CASD
Competitive Advantage through Strategic Design (CASD) was about achieving effective strategic design thinking that enhances the competitive position of Product Service Systems and industrial design providers. Product Service Systems (PSS) can help companies achieve competitive advantage. To realize effective PSS, companies should integrate design thinking in their innovation process.Design thinking is characterized as a creative, user-centered and vision based approach – rather than being technology or marketing driven. Design thinking becomes strategic if it is adopted in the fuzzy front end of innovation where opportunities are identified and ideas are generated, or when it informs strategic decision making at later stages. Strategic design thinking can help firms to realize (a portfolio of) PSS combinations that are recognizable, legitimate and coherent for customers.
What questions were being answered?
Teams from 3 universities and industry partners were working together to answer the questions:
How should strategic design thinking be integrated in PSS portfolio management to optimize outcomes?
How should organizations structure and manage their relationships with professional designers when developing new PSS to optimize outcomes?
How to design PSS that are coherent and provide customers with a positive, holistic experience?
What have the teams achieved?
The results include knowledge, design tools and PSS development methods that will help industrial designers and other suppliers of creative services adopt an effective strategic role in the PSS innovation process.
Timeframe and communication:
Throughout the project, findings have been published via this website, in professional journals, and in academic journals. Findings were also disseminated in workshop and in educational programmes.
Who was involved?
Scientific partners: Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam and the Design Academy Eindhoven;
Creative and Industry partners: KVD, Fabrique, Flex, NPK Design, Scope, Philips Design, Studio Dumbar, Sky Team, KLM, Oce industries, Zeeno.
Project leader
Giulia Calabretta, Delft University of Technology
publications
Alleeup
https://alleeup.com/Alleeup showcases and sells products and at the same time gives the makers very valuable insights to successfully put their products on the market.
Ok, how does Alleeup work?
- We put the product on https://alleeup.com/ for a limited period of time. makers can test multiple ads for their product.
- We inform our many followers.
- They get to see the maker's product, with photos and information but without a price. They state what they want to pay for it maximally.
- If they name a higher price than the secret selling price they’ll buy it for the, lower, price. So, let’s say, the secret selling price is 75 euro. If someone states 100 euro is his maximum price he’ll get the product for 75 euro!
This way makers sell their product and they know what people are willing to pay. This selling method also shows which price will give the highest turnover. Besides that we tell the maker who values their product highest and which ad works best. In short, with these insights the maker can make better marketing decisions and will not waste marketing budget or unnecessary throw away money.