B-Schools Are Starting to Look More Like D-Schools

Design has been a part of the business school curriculum for years now, although you’d be hard-pressed to find evidence of that. Lately, though, top business schools have begun launching new design programs or revamping old ones in an attempt to retool their offerings for a world where design innovation often separates the winners from the losers.

“There’s a lot of competition in the world today,” says Richard Buchanan, chairman of the department of design and innovation at Case Western University’s Weatherhead School of Management, which kicked off on July 1. “Lots of organizations were designed for a different, previous time. There’s a need for a change in thinking.”