Until
20 years ago, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics manufactured
inexpensive, imitative electronics for other companies. Its leaders
valued speed, scale, and reliability above all. The few designers
working for the
company were dispersed in engineering and new-product units, and they
had little status in an organization that emphasized efficiency and
engineering rigor. Then, in 1996, Lee Kun-Hee, the chair of Samsung
Group, grew frustrated by the company’s lack of innovation
and concluded that in order to become a top brand, Samsung needed
expertise in design, which he believed would become “the ultimate
battleground for global competition in the 21st century.” He set out to
create a design-focused culture that would support world-class
innovation. But shifting to an innovation-focused culture without losing
an engineering edge is not a simple matter. It involves managing a
number of very real tensions. Samsung’s success in making this shift
stems from a single early decision—to build design
competency in-house rather than import it. The authors describe how the
company created a committed, resourceful corps of designers who overcame
internal resistance by deploying the same tools they use in pursuing
innovation: empathy, visualization, and experimentation
in the marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]