Design Thinking in Entrepreneurship

Discuss about the Brainstorming Strategy in Developing Creative.

The weekly blog has been of utmost use to my studies all through the term. Going through the entries of every week aided in giving me a new perspective of what was learnt as well as in the identification of areas that require development.

The first lesson learnt in this unit was an introduction to design thinking in entrepreneurship. During this introduction class (blog entry on 30^th July 2017) I learnt that there is a difference between innovations and inventions and we performed an activity where the different groups in class shared their individual ideas. In entrepreneurship innovation refers to the process in which someone makes significant changes to an already existing product and improves its functionality. Conversely, invention refers to the process in which a process or product is introduced for the very first time (Dube, 2012). Businesses should continually innovate and invent various products and processes in order to remain competitive and keep making profits.

Regardless of the need for continual innovation and invention, majority of new business ideas do not reach the market. Research indicates that only fifteen percent of new ideas end up being incorporated into business functions. This challenged me because I am very creative and over the years I have come up with numerous ideas that can be incorporated in business. However, I have not applied any one of them. This made me make a decision that I would not be part of the majority who did not bring their ideas to life. Therefore, I am currently working to improve my current idea and commence using it in business.

It is important to view the design process from a peripheral point of view. The blog post on July 30, 2017 contains information about making observations like a designer. The activity here involved analysis of different businesses to find what went wrong or right in terms of how their business ideas were implemented. This exercise contributed to my personal development because I learnt that to succeed in business one must have the proper mindset and follow their core values. There are people who choose making profits over being ethical in their business dealings. However, it is very important for business people to be ethical because in the long run showing corporate social responsibility is proving to be more advantageous (McWilliams & Siegel, 2017).

Continual Innovation and Business Ideas

Reasoning is a very important skill that everyone should possess and continually develop. In my August 16^th blog post, I learnt how to create the desired value by reasoning, loop learning, and co-creation. In most businesses, when the management is solving different problems they fail to use all three skills together hence they end up making decisions that are not very effective. I learnt that there are four mental states that are involved in design thinking. These include; divergent thinking which involves creating choices, convergent thinking which involves making a choice, analysis which means coming up with patterns from which to draw conclusions, and synthesis which means to reassemble the patterns (Brown, 2009).

Another important concept learnt was about loop learning. Single loop involves comprehending and following existing rules. Double loop means learning about the rules and then changing them. Finally, triple loop learning means to learn about learning (Tossey, 2012). This information aided in my professional development as a future business owner because business requires one to think of any activity in the basis of the client. Incidentally, one should think of what value their business is adding to the clients’ life. it is important to reason in the context of what is in it for the client (Agogué, Lundqvist & Middleton, 2014).  As a result, one should collect information and analyze it to know how to best carry out business activities. Consequently, this will ensure that the product satisfies certain customers’ needs and improves their lives. I therefore learnt that in business one should not accept things as they are but should continually change them to bring in improvements and therefore increase their competitive abilities.

It is vital in life and in business to identify where there are problems and then carry out actions to solve these problems. I learnt that design thinking is not just about solving existing problems but finding the problems as well (see blog post on 25^th August 2017). The activity conducted when learning this concept involved studying a picture to see how the identified problems can be solved. This showed the importance of thinking outside conventional lines which is brought about by brainstorming.

Brainstorming aided in my personal development because I used to follow the given rules and not try to think of better ways of doing things (Dube, 2012). I was afraid of failure and what people might think about my ideas which seemed different from the normal way of doing things. However, I learnt that it is people who think different from others who end up succeeding in life. Therefore, I learnt to; not judge other people’s ideas, come up with as many ideas as possible, and if need be, I should get ‘stupid’ to think from a different perspective.

Corporate Social Responsibility

To brainstorm effectively, there is need to have the right mindset that is to be positive and believe in oneself. When brainstorming, I learnt that one can also make use of visualization which enables one to create possibilities and bring them to life (Adel Al-khatib, 2012). Moreover, one should keep the process simple to generate the best results.

Journey mapping and mind mapping are important activities that should be carried out when deciding what to provide to customers and how to improve the value chain (see blog post on August 27, 2017). I learnt that as a business professional, one should not simply create a value chain without having an understanding of how customers will react to it. Journey mapping is a representation of the customer experience during interaction with a service provider represented graphically. The activity performed in this workshop involved mapping of the master’s program journey. Conversely, mind mapping involves the use of pictures to extract meaningful insights. This is one very important concept that I learnt which will be used professionally.

Innovation is very important for any business that wishes to maintain long term success in its operations. However, research has proved that not all innovation activities work to benefit the company. Some innovation activities have proved detrimental and have reduced revenue earned (David J, 2010). We studied a case study of Coca Cola Company where they brought about innovative changes that made their beverage to fail (as seen in blog entry on 29^th July 2017). Initially, I thought all innovation brings success to the companies but this showed me that that is not the case. I therefore learnt that research and development are two very important activities that any company should undertake before incorporating new innovations into their business activities.

I also learnt how the design process should take place in order to ensure maximum results for the company (see blog entry on August 6, 2017). There are five steps that should be followed which include; empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and implementation. The empathy stage involves a research to develop knowledge on consumer opinions (Coulon & Baltar, 2013). This enables the company to identify their needs and preferences and find ways to provide for them. The define stage involves identification of the problems that customers have, from which customer needs are generated.

The third phase involves generation of as many creative ideas as possible. The ideas are presented to the team members who aid in correcting them and in the end the best idea is chosen. The next step involves the creation of a prototype to ensure that the idea will work. This step involves experimentation on the impact versus feasibility of ideas from the feedback received on the prototypes. The text phase involves repeated simulation of the prototype to obtain the most favorable result. Finally, the design is implemented (Agogué, Lundqvist & Middleton, 2014).

Critical Thinking and Reasoning in Business

Reflection is an activity that I have found to be very useful throughout the course of this unit. It is important in my personal life as well as in business (see blog post on August 13, 2017). Throughout my life, I have not been reflecting on my activities to see if they are in line with my personal goals. However, since I began using this tool my life has improved greatly and I have been able to hold myself accountable for every activity that I do. Consequently, my grades have improved and I have learnt a lot more.

When people are in business, there are various challenges that arise and they require a hands on approach in resolving them. However, some solutions may add on to the problem as opposed to solving it. This is where finding the optimal solution comes in (see blog entry on August 20, 2017). To come up with the solutions that will maximize returns requires one to explore the problem and find why it occurred, envision what would be the best outcome or the business, make choices in this regard, and take action. This involves brainstorming and creativity.

The business management should also be able to visualize different occurrences ahead of the customer to remedy them before they become a problem (see blog entry on September 3, 2017). I have learnt that in business there are very many different ways of achieving the same solution and one needs to choose the most favorable method based on the existing constraints (Luo, 2014).

Strengths	Weaknesses
·       One of my main strengths is the ability to be creative. I have learnt in this unit that for a business too remain competitive in the long run it needs innovation and invention. ·       I have also been ethical and believe in doing things in the right way as I strive to get the best results. This was enforced on me when we were taught that we should keep our core values even when doing business and not just aim towards short term profits. ·       I possess great interpersonal skills. This enables me to interact very well with people some of whom I do not know. This skill is very important when running a business because it is very important to interact with customers to receive feedback on their wants, needs, and preferences. This will turn ensure that the products being provided are aligned to their needs and are therefore profitable. ·       My problem solving skills and interpersonal skills coupled with proper communication skills will enable me to identify problems that exist in the business from interacting with other stakeholders and correct them. These skills will also enable me to be a good marketer and therefore increase demands for the products being sold.	·       Though I am creative, I have been afraid of going against conventional ways. However, this unit taught me to think outside the box and even go to the extent of being ‘stupid’ to be able to think differently from other people. (see blog entry on 30th July 2017). ·       Another area that I need to improve on is proper reasoning. This is because for one to reason properly, there is a need to look at a situation from different points of view (Dowden, 2017). I have always looked at my own perspective without being empathetic about the other party’s point of view and this has made my decisions inefficient. ·       In the past, I have not been taking time to reflect on my actions. This is an area that I need to improve on because I have seen that reflecting on one’s actions makes one to hold themselves accountable for every decision they make and therefore improves performance. This skill is also important in business and aids in the identification of areas that require to be improved on. ·       The skill of brainstorming has been quite difficult for me to use. However, I have learnt that this skill works best when one empathizes with others and tries to view a situation from different perspectives (see blog post on 25th August, 2017).
Opportunities	Threats
·       I will continually make use of the different school programs and activities that will enable me to improve my skills by participating in real life activities. ·       I will also seek internship opportunities where I can practice what I have learnt in a business setting.	·       I am often overworked with different responsibilities which could reduce the time left for me to pursue the different activities that will help me develop my personal and business skills. However, I will try my best to find the time in order to achieve great results.

Action	Objective	Frequency of review
Join a business as an intern.	This is to aid in my practical application of the various skills that I have learnt. These include; being innovative, solving problems, journey mapping for customers, researching on customer wants, needs, and preferences among others.	Monthly
Analyze different situations to come up with different solutions and then choose the best solution.	This is to aid in the development of my reasoning skills. Proper reasoning is a skill that I need to develop and to so, I need to be empathetic and view situations from different perspectives.	Weekly
Learn how to use business intelligence and analyze big data.	This has a very essential skill in business today. I need to understand how to use the different tools for analyzing big data and be able to come up with actionable insights that can help guide the business in the right path (Kortzfleisch & Mokanis, 2012).	After six months
Come up with unconventional innovations.	The best innovations come from ideas that were not expected to succeed (Adel Al-khatib, 2012). This activity will help me think outside the box and come up with useful ideas.	Weekly
Start making use of a diary every day to document my actions and the repercussions.	I have learnt that reflective learning is very important. Therefore, I will document all my activities at the end of each day in order to vie them and see which activities bring in the best reward.	Daily

This action plan is very important and it will assist me in ensuring that I develop my personal and professional skills in relation to business. The skills gained will help me when I start my business in knowing how to relate with my customers and how to increase business efficiency. As a result of this exercise, I will be able to capitalize on my strengths and improve on my weaknesses to continually improve my business and personal skills.

References

Al-khatib, B. (2012). The Effect of Using Brainstorming Strategy in Developing Creative Problem Solving Skills among Female Students in Princess Alia University College. American International Journal Of Contemporary Research.

Agogué, M., Lundqvist, m., & Middleton, W. (2014). TEACHING DESIGN THEORY TO ENTREPRENEURS: AN EFFECTUAL USE OF DESIGN.

Brown, T. (2009). How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. change by design. Retrieved 5 October 2017, from https://www.scribd.com/document/340582139/change-by-design-brown-e-1-pdf

Coulon, S., & Baltar, F. (2013). UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMIC OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS: THE INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEUR AND THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS. GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND FINANCE PROCEEDINGS, 8.

David J, D. (2010). Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation. Long Range Planning.

Dowden, B. (2017). Logical Reasoning (2nd ed.).

Dube, W. (2012). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Research At RIT.

Kortzfleisch, H., & Mokanis, I. (2012). Introducing Entrepeneurial Design Thinking.

Luo, J. (2014). The United Innovation Process: Integrating Science, Design and Entrepreneurship as Sub-Processes.

McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective. Amr.aom.org. Retrieved 5 October 2017, from https://amr.aom.org/content/26/1/117.short

Tossey, P. (2012). The origins and conceptualisations of `triple-loop’ learning: a critical review. Tripple-Loop Learning.