Service Design and Delivery: How Design Thinking Can Innovate Business and Add Value to Society

Service Design and Delivery has been broadly discussed and explored by various players, including the practitioners who deliver services, scholarly professionals who evaluate it, and laymen who are the recipients of service. In this book, we will examine two specific approaches to this task: Design Thinking and Societal Consideration. In other words, we will look at Service Design and Delivery from the innovator's viewpoint as well as from the viewpoint of the social entrepreneur. Why do we need these approaches? First, the demands of competitive global markets require innovative approaches to the design and delivery of services. Having a great product while providing one's customers with simply adequate service is not enough; their service needs must be met in an exciting and unforgettable way. Second, the complexities of modern society are such that both producers and consumers of goods and services are expected to care not only about their quality but about the value they represent to our society. Consequently, it is important to design services not only for profit maximization but also for social value. Innovation is not a static thing; it evolves dynamically; and every innovation needs to start from new place. Our society is also changing in very subtle ways, and our customers today are different from our customers of yesterday. Because of this dynamism adopting a design thinking approach to organizational improvement is critical for both business and society.

Toshiaki Kurokawa is an ICES (http: //www.standards-education.org/) founder and an independent design thinker, directing Design Thinking Research & Education at his home in Machida, Tokyo. His consultation experience and expertise cover those areas such as design thinking education, science and technology trends and foresight, education about standardization, ICT Deployment including cloud computing and crowdsourcing. Mr. Kurokawa graduated from University of Tokyo in computational mathematics and has been engaged in research and engineering at Toshiba, IBM, SCSK Corporation, and Kanazawa Institute of Technology. He has published 14 books in Japan and has spoken at worldwide events. He has also published numerous papers on education about standardization, ICT and Design Thinking at such journals as Science & Technology Trends - Quarterly Review.