Title: Competitive advantage and business sustainability through design thinking within manufacturing SMEs: an integrative literature review

Authors: Jarno Manzke

Addresses: School of Business & Management, Walden University, 100 S Washington Ave Suite 1210, Minneapolis, MN 55401, USA

Abstract: This integrative literature review described design thinking experts' views on how manufacturing small business enterprises (SMEs) can successfully drive design thinking within their firm as an innovation strategy to support business sustainability and competitive advantage. This study was framed by two concepts developed by Bjoerklund et al. within their integrating design across the organisation model: the concept of coevolving design capabilities and the concept of the design-driven organisation. While large and multinational firms well understand the successful adoption of design thinking processes, the same continues to be a challenge for leaders of SMEs, who remain confronted by various challenges constraining their innovation activities. This study's outcome may drive positive social change by providing SME leaders an improved understanding of how to drive design thinking and innovation to remain relevant in an increasingly chaotic environment.

Keywords: business sustainability; competitive advantage; design-centric; design integration; design thinking; innovation strategy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJC.2022.127402

International Journal of Competitiveness, 2022 Vol.2 No.3, pp.248 - 265

Received: 05 May 2022
Accepted: 18 Jun 2022
Published online: 03 Dec 2022 *

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