Aligned Design: Exploring Strategic Alignment of Design in Large Firms

The alignment between design and business strategy in large firms is important because it enables designers to work more effectively with employees from various disciplines on sustainable opportunities, prioritize available resources to achieve objectives, and support distinctive value propositions. The results of a literature review and responses to 11 questions provided by eight employees of four large firms (two retailers and two technology vendors) were used to: produce an alignment capability inventory – list of resources, processes and priorities that large firms employ to align design and business strategy, identify configurations of design and business strategy, and develop a model and propositions of the factors that affect design and business strategy alignment. This research will be of interest to top management teams of large firms where the alignment between designers and strategists is low as well as researchers studying strategic alignment in large firms.