The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Brief article - Book review

The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking Is the Next Competitive Advantage. By Roger Martin. Harvard Business Press, 204 pages. $26.95.

Imagine if McDonald's Corp. founder Roy Kroc was transported in time and asked to take on the challenge of running Apple. Or if Apple's Steve Jobs, was asked to take McDonald's to further heights. Could either transplant work?

The fundamental business approaches the pair has taken are diametrically opposed--one, creating a cookie-cutter system that thrives on exact replication of formula; the other, basing strategy on intuition, insight and moments of inspiration. Yet, author Martin strives to reconcile these two opposites, arguing that analytical and intuitive thought are both needed for optimal business performance. The interplay of these two, he writes, is design thinking, "and the firms that master it will gain a nearly inexhaustible, long-term business advantage."

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Martin, a noted business...