Design Thinking: of Gap - Case Study Example

Design Thinking GAP Name Course Institution Date Design Thinking GAP Introduction Business environment has been very dynamic in the current world. Almost all businesses are operating in very competitive environments. Businesses that are unable to adapt to the dynamic nature of their environment are forced out of the market. Businesses are required to constantly adjust their approaches to various trading techniques in order to ensure they remain relevant. Considering this to be a digital world, businesses are expected to take advantage of the access to information to ensure that they are at the top of the game in all they do. Information is seen to be the key ingredient to enhancing creativity and innovation. Entities that are in position to take advantage of the information available to differentiate their products and services have a competitive advantage when it comes to selling their products and services. GAP, just like any other business is expected also take advantage of the available technology to access information that it can use to redesign its products. This will definitely go in line with the various strategic plans that the business may have laid down. Such strategic plans may be in relation to penetrating new markets. These new markets may include international opportunities. In order to utilize such opportunities, the company must embrace innovation and creativity. About GAP This is a retail company that specializes in cloth design and accessories. The company has been in operation for quite some years now. Dealing with fashion, the company is actually focused on fascinating trends on the market. It must continuously be on the move to ensure that the various opportunities are exploited to the fullest. The uniqueness about businesses specializing in fashion products is that any slight failure to detect the hot trends may collapse the business. This is simply based on the consumer behavior in relation to rationality. This company will benefit so much from this tool because of the nature of its products. This company must be continually innovating new products to be relevant in the market. Therefore, this company is deemed to benefit from design thinking by being on the forefront to emphasizing on innovation in the company. This indeed can transform the company in a very radical manner. Having already invested heavily in all its subsidiaries around the globe, the company can suffer great loss if creativity is hampered. Therefore, design thinking fits the current needs of this company and it will make good use of it. One of the ways through which GAP can use technology to enhance innovation and creativity is through design thinking. Design thinking is an approach that can be used to create information and significant decisions be made from such information. Through such avenues, great ideas are developed from the knowledge gained through critical thinking. In the recent past, design thinking has been taunted as the solution to the current business environment as well as real world problems. From design thinking, complex problems are dealt with and more ideas are generated to the advantage of the business. When GAP makes a decision to adopt this tool for innovation and creativity, it will have a chance to learn from several market leaders that have been using this tool. For instance, multinational companies like Apple have embraced this tool for quite some time now. It can be seen of how effective this tool can be, considering the market position held by Apple. This is just an indication that design thinking can transform a business entity for good. GAP as well has an opportunity of getting top notch in its expansion agenda if such a pragmatic innovation technique is adopted. In this essay, various approaches are discussed in relation to how design thinking can be used to reinvent the marketing approach of GAP. As earlier pointed out, GAP can greatly transform its processes by use of design thinking. First of all, this is a retail business that deals with clothing and design. In the fashion industry, players benefit greatly if they can accurately project the trend in design. This involves being in position to understand the needs of the customers early enough in order to design the required model (Lockwood 2009, p. 58). Moreover, it turns out to be more interesting since this company deals with mainly women dresses. This is one of the sensitive customers in the market. While such customers may not care so much about the prices, few would compromise on fashion. All ladies want to look good and this is truly a piece of work. The company can use design thinking to ease the process of innovation and marketing of the various products. In order to achieve this objective, the following common steps of design thinking can be of great use: Defining the Problem The first step of using design thinking is seeking to understand the problem that is facing the organization. In this case, understanding the challenges that GAP is undergoing is very crucial. It is from the current problems that great ideas can be generated and implemented. In order to define the problem according to the parameters, immersion process is used. This process will bring to face the various challenges that this company goes through in various processes (Brown 2009, p. 19). The process will seek to establish differentiation strategy adopted by the company. This is based on the understanding of the role of differentiation to the current market. Various approaches ought to be used to constantly gather information about the needs of consumers in the market. Based on such information, the required products can be designed in a manner that will make them superior to the other products. Through problem definition stage, any impediment to understanding the needs of customers ought to be established (Roberto 2009, p. 34). At the same time, GAP can also evaluate its marketing strategies and come up with problems that seem to reduce the effectiveness of such strategies. This can be achieved through understanding the problems that the company faces in marketing its products. Such challenges include lack of training to marketing staff. Failure to adequately train the marketers can be disastrous to the business. To be able to clearly define the scope of these challenges is great step towards using design thinking to revolutionize GAP. Create and Consider many Options This stage involves brainstorming of ideas. Through such process, various ideas are gathered that are probable solutions to the problem that have been identified. At this level, there is not supposed to be a limit to what is considered the solution to the given problem. What is important is to allow all the probable solutions to wait until a later stage where they will have to be vetted. At this level, options are suggested on how to deal with the various problems that have been raised in relation to GAP. One of the problems relates to the marketing approach adopted by GAP (Martin 2009, p. 68). From a design thinking perspective, the more solutions are suggested, the higher the chances of obtaining the most feasible solution. It seeks to move away from the norm of using one way of solving a certain problem. Such tendency works as a hindrance to innovation and creativity. It limits possibilities and makes it easy to allow other options with better performance indices. GAP will therefore benefit greatly from the many options that are suggested to be the solution to the current situation. At this stage, a lot of team work is highly encouraged. In this case, synergy is used to come up with better ideas to the current problems (Kelly 2008, p. 195). However simple the problem might be, it is easier for it to be shared with members of the team than dealt with individually. At the end of it, a shared problem is more likely to be dealt with in a better way. Refine selected directions This is yet another crucial step in the design thinking process. The suggested solutions must go through a filter to establish the most feasible solution to the problems identified. In doing this, care must be paid to the fact that the suitability of a certain approach is dependent to the nature of the organization. For instance, there are solutions which can effectively be used to deal with a certain problem elsewhere, but may be ineffective in GAP. For instance, as the company works on enhancing its competitiveness, it is important to remember that fashion industry is very dynamic. Therefore, operating in such a dynamic environment means one must be constantly informed of the various developments in the sector (Brown 2009, p. 22). This stage will enable the company to establish the most feasible solution to its current problems. At this stage, a lot of prototyping is done. The aim is to test the most feasible solution that transforms the specified business processes. In such a way, the chosen option is set to be tried until it is proven. Implementation of the selected strategy After the preferred solution has been selected, the next thing is implementation. The business will have reached a level of experiencing the new approach as it relates to solving various problems. The new approach is expected to boost the level of efficiency and effectiveness. At this level, the tried solution is replicated on a larger scale. The business must be keen to implement such solutions according to guidelines provided in the prior sections. At this stage, GAP must be ready to risk the required resources to attain the required results (Lockwood 2009, p. 62). The new marketing strategies that could have been selected definitely require resources to be implemented. The retail business may be required to develop a new outlook with the aim of attracting more customers. By the aid of design thinking, the company will be able to appeal to more consumers around the globe. The procedure that has been followed has many advantages in the sense that solutions arrived are picked from a pool of suggested perspectives. This increases the possibilities that the solution will be sustainable and will have the ability to address the various challenges. In addition, some of the ideas that were not preferred could also be absorbed into the business (Lockwood 2009, p. 60). The fact that some of these ideas were overlooked does not mean that they are defective. They may have other roles in the business whose overall consequence is boosting the business competitiveness. Benefits The use of design thinking has very many benefits to the business. Design thinking has turned out to be the source of business ideas. It is the core of innovation to businesses in the current business environment. Design thinking enhances communication not just within the organization, but also with external stakeholders. Improved communication is very important for organizations whose agenda is to achieve its long term goals. At the same time, communication is very crucial as it facilitates the flow of business transactions. In addition, design thinking can be used to build a strong brand in the market (Martin 2009, 69). Design thinking, if executed appropriately is very crucial in creating an organization whose brand is strong enough to deal with competition in the market. The organizations that have excelled by use of design thinking are indeed an exhibit that design thinking is effective. The tool gladly takes advantage of technology to help organizations handle some of the most complex situations. This has facilitated idea generation and implementation in many organizations. As time goes on, the various stakeholders that have benefited from design thinking can only hope for the best. Conclusion When design thinking is discussed in any conference, the theme of such discussion is a better future. The tool can be used to guarantee a brighter future in an organization. By use of this tool, it is possible to foresee the developments that are likely to have great impact in a given sector. GAP will be better placed to handle the challenges that face the business if the design thinking is well implemented. All this is based on the need for innovation in the current business environment. As an example, Google has been able to grow to unimaginable heights as a result of emphasizing on innovation. It has taken the company about ten years to achieve what many companies have failed to achieve in more than fifty years. Therefore, businesses ought to understand the new trend and seek to move in line with such new opportunities. References Brown, T 2009, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Creates New Alternatives for Business and Society: How Design Thinking Can Transform Organizations and Inspire Innovation, Collins Business, New York, pp. 13-34. Kelly, T 2008, The Ten Faces of Innovation: Strategies for Heightening Creativity, Profile Books, London, pp. 195. Lockwood, T 2009, Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value, Allworth Press, New York, NY, pp. 57-64. Martin, R 2009, Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business School, New York, pp. 67-75. Roberto, V 2009, Design Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean, Harvard Business Press, Boston, pp. 33-38. Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J 2012, This is service design thinking / druk 1: basics - tools – cases, Bis B.V., Uitgeverij, Amsterdam, pp. 305-309. Read More