Strategizing through playful design Claus D. Jacobs and Loizos Heracleous S trategic planning has been associated with a rational, objective, structured, analytical and convergent mindset that most executives consider abstract and distant from their daily work. Strategic thinking on the other hand has often been seen as complementing planning by involving a creative, divergent and synthetic mindset and associated practices (Heracleous, 1998). While the technologies and frameworks of strategic planning have been highly developed and refined over time, the creative processes of strategic thinking remain a fragmented group of approaches with diverse conceptual homes. A view of strategizing as a process of design is in essence an analogical process, the use of metaphor where knowledge from the source domain (in this case design thinking), is mapped onto the target domain (in this case the strategy process), with the aim of gaining insights that would have been difficult to gain otherwise. If the two domains are sufficiently different for a creative tension to exist, as in this case, the insights are likely to be more fruitful. We propose a view of strategizing as a playful design practice and illustrate this view by describing a process for fostering effective strategic play. We next outline the benefits of the process and finally address how executives can play effectively. Our overall message is that strategizing through playful design can be a useful and productive complement to dry, conventional strategic planning processes that helps to open up and orient fruitful debate about an organization’s particular strategic challenges. Design thinking and strategic practice According to architect Bryan Lawson, there is little consensus in the design field about what the term ‘‘design’’ means and there is by no means a universal design model (Lawson, 2006). Both a noun and a verb, design can both refer to an end product as well as to the processes involved. Thus the source domain of architectural design is itself fragmented. Nevertheless, Lawson’s attempt at an integrated model suggests that one of the most effective means for designers to provide structure to ill-structured problems is by generating narratives or stories to reframe these problems. They also employ various techniques and materials to externalize their ideas and thoughts through models, sketches or prototypes. These physical two- and three-dimensional representations are not simply outcomes of an abstract thought process, but pivotal inputs that provide a physical stimulus for conversations about the emergent ideas they embody; and in turn workable, creative solutions to the relevant design challenges. These models and prototypes provide designers with a basis for developing initial ideas about solutions very early on in the process, sometimes even before they have fully understood the problem. Evaluating alternative design options requires designers to integrate objective/technical as well as subjective/aesthetic judgments in making choices among competing prototypes. DOI 10.1108/02756660710760971 VOL. 28 NO. 4 2007, pp. 75-80, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0275-6668 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 75 Claus D. Jacobs is Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Management, University of St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland. Loizos Heracleous is Professor of Strategy, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.