Erez Nusem

Developing Design Capability in Nonprofit Organizations

This article presents findings from a two-year longitudinal action, research study exploring the challenges and outcomes of attempting to develop design capability in one of Australias largest non-profit aged-care providers. The research identifies four distinct objectives for design utilization in practice, and suggests that existing approaches for design utilization overlook non-profit organizations that seek both economic and social viability. While the objectives of realizing economic and social outcomes are addressed in design literature, there is an absence of literature detailing how non-profit organizations could utilize design to realize these outcomes. This research, therefore, contributes the non-profit design ladder—a framework to assist non-profit organizations to further develop their utilization of design and foster design as an organizational capability.

Exploring aged care business models: a typological study

ABSTRACT Australian providers of aged care are facing a rapidly ageing population and growth in demand for services. Beyond a sheer increase in consumers and major regulatory changes from Federal Government, many customers are becoming progressively discontented with a medically dominated model of care provision. This period of turbulence presents an opportunity for new entrants and forward-thinking organisations to disrupt the market by designing a more compelling value offering. Under this line of inquiry, the researchers conducted a qualitative content analysis study of over 37 Australian aged care organisations, clustering providers into six business model typologies. The study revealed that providers of aged care are becoming increasingly aware of emerging customer needs, and, in addressing these needs, are seeking to establish innovative models of care provision. This paper therefore presents a future model of care, along with implications for practice and policy.

Disrupting the aged care business model

The ageing population is a pervasive phenomenon affecting societies on a global scale. People can now expect to live longer than ever before, with physical and mental capabilities remaining high into old age (Clarkson et al., 2003). In most developed countries average life expectancy is rising at an almost linear fashion, with no sign of deceleration (Christensen et al., 2009). By 2050 there will be more people globally over the age of 60 than there will be under the age of 15 (Blythe et al., 2005). In addition to major economic implications (Clarkson et al., 2003), these changes present an increasingly discerning customer base, and major changes to regulations (King et al., 2012; Swan, 2010; Weerawardena and Mort, 2001). A popular strategy, and the global direction of most governments to cope with the economic implications of an ageing population is to raise the typical retirement age (Christensen et al., 2009). However, this fails to address the fact that most elderly people aspire to actively participate in mainstream society, and reject the dependency and institutionalization typical of services in the last century (Clarkson et al., 2003). Most elderly individuals are healthy and possess a rich collection of skills, knowledge and expertise, they desire to be active and engaged, and assisting them in reaching this goal will have enormous economic benefits (Clare et al., 2010). The sheer number and proportion of elderly people, along with their collective spending power, provide an unprecedented business case for driving innovation in aged care (Clarkson et al., 2003). Traditional approaches of determining value internally and simply presenting an offer to market are unlikely to see aged care providers through this phase of industry reform and changing customer demands (Nusem et al., 2015). Furthermore, while the relatively homogeneous aged care sector presents an opportunity for new entrants or forwardthinking organizations to disrupt the market and innovate in order to establish a competitive advantage, little existing literature explores an organization’s

The challenges of adopting design-led innovative strategies in not for profits the role of consumers, culture and employees

Major changes to regulations, funding and consumer demand in the Australian aged care industry are driving not for profits in this sector to reshape and rethink the services they offer and the ways in which they deliver their services to consumers. Many not for profit organisations facing these new challenges are also facing organisational cultural barriers in the development and implementation of innovative strategies. This paper presents a case study where one organisation, using design led innovation, explored consumer insights and employee values to find new ways to facilitate change.