Design strategy: Towards a post-rational, practice-based perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/svid.2000-964X.14243Keywords:
Design strategy, Postrational, Design management, PracticeAbstract
This paper critically reflects on the concept of design strategy as deployed in design management literature.
It starts by describing current discourses in the wider field of strategy research and then discusses how, by conforming to orthodox theories in strategic management, design management literature has tended to overlook alternative streams of strategy research.
In many instances, studies in design strategy adopt taken-for-granted assumptions from rational planning approaches, and analyses of firm performance tend to take precedence over actors and their actions. Thus, it highlights the need for new lines of inquiry grounded in practice, letting go of the economic rationality and theoretical abstractions that have permeated mainstream strategy research. Hence, for future studies, it suggests a post-rational, practice-based perspective to advance our understanding of strategy as it relates to design management.
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