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Projektet har gjorts för företaget Björn Borg med inriktning mot design management och designstrategi.Arbetet delades upp i två delar, under den första delen genomfördes research på såväl Björn Borg som på ämnena design management och designstrategi, i form av litteraturstudier, intervjuer och observationer. Detta ledde till att ett problemområde identiferades och att en ny produktutvecklingsprocess utvecklades genom designstrategiskt tänkande.Den andra delen behandlade hur två exempel- produkter utvecklades genom den framtagna processen för företaget. Slutsatsen blev att den nya processen skapar ett mer förankrat designarbete hos företaget som kommer att ge ett mer fokuserat uttryck på marknaden. / The project was conducted in cooperation with the company Bjorn Borg with a focus on design management and design strategy.The work has been divided into two parts, during the first part research was carried out on both Bjorn Borg and the subjects design management and design strategy, in the form of literature reviews, interviews and observations. This identified a problem area, being their current design process. Therefor a new product development process was developed through design strategic thinking.The second part has dealt with how two example products was developed by using the new process for the company. The conclusion was that the new process creates a more grounded design work for the company that will provide a more unified expression in the market.

Most successful manufacturing companies were initially formed around a unique or superior product design. As a result of this trend, many companies, especially in high-technology industries, considered design and marketing the company's primary functions. When the United States had superior manufacturing technological capabilities in the 1950's and 1960's, corporate management could systematically neglect manufacturing and still be successful. Manufacturing was treated as a service organization and evaluated in the negative terms of poor quality, low productivity, high wage rates, and so on. Manufacturing was not expected to make a positive contribution to a company's success. Recent successes of the Japanese in building higher quality, lower cost products show the critical error in this philosophy. Manufacturing is now a major factor in a company's competitive position (Priest, 1988). Manufacturing strategies are the framework for accomplishing the long-term corporate goals for the manufacturing function. This framework helps to focus manufacturing goals and provides plans for integrating the necessary functions and resources into a coordinated effort to improve production. Communication of this strategy sets the right climate for the teamwork and long-term planning that are necessary in developing improved manufacturing capabilities. The strategy should be well publicized throughout the company, with regularly scheduled reviews to monitor progress toward the goals. Recently, emphasis on manufacturing strategy, as advocated by leading scholars in the 1970's and 1980's, has been recognized as one way to regain the competitive advantage for American manufacturers. Work carried out recently at Harvard and Stanford by Porter (1985), Skinner (1985), Wheelwright and Hayes (1984) has given more attention to the central role and potential importance of manufacturing; this work helps to explain the relative success of Japanese and Gennan companies. Their work also sets a sound background for further research in this area. However, current studies in manufacturing strategy have delved into technology and financial considerations. But technology, capital, and work force are all planned by the people (managers) who are always located in some kind of organizational structure. Based on the experimental results proposed by industrial psychologists, this research is one step toward a quantitative study of organizational efficiency. Two major types of organizations, hierarchical (serial) and egalitarian (parallel), are investigated by applying simulation techniques. The variables controlled comprise organizational type, number of levels in a hierarchical structure, and number of participants. The research results are also applied to investigate the applicability of current design-to-manufacturing strategies, such as simultaneous engineering and concurrent design in firms. Suggestions on how to reduce the design-to-manufacturing time through appropriate organizational structures are presented following analysis of the simulation results. / Master of Science

Der Untersuchungsgegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist, die mit dem Begriff „Design Thinking“ verbundenen Diskurse zu bestimmen und deren Themen, Konzepte und Bezüge herauszuarbeiten. Diese Zielstellung ergibt sich aus den mehrfachen Widersprüchen und Vieldeutigkeiten, die die gegenwärtigen Verwendungen des Design-Thinking-Begriffs charakterisieren und den kohärenten Gebrauch in Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft erschweren. Diese Arbeit soll einen Beitrag dazu leisten, „Design Thinking“ in den unterschiedlichen Diskurszusammenhängen grundlegend zu verstehen und für zukünftige Verwendungen des Design-Thinking-Begriffs eine solide Argumentationsbasis zu schaffen. / This thesis’ research objective is to distinguish the discourses to which the term “design thinking” refers, to carve out their central themes and concepts, as well as to debate the conceptual relations between them. The background of this objective lies in the ambiguity and the inherent contradictions of how “design thinking” is generally applied and referred to, hindering coherent and consistent usage both in academia and the business world. This thesis shall therefore contribute to elucidate the diversity of meanings of design thinking as well as to point out conceptual interrelations and coherences in order to establish a more solid foundation for future design thinking discourse.

Det finns mycket forskning om hur design bygger starka varumärken, men den är inte branschspecifik.  Modebranschen är en komplex företagsmiljö med ständigt förändrade marknadsvillkor. Detta kräver att modeföretag arbetar med effektiva strategier för att kunna differentiera sig mot konkurrenterna, där varumärket ses som ett verktyg. Avsikten med denna uppsats är att studera tre modeföretags designprocess och hur man, med hjälp av design som verktyg, kan förmedla sin varumärkesidentitet till konsumenterna i form av en varumärkesupplevelse. Denna studie är av kvalitativ karaktär och består av tre individuella intervjuer med centrala personer från valda företag (Mayla, Minna Palmqvist och Whyred), samt individuella intervjuer och gruppintervjuer med konsumenter. Insamlad data har analyserats med hjälp av en modifierad modell av The Corporate Branding Model och The Brand Design Management Model. Med hjälp av modellen identifierades modeföretagens varumärkesidentitet och deras designprocess kartlades. Sedan studerades hur designarbetet formar varumärkesupplevelsen hos konsummeterna och skapar en varumärkesimage. Studien visade att den interna synen på varumärket och varumärkesimagen är likartad, därmed lyckas alla tre företag kommunicera sin varumärkesidentitet genom sin designprocess. Denna studie kompletterar den befintliga designforskningen, som är generell och inte branschspecifik, genom att kartlägga hur designkompetens kan nyttjas för varumärkesuppbyggnad specifikt inom modebranschen. / There is much research into how design as a strategy builds strong brands, but the existing research is not specific for any industry. The fashion industry is a complex business environment with constantly changing market conditions. This requires that fashion companies working with effective strategies, where the brand is seen as a tool, differentiate themselves from the competition. The purpose of this paper is to study three fashion companies’ design processes and how they can use design as a tool to convey their brand identity to consumers as a brand experience. This study is qualitative in nature and consists of three individual interviews with key persons from selected companies (Mayla, Minna Palmqvist and Whyred), as well as individual interviews and group interviews with consumers. Collected data was analyzed using a modified model of the Corporate Branding Model and the Brand Design Management Model. By using the model, the brand identity of each fashion company was identified, and their design processes were analyzed. Then the study explored in which way the design process forms the brand experience of consumers and creates a brand image. The result is that the internal perception of the brand and the brand image are assumed to be similar, thereby each company succeeds to communicate their brand identity through their design process. This study complements the existing general and non-industry specific design research by charting how design expertise of the fashion industry can be used for brand building. / <p>En bilaga (bilder som har använts i uppsatsens metod) har tagits bort ur dokumentet på grund av upphovsrättsliga skäl.</p>

Vid möbeltillverkning ställs krav på både formgivning och hållfasthet. Formgivare och konstruktörer har vanligtvis olika akademisk bakgrund vilket kräver ett fungerande samarbete. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur möbeltillverkare arbetar med att säkerställa produkternas hållfasthet samt vad som krävs för en god samverkan mellan formgivare och konstruktörer. En litteraturstudie genomfördes där tidigare forskning och litteratur inom området studerades. Respondenter från fyra svenska möbelföretag intervjuades. Intervjuerna spelades in och transkriberades för att möjliggöra undersökning av samband, skillnader och likheter. Tre övergripande teman kunde identifieras: • Produktutveckling och formgivning • Test av hållfasthet • Samverkan mellan formgivare och konstruktörer Studien visar att möbelföretag i första hand säkerhetsställer hållfastheten med egna tester och erfarenhetsbaserad kunskap. Att möbelfaktamärka produkterna kan vara ett sätt att säkra kvaliteten, men är inte nödvändigtvis förmånligt för alla företag. Studien visar vidare att samverkan mellan konstruktörer och formgivare fungerar som bäst när det finns en god kommunikation samt att det finns tydligt uppsatta mål att arbeta mot. / When manufacturing furnitures, there are demands considering both design and material strength. Designers and constructors usually have different academic backgrounds, which require a working collaboration. This study aims to investigate how furniture manufacturers work to ensure the material strength of the products and what is required for a good collaboration between designers and constructors. A literature study was conducted where previous research and literature in the field were studied. Respondents from four Swedish furniture companies were interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed to enable investigation of relations, differences and similarities. Three general themes were identified: • Product development and design • Tests of material strength • Collaboration between designers and constructors The study shows that furniture companies primarily uses own tests and tacit knowledge to ensure the strength of a product. To certify the products with a Möbelfakta-label can be a way of ensuring quality, but is not necessarily advantageous for all companies. The study further shows that collaboration between designers and constructors operates best when there is good communication. However, it is also important to set a clear goal to work towards.

Organisationer genomgår ständigt förändring för att utveckla nya produkter och för att förbli relevanta på marknaden. Ett tillvägagångssätt som organisationer kan tillämpa för att genomföra förändringar av produkter är metoder inom Design Thinking. En sådan metod kan vara Design Sprint, som ursprungligen skapades för att optimera samarbete i organisationer, för att lösa stora problem och testa nya idéer snabbt. Design Sprint är en relativt ny metod, som är framtagen för produktutveckling. Under de senaste åren har några forskningsstudier publicerats där studierna testar att använda Design Sprint. Det här skapade nyfikenhet kring vad som krävs av organisationer för att tillämpa Design Sprint. Metoden Design Sprint innehåller flera egenskaper som överlappar med många av de förutsättningar som krävs för att genomföra en förändring av en produkt i en organisation. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur Design Sprint kan tillämpas i förändring av produkter i organisationer. Studien har gjort en djupdykning i ett specifikt fall som sedan har kompletterats med en sekundär datainsamling av ytterligare fallstudier. Studiens resultat visar på att det är möjligt för organisationer att tillämpa Design Sprint som metod i en förändring av produkter, men att det ställer krav på organisationen för att tillämpa metoden. / Organizations continuously undergo change to develop new products and to remain relevant on the market. One approach that organizations can apply when implementing change in products are methods in design thinking. Such a method could be Design Sprint, which originally was created to optimize how organizations cooperate and also to solve problems test new ideas quickly. Design Sprint is a relatively new method, created for product development. Over the past couple of years a few research studies have been published where these studies have tested Design Sprint. The method Design Sprint contains several properties that overlap with several of the requirements to successfully create change of a product in an organisation. The purpose of this study was to examine how Design Sprint might be applied to change products in organizations. The study has made a deep dive into a specific case which then have been supported by secondary data collection of additional case studies. The result of the study shows that it is possible for organizations to apply Design Sprint as a method in change of products, but that there are certain requirements of the organization to do it.

Den svenska anläggningsmarknaden är under förändring. I ett initiativ att utveckla och effektivisera branschen har de statliga beställarna, med Trafikverket i täten, satsat på att renodla beställarrollen. En stor del av denna satsning bygger på att öka andelen projekt som upphandlas som totalentreprenader. Detta ger dock inte bara förändringar för beställarna, utan även entreprenörer och resten av marknaden måste anpassa sig efter de nya förutsättningarna. Syftet med examensarbetet är därför att undersöka hur förändringen av anläggningsmarknaden mot fler totalentreprenader påverkar entreprenörers förutsättningar att driva framgångsrika projekt, samt hur de bör anpassa sina projektorganisationer för att uppnå detta. För att svara på detta övergripande syfte behandlar arbetet följande forskningsfrågor: Hur påverkas entreprenörens möjlighet till framgångsrika och lönsamma projekt i totalentreprenader? Hur påverkar övriga delar av upphandlingsstrategin entreprenören då den är totalentreprenör? Hur ska entreprenörer anpassa sina projektorganisationer, avseende kompetens och roller, för att möta den förändrade rollen gentemot beställaren? Examensarbetet är skrivet hos Skanska Sverige AB, region Väg och anläggning Stockholm. Metoden är uppdelad i tre studier. Den första är en litteraturstudie på tidigare forskning, med fokus på vetenskapliga artiklar. Den andra är en kvantitativ studie på lönsamhetsdata från tidigare projekt, erhållen från Skanska. Denna studie omfattar dels en jämförelse mellan utförande­entreprenad och totalentreprenad, dels en analys av övriga delar i upphandlingsstrategin. Den tredje är en intervjustudie med personer som har haft olika roller i totalentreprenader. Resultatet visar på att entreprenörer som är medvetna om den skillnad totalentreprenader medför, samt är väl förberedda för dem, har goda chanser att uppnå framgångsrika och lönsamma projekt. Det är också viktigt för entreprenören att vara medveten om alla förutsättningar i entreprenaden, inte bara entreprenadform. Utvecklingen går mot entreprenader med högre grad av samverkan än tidigare. Detta medför att entreprenören både måste vara samarbetsinriktad samt välja beställare, konsulter och underentreprenörer som är detsamma. Entreprenörens ökade osäkerheter och risker i totalentreprenader medför ökade krav på dess kompetens och organisationsstruktur. En viktig del är att tillsätta en projekteringsledning som klarar av att leda projekteringen så att rätt handlingar tas fram. Därutöver tillkommer även en rad ytterligare kritiska faktorer, så som en tydlig riskfördelning, tidigt upprättad riskanalys, kunskaper i ABT och kontraktsfrågor, tydlig ansvarsfördelning samt tilldelning av nyckelroller så tidigt som möjligt. Ökningen av anbudsutvärderingar på mjuka parametrar, främst på totalentreprenörens projektorganisation, visar på att även beställarna värderar vikten av totalentreprenörens kompetens högt. / The Swedish infrastructure and construction market is changing. To develop and improve the efficiency of the industry, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) have made an initiative to change their role towards more of a professional client. A large part of this initiative is based on increasing the percentage of projects procured as design-build projects. This will, however, not only lead to changes for the clients, but also contractors and the rest of the market must adapt to the new conditions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the change of the infrastructure and construction market towards more design-build projects affects contractors’ possibilities for successful projects, and how they should adapt their organizations to achieve this. To answer this general objective, the thesis is based on the following research questions: How are the contractor’s possibilities for achieving successful and profitable projects affected in design-build projects? How does the rest of the client’s procurement strategy affect the design-build contractor? How should contractors adapt their project organizations, in terms of expertise and roles, to meet the changing role towards the client? This thesis is written at Skanska in Stockholm, Sweden. The method comprises three studies. The first is a literature review of previous research, with a focus on scientific articles. The second is a quantitative study on profitability data from previous projects, obtained from Skanska. This study includes both a comparison between design-bid-build and design-build projects, and an analysis of other parts in the client’s procurement strategy. The third is an interview with people who have had different roles in design-build projects. The results indicate that contractors who are aware of the difference design-build projects entails, and are well prepared for them, have good chances to achieve successful and profitable projects. It is also important for the contractor to be aware of all parts in the contract, not just the project delivery system. The trend is toward a higher degree of client–contractor collaboration. This indicates that the contractors, clients, consultants and subcontractors must be able to be cooperative. The contractor’s increased uncertainties and risks in design-build projects entail increased demands on its expertise and organizational structure. An important part is to appoint a design manager capable of managing the design so that the right documents and drawings are produced. In addition, other critical factors are a clear allocation of risks, an early established risk analysis, knowledge in contract issues, a clear division of responsibilities and to assign key roles as early as possible. The increased usage of soft parameters in tender evaluations, mainly on the contractor’s organization, show that the clients value the contractor’s competences highly.

The role of visual communication design continues to increase in importance around the world. In Bahrain, organisations are increasingly considering visual communication design as a means of accomplishing organisational goals. The research aims to understand the process by which design managers in organisations in Bahrain manage and evaluate visual communication designs to gain strategic advantage. Even though the management of visual communication design has not yet been recognised as a separate category of design management in Bahrain, its processes and approaches may differ from other management applications. This research opens with a contextual overview of the visual communication design management field, before presenting an understanding of how visual communication design can be utilised as an innovative approach to the strategic structuring organisational thinking. Methods have been developed for investigating how Bahraini client design managers manage visual communication design projects. Observational studies and interviews with client design managers and creative directors have been conducted to obtain an understanding of the visual communication design process, together with evaluation procedures in the Bahraini context. These empirical investigations have led to the development of a conceptual framework that describes the visual communication design management process and the evaluation procedure that is carried out by client design managers in Bahrain. The remainder of this thesis explains the outcomes of each phase of the research. The unique contributions of this study are embodied in a discussion of the findings together with reflections and recommendations for those involved and interested in design management in Bahrain.

[pt] O design tem obtido destaque e respeito nas empresas, deixando de ser considerado um atributo meramente estético. No entanto, o conceito de que o design efetivo seja um bom negócio vem se tornando consenso muito mais baseado em evidências qualitativas do que em aspectos tangíveis. Essa lacuna na mensuração das contribuições do design para o desempenho motivou a realização deste estudo, cujo objetivo principal foi identificar se empresas que adotavam o design efetivo como estratégia competitiva apresentavam desempenhos superiores. Para tal, foi necessário compreender os fundamentos teóricos relacionados à contribuição do design para a competitividade, estabelecendo as relações entre desempenho e os fatores de integração do design à gestão das organizações, o que permitiu a proposição de um modelo teórico. Os dados primários foram coletados a partir da aplicação de questionários na indústria eletroeletrônica - setor de utilidades domésticas - e, com as respostas de 67 empresas, foram realizados os testes estatísticos. Os resultados não puderam ser validados para a população como um todo, mas permitiram indicar que os grupos de empresas que se encontravam nos estágios mais avançados de adoção de design apresentavam desempenhos superiores, assim como, através da utilização da técnica de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, os resultados indicaram que a integração do design à cadeia de valor influenciava positivamente o desempenho dessas empresas. / [en] Design has become a highlight among many companies receiving attention that goes beyond simple aesthetic considerations. However, the concept that effective design is good business is more linked to qualitative evidences than on tangible aspects. The gap in the measurement of contributions made by design on the performance of a company motivates this paper whose objective is to identify whether companies that have adopted design as a competitive strategy in fact present superior performances. To develop this thought, it was necessary to understand the theoretical fundaments related to the contribution of design management to competitiveness, establishing the relations between performance and the factors of design integration with organizational management to allow for the elaboration of a theoretical model. The basic data was gathered from a questionnaire based on statistical tests, distributed to 67 companies in the electroelectronic industry, from the household appliance sector. The results could not be validated for the population as a whole but rather indicated that groups of companies that were in advanced stages of design applications presented superior performance results. Furthermore, through the use of Structural Equation Models, final analysis showed that the integration of design in the value chain is influencing in a positive way, the performance of the companies who adopted design resources.