Design and Innovation

At Weatherhead School of Management, we believe in managing by design.

Great managers are also designers—of processes, projects, strategies and systems. Today’s innovation-driven market demands dynamic business leaders ready with new alternatives, game-changing ideas and fresh perspectives on emerging problems in the world. 

Weatherhead School of Management’s Department of Design and Innovation—the first of its kind—was created in 2013 to promote and nurture innovative scholarship in business practice areas, including marketing, entrepreneurship, policy studies, information systems and more.

Study Design and Innovation at CWRU

Earn a degree from the Department of Design and Innovation at the Weatherhead School: 

BS in Management - Marketing

Our undergraduate curriculum in marketing provides you with a solid business background and advanced skills for careers in marketing and management while interacting on a personal level with some of the world’s most distinguished faculty. 

PhD in Management - Design and Innovation

Delve into the disciplines of information systems and marketing—and be prepared to research consequential issues faced by organizations and managers in our PhD in Management - Design and Innovation program. 

PhD in Management - Designing Sustainable Systems

Our PhD in Management - Designing Sustainable Systems offers the first residency-based program intended to create an area for promoting evidence-based management and preparing experienced executives for careers in research universities. 

Doctor of Business Administration

Our three-year comprehensive, research-focused Doctor of Business Administration program will prepare you to create social, intellectual and economic value for organizations and society at large.

Expert Faculty

In the Department of Design and Innovation, our faculty are thought leaders in industry, and they bring those diverse experiences and perspectives into the classroom. Their research and innovation contribute to Case Western Reserve’s status as a renowned comprehensive research university and to the school’s reputation as the home of pioneering business concepts. 

Our department’s faculty members study how managers and leaders design organizations, processes, business models, customer interactions and experience—and, as part of their decision-making, bring novelty and innovation into the world. Our faculty includes several leading global scholars in entrepreneurship, information systems, marketing and strategy, who all are specifically focused on the impact and role of digital innovation, new venturing, frontline market interactions and experience-based business designs.

Our Research Approach

Our faculty members’ work is the subject of several renowned books and is often covered through media outlets, published in prestigious journals, and acknowledged through honors and awards. 

Their current research projects focus on global digital business strategies, diffusion and use of intelligent manufacturing technologies, and what drives artificial-intelligence-based innovation in multiple fields.

Learn More About Our Research

Digital Innovation

Digital technology is changing every aspect of our lives. Digital innovation is an effort to re-imagine familiar products and services using unique capabilities of digital technology. Developed by Youngjin Yoo, PhD, and Kalle Lyytinen, PhD, professors in the Department of Design and Innovation, digital innovation focuses on creating radically different user experiences and new business models that were not previously possible. 

Unlike previous IT innovations that aimed at improving the performance of organizations in existing forms, digital innovation often aims at designing new forms that previously did not exist. Digital innovation is in the nexus of design, strategy, marketing, and technology. The organizing logic of digital innovations are often at odds with that of industrial organizations, demanding organizations to transform its structure and culture and acquire new capabilities.

Manage by Designing

Manage by Designing was pioneered by Fred Collopy, PhD, and Richard Boland, PhD, to use principles of design in business management. Great managers are also designers—of processes, projects, strategies and systems. Using principles of managing by design, managers are equipped with the latest concepts and tools for flexible, innovative thinking.

Standout Curriculum 

Our department focuses on two core priorities:creating knowledge for generating novel and valuable products, services and systems; and developing organizational leaders and entrepreneurs who are skilled in designing innovative, value-creating relationships with customers, stakeholders and society.

The schedule of classes contains comprehensive information on course offerings. See the General Bulletin for specific degree requirements.

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