Design Thinking for Organizational Innovation at PepsiCo

Abstract

While design thinking has gained popularity in product innovation, scholars argue that design thinking can also trigger and sustain organizational innovation. This study investigates the adoption of design thinking in the Design+Innovation unit at PepsiCo. It reveals nine design thinking practices that enable organizational innovation: valorizing personal attitudes and desires, engaging stakeholders in the design discourse, leveraging the design unit as an agent of change, fostering abductive reasoning, empowering decision making through prototypes, crafting proof points, absorbing external viewpoints, searching for co-conspirators, andaligning personal and organizational purposes.