Design thinking has become one of the most influential approaches to innovation, helping organizations create products, services, and customer experiences that solve real problems while generating sustainable business value. Rather than beginning with technology or organizational assumptions, design thinking starts with understanding people, identifying unmet needs, generating creative solutions, testing ideas quickly, and refining products through continuous learning. When combined with product management, it enables organizations to build offerings that are both desirable to customers and commercially successful.
This course provides a practical, executive-oriented study of design thinking and product development. Rather than focusing exclusively on design aesthetics or software development, students will learn how organizations apply human-centered design principles to identify opportunities, develop innovative solutions, validate concepts, manage product development, and improve customer experiences. Students will explore how design thinking integrates with strategy, marketing, finance, operations, engineering, and product management to support innovation across industries.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on practical decision-making used by startups, technology firms, manufacturers, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, retailers, consulting firms, nonprofit organizations, and multinational corporations. Students will develop the strategic, analytical, creative, and managerial skills needed to guide products from opportunity identification through market success while balancing customer needs, operational feasibility, and business viability.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Understand the principles and business applications of design thinking.
• Identify customer problems through structured observation and research.
• Apply human-centered design methods to product and service development.
• Generate and evaluate innovative product concepts.
• Develop product strategies aligned with customer and organizational objectives.
• Integrate design thinking with product management and business strategy.
• Evaluate product performance using practical business metrics.
• Collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams.
• Apply ethical and sustainable principles to product innovation.
• Lead innovation initiatives that create long-term customer and organizational value.
