Using design thinking to respond to crises
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic generated a number of wicked problems for industrial marketers, who were suddenly faced with a lack of markets and potentially disastrous future. Wicked problems require tools that enable decision makers to break out of preferred patterns of thinking. Design thinking, or the problem solving approaches and tools of designers, represents one such approach.
IDE’s Assistant Professor Pinar Cankurtaran and University of Sussex’s Michael B. Beverland identified a process of design thinking that involves disrupting previous assumptions and practices, developing ‘good enough’ solutions, and transforming firm practices to ensure greater future resilience. Their research Using design thinking to respond to crises: B2B lessons from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is published in Elsevier's scientific journal ‘Industrial Marketing Management’.