SERVICE DESIGN LEADER-
SHIP. SHAPING SERVICE
INNOVATIONS AT THE INTER-
SECTION OF DESIGN AND
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
AFFILIATION
Institute of Design
GRADUATE
Judith Gloppen
MAIN SUPERVISOR
Andrew Morrison
CO-SUPERVISOR
Alison Rieple
DATE OF DEFENCE
December 11th 2012
OPPONENTS
Dr. Bettina von Stamm,
Innovation Leadership Forum
| Professor Lisbeth Svengren
Holm, University of Borås |
Associate professor Synne
Skjulstad, Westerdals School
of Communication
This thesis contributes to the field of Design Management as well as to the
emerging field of Service Design. It addresses the field of Design Management
at a strategic level and the role of Service Design in shaping service innovations
and corporate strategies. The research includes theory building in design man-
agement that goes beyond managing design at an operational level by lifting the
strategic use of design to the corporate leadership level in a service context. The
thesis argues that in order to exploit the potential value of investing in design, a
strategically managed process that integrates both design expertise and business
expertise is needed.
Service design is an emerging, multicompetence design specialization, and
the design of services may include all design disciplines in order to create ser-
vices that are perceived as valuable by the user, service provider, and other
stakeholders. The design of services requires close cooperation with a number
of internal and external stakeholders, multidisciplinary cooperation, and neces-
sitates linkage to business strategy.
Given the novelty in using professional design disciplines for developing in-
novative services and the complexity of the issues involved, this thesis proposes
a conceptual framework for service design leadership focusing on the front
end of the service innovation process. Service design leadership is shaped via
cross-disciplinary, holistic and integrative approaches through synthesizing
design proficiency knowledge, skills, and methods with organizational strategy
and competence. Therefore, the main elements in the framework include or-
ganizational vision and strategy, service design and design thinking, as well as
individual and organizational creativity.
The study draws on cross-disciplinary research and theories as well as
utilizing the author’s hands-on experience in design management. Further-
more, insights and data were collected through an empirical study that includ-
ed participative and non-participative observations in workshops as well as
semi-structured interviews.
This study is part of the AT-ONE service innovation project, which was fund-
ed by the Research Council of Norway in collaboration with industry.
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Graphic design
Interaction design
Industrial design
Uniform design
Furniture design
Interior design
AHO WORKS RESEARCH 2012
PhD Programme
