Scaling Design: One Conversation at a Time

From User-Centricity to Stakeholder Capitalism: The Evolution of Design Practice

The recent MIT Sloan Management Review analysis of design thinking's organizational fit prompts an important question: Are we limiting design's potential by focusing solely on user-centricity and shareholder value? While design thinking has revolutionized problem-solving over the past half-century, today's complex challenges demand an evolution toward what we call "Scaling Design" – a practice that embraces stakeholder capitalism and generational value creation.

Consider Philips lighting transformation (link to story below). Their journey from traditional sequential design processes to a concurrent-regenerative model exemplifies this evolution. Rather than merely optimizing user experiences, Philips reimagined their entire approach to value creation through circularity. Their metrics shifted from conventional performance indicators to measuring circular revenue and contribution to circularity, demonstrating how design can serve broader stakeholder interests while maintaining business viability.

This transformation reveals three critical insights:

First, while design thinking's empathy-driven approach remains valuable, it's insufficient for addressing systemic challenges like climate change, social inequality, and resource depletion. These issues require us to consider not just immediate users but future generations of stakeholders.

Second, the temporal nature of user-centric design thinking – focusing on current needs and near-term solutions – must expand to encompass generational thinking. Philips' circular economy program isn't just about better products; it's about reimagining the entire system of production, consumption, and regeneration.

Third, scaling design requires moving beyond the traditional eight dimensions of design thinking. When purpose shifts from user-first to stakeholders-always, every dimension transforms. Workflows become regenerative rather than merely iterative. Knowledge generation becomes collective rather than experiential. Failure evolves from a learning opportunity to a catalyst for systemic resilience.

The implications are profound. Organizations must:

- Embrace metrics that capture long-term value creation across multiple stakeholder groups

- Develop capabilities for systems thinking and regenerative design

- Create governance structures that support generational value creation

- Foster leadership mindsets that prioritize stakeholder capitalism over shareholder primacy

As we face unprecedented global challenges, the evolution from design thinking to Scaling Design isn't just desirable – it's imperative. The question isn't whether design thinking can succeed in your organization, but whether your organization can succeed without evolving beyond it.

Philips' case demonstrates that this evolution is not only possible but profitable. Their success in measuring and monetizing circularity proves that stakeholder capitalism and business success, Double Materiality, aren’t mutually exclusive – they're increasingly inseparable.

The future of design practice lies not in perfecting user-centricity, but in embracing stakeholder-centricity and generational value creation. It's time to Scale Design thinking into a more ambitious practice that serves not just current users, but future generations. The path to Scaling Design begins with recognizing that today's design decisions shape tomorrow's world.

Are you ready to evolve your design practice from temporal to generational impact?

#BeyondDesignThinking #StakeholderCapitalism #GenerationalValue #ScalingDesign #DoubleMaterialty

Anijo Mathew Hemant Malik R Gopalakrishnan (Gopal)

KPMG Client story: Philips - 'How can we optimise the measurement of circularity?'

Link: https://kpmg.com/nl/en/home/services/kpmg-client-stories/sustainability/philips.html