Design, Design Thinking and Innovation: The Electrolux Professional Practices Assessment

The design thinking label assumed a plurality of minings since its first adoption in the design discipline and its subsequent developments in the management realm. Over its long journey, its different interpretations polarised the academic and practitioner audience eliciting appreciation and critiques. Today, the term coexists in different meanings. Still, both parties seem to agree on the positive impact of design thinking practices on organisations. Electrolux Professional is not an exception. Since the first adoption of the concept, the design department started to expand its influence, arriving to play a strategic role in the organisation’s innovation dynamics. The literature suggests a correlation between design thinking practices and innovation, but what are their real implications and impacts on the company’s innovation infrastructure? This research exploited the Electrolux Professional collaboration to investigate the design thinking practices in context. Firstly, it proposes a historical transdisciplinary interpretation of design thinking. Secondly, it focuses on the Electrolux Professional case, inquiring about its innovation ecosystem, the design department and the implication design thinking had. Thirdly, it describes the development of a multi-level framework and a correlated tool to explore the practices and perceived impacts. Finally, the framework was used to assess the design thinking practices in Electrolux Professional and develop three models summarising the primary characteristic of the design thinking practices. The last part aims to evaluate the design thinking impact on Electrolux Professional’s innovation system. Still, it is not concluded yet. The strategy is defined, and the monitoring system is being implemented, but data have not been collected yet. On the academic side, this study strived to reconnect design thinking with the design discipline, giving the designers and managers new evidence of its impact on innovation. On the practice side, the framework and the evaluation strategy aim to offer practitioners valuable tools to manage and leverage design and design thinking in the organisational innovation discussion.