Designing Competitive Industry Sectors

Industry sectors are typified by their complex, networked, and open nature, characteristics making them well suited to innovation through the application of design. Despite this apparent suitability, there remains little research published specifically regarding the application of design to sector-level strategy formation. This article describes the application of a design-led innovation (DLI) approach to industry transformation strategy. DLI is a design thinking method that integrates deep customer insights into business models, informing organizational transformation and strategy. This article explores the adaptations and challenges that occur when scaling design to a sector in the form of a proposed framework: the Sector Grand Challenge Framework (SGC Framework). This is described through a case study applying the SGC Framework to the development of a food and agribusiness (agrifood) growth and competitiveness strategy in partnership with Food Innovation Australia Limited, an Australian Federal Government Industry Growth Centres initiative. The SGC Framework uses many of the same principles as DLI, scaling this approach to an entire industry sector. This scale exacerbates key challenges observed within a firm, including poor linkages between groups, large and complex stakeholder networks, and lack of unifying purpose or vision.