Innovating User Value

Department of Corporate Management & Economics

Chair of Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship

Innovating User Value

The Interrelations of Business Model Innovation,

Design (Thinking) and the Production of Meaning –

A Status-quo of the Current State of Research

A thesis in (partial) fulfilment of the requirements for the degree M.A. of Arts

Author

Jan Schmiedgen, Student ID 09200251

Course of Study

Corporate Management & Economics (CME)

Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Prügl, Chair of Innovation, Technology &

Entrepreneurship at Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship

Dr. Claudia Nicolai, Program Manager, Hasso Plattner Institute –

School of Design Thinking at University of Potsdam

Submission Date

Berlin, December 9, 2011 (Fall Semester)

M.A.-Thesis in Corporate Management & Economics

Declaration of Authorship

I declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own.

Furthermore, I declare that this thesis does not incorporate any material previously submitted

for a degree or a diploma in any university; and that to the best of my knowledge it does not

contain any materials previously published or written by another person except where due

reference is made in the text.

Jan Schmiedgen, December 9, 2011

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M.A.-Thesis in Corporate Management & Economics

»Design Process« after Tim Brennan (~1990), engineer at Apple’s Creative Services group (Source: Dubberly 2004)

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M.A.-Thesis in Corporate Management & Economics

Acknowledgements

John Lennon once said: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Well, this is

absolutely true, especially for this thesis. The last year was one of the most exciting but also

most debilitating periods of my life. Many unforeseen and sudden events thwarted my plans

and devoured my time, so that in the end everything was about improvisation on all levels.

Without the support of good friends and advisers I probably wouldn’t...