSkyB, BT, Lego, Microsoft, Sony, Starbucks, Whirlpool, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Xerox and Yahoo. The main objectives of the study were to identify the design management practice in each company, the way it is managed and the benefits it bring to the organisation. For our purpose we can just look into the analysis of Yahoo. There are over 300 committed employees for its design management facility alone. “Typically, Yahoo! recruits highly qualified designers with a decade or more of professional experience and high levels of academic qualification (often PhD level, particularly in its user research activities).” (Design Council, 2007) Apart from the qualification and experience the company also focussed on people with creative thinking. A creative thinking is very much important for developing innovative ideas. The key points of the design process of Yahoo are Customer Insights, Brainstorming, Concept visualisation, prototyping and Design Documentation. Customer insight process will identify the new market opportunities. In the brainstorming process the designers generate ideas that will address the needs of the identified market opportunity. The concept visualisation stage gives an initial framework for the idea that is generates. This will be in several forms including videos. The prototype stage develops a solid structure of the concept. The prototype is used to gather the opinions of the customers. The final step of design documentation gives a final picture to the idea. Such an organised design management system has proved to be helpful for Yahoo in improving its services and financial performance. Analysis This part of the report is intended to analyse the two companies in terms of their design strategy and present operations. The literature review has laid down several methods that can be used to analyse the design of a business. The first theory that can be used is the four powers of design management. The second tool that will be used is the DM Staircase. Analysis of Landor based on four powers of Design Management Design as differentiator: Landor maintains good brand equity in the market. Landor has placed itself as specialised brand consultants. It provides every functional activities of branding to its customers. Due to the high brand equity Landor has world renowned companies like Pepsico, British Airways, Federal Express, Alcatel-Lucent, etc as its clients. “Landor is a member of the Young & Rubicam Brands network within WPP, one of the world's largest marketing and communications firms.” (Landor, 2010) Design as Integrator: User oriented innovation model is the main factor in this process. Landor has been highly innovative in terms of the services provided to its clients. It provides customised marketing and branding solutions to its customers. But Landor in itself is found to be less innovative. Some of the Landor’s competitors believe that it depends more on consumer research. Design as transformer: This level mainly speaks about the company’s ability to cope with change. Being established in the year 1941, Landor is a company of long tradition. Despite being a more than a decade old company, Landor uses modern methods of marketing and branding for itself and for the clients. In 2008, Landor.com has received two awards for its outstanding web development. This proves that the company gives equal importance to its online presence, which is the domain of the present day brands. Design as good business: This level is about better return on investment and inclusive and sustainable design. The company is successful in terms of Return on Investment, brand value and market share. But Landor Associates have very less of inclusive design in practice. One of the main reasons for this is that Landor Associates are not serving the end consumers. Therefore, there has not been much Corporate Social Responsibility initiative from the part of the company. Therefore, Landor will have to focus more on inclusive growth initiative. Analysis of Landor using DM Staircase No Design Management: In the case of Landor it can be seen that there is considerable amount attention given to design management. Landor has its own strategic way of dealing with the customers growing itself in the industry. Thus Landor does not fall in this level of the staircase. Design management as project: Landor Associates are not mere brand consultants but more of an innovator. It gives the highest possible services to the clients in terms of brand environments, digital experience, identity, internal engagement, naming and packaging. Therefore it can be said that for Landor Associates brand building is not merely project based aspect but more than the brand itself. Thus Landor Associates does not fall into this level of the DM Staircase. Design management as function: In the case of Landor, the company integrated much of the design management practices as a functional area. It definitely provides superior value services to its clients. Therefore, Landor can be said to be in this category of the Staircase. Design management as culture: This involves a company being the pioneer in the services that it offers. It involves the activities of a company being copied by the competitors. This is the ultimate position to be reached by a company in terms of design management. Landor has not reached this level of the Staircase. Landor should practice design management as its culture so as to cultivate the best design management. Analysis of Street Voice based on four powers of Design Management Design as differentiator: Street Voice is an outstanding media website in China and Taiwan. It has good brand equity in these two countries. It also maintains its uniqueness in terms of the services provided by them. None of the other media websites in China and Taiwan has the exclusive features that are provided by Street Voice. The operating model of the company is also good. It serves individual customers on one end and corporate clients on the other. Design as integrator: Like Landor, Street Voice also scores high in terms of user oriented innovation models. The online platform of Street Voice is primarily based on the usage style and preferences of the customers. Design as transformer: This includes timely adjustment to the market, identifying new opportunities and expansion and diversification of the business. Street Voice has not expanded into the other potential markets. As of now the company does not have interface through the website in English. This needs to be developed by the company. Design as good business: Inclusive design is another area where Street Voice scores less. More of society oriented and sustainable model should be used by Street Voice to better compete in future. Analysis of Street Voice using DM Staircase No Design Management: Street Voice has good design management policies in practice. It has a model of serving two different customer categories. Therefore it can be clearly said that Street Voice is above this level of DM Staircase. Design management as project: In terms of the customer experience, Street Voice ranks higher in the minds of the customers. It does not have an extreme focus on market identification and expansion. Therefore Street Voice stays at this level of design management. Design management as function: Street Voice does not have specialised functional areas dealing with design management. Establishing design management as a function is of extreme importance in developing better design in future. Design management as culture: Street Voice has confined itself to very few markets and limited services. The company is not keen on expanding into newer markets and developing new services. Street Voice should therefore develop design management as its culture for improving the current working style. Conclusion The report has given a clear insight into the design management situation of the modern age. The literature review has helped in understanding the various concepts and models regarding design management. Analysis of the two companies based on the two models has helped in identifying the current position of Landor Strategic Brand and Consulting Company and Street Voice Company. Landor should introduce more of inclusive growth style to its system. This can be done by itself and also through its clients. Though Landor is not in connection with the end consumers, it has to have an inclusive growth model so as to have better position than its competitors in future. Also, Landor should embed Design Management to its culture. Street Voice Company has good differentiating factor in terms of the services. It also has good customer centric approach. But the company lacks on the expansion side. It is confined only to a particular market. It also needs to develop an inclusive growth model. Street Voice should introduce better design management in practice. It should make design management as a continuous process. Bibliography DMI, 2011. What is Design Management. [Online] Available at: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/aboutdmi/design_management.htm [Accessed January 13, 2011] BDI, 2011. About British Design Innovation. [Online] Available at: http://www.britishdesigninnovation.org/?page=newlook/aboutbdi [Accessed January 13, 2011] Landor.com, 2011. About us. [Online] Available at: http://www.landor.com/?do=landor.aboutus [Accessed January 13, 2011] Street Voice, 2011. Available at: http://tw.streetvoice.com/ [Accessed January 14, 2011] Mozota, Brigitte, 2006. The four powers of design: A value model in design management. [Online] Available at: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/1388/1/Four%20Powers%20of%20Design.pdf [Accessed January 14, 2011] Kootstra, Gert, 2009. The incorporation of design management in today’s business practices. [Online] Available at: http://database.designmanagementeurope.com/uploads/case/71/370.pdf [Accessed January 14, 2011] Chiva, Ricardo & Alegre Joaquin, 2009. Investment in design and firm performance: The mediating role of design management. Journal of product innovation management, Vol 26, No 4. DTI, 2003. Competing in the Global Economy: The innovation challenge. [Online] Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/tna/+/http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file12093.pdf/ [Accessed January 14, 2011] Design Council, 2007. 11 Lessons: Background and Methodology. [Online] Available at: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-design/Managing-Design/Eleven-Lessons-managing-design-in-eleven-global-brands/Background-and-methodology/ [Accessed January 15, 2011] Landor.com, 2010. Landor Associates releases 2010 breakaway brands study. [Online] Available at: http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?do=news.pressrelease&storyid=822&bhcp=1 [Accessed January 15, 2010] Read More