Business Design: a Workshop on Designing a Service from Strategy to UX

Business Design: a Workshop
on Designing a Service
from Strategy to UX
As designers, what’s your role in ensuring
both ethics and sustainability in a business?
Rome, 15 November 2019
Salvatore Larosa
Business and Service Designer

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© 2019 Salvatore Larosa
Welcome
everybody!
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Salvatore
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WHO AM I?
22 + = Good
competency on...
(Design agencies, business
consultancies,industries)
(2015 and up: digital
transformation of Poste
italiane)

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© 2019 Salvatore Larosa 4
...Amazing business models, design, user experiences
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... Strategic analysis, design methodologies, team building
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Your turn!
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An introduction to methods for:
• Defining a brand and service strategy from the beginning,
• introducing an “ecosystem mindset” when ideating a service,
• addressing value creation approaches,
so that, as designers (or product managers), we can link our
firms’ positioning, strategy, value creation approaches to our
service use cases and experiences.
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GOALS OF THIS WORKSHOP

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Putting you on a learning
path that will make you work
together with strategy and
product managers, before
addressing experience
design activities.
Extending your skills
towards the business side
means creating a bigger
value for/with your
customers.
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NOT-SO-APPARENT GOALS OF THIS WORKSHOP

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NOT-SO-APPARENT GOALS OF THIS WORKSHOP
Our world is complex.
And often bad.
Maybe design cannot fix it, but
we should be sure to avoid
designing things having bad
outcomes for our society or
social context.
But... Once again... If you want
to understand such outcomes
and influence your firm’s
service strategy, you have to
develop your business and
system analysis skills.

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The Mighty
Expectations and Mood
Board!
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AGENDA
The name of the game
Some aspects of the food delivery business
Our challenge: design a better business
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THE NAME OF THE GAME
When designing a “service”, very often we try and pay the utmost
attention to the ”end user” experience.
We focus on what happens to such “end user” and on what our
client company tells us about its services, goals and approaches
towards end users.
So, we have a “service”, such a service will be offered to “end
users” by our “client firm” and will be made of content and functions
related to the service and business model of such firm.
Let’s try and forget that. In this workshop, as designers, we will take
a different stance.
FOR WHOM WE ARE DESIGNING FOR?
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What is an ecosystem
(Khan academy)
An ecosystem consists of a community
of organisms together with their
physical environment.
In ecosystems, both matter and energy
are conserved. Energy flows through
the system—usually from light to
heat—while matter is recycled.
What is a business ecosystem
(Investopedia)
A business ecosystem is the network of
organizations—including suppliers,
distributors, customers, competitors,
government agencies, and so on—
involved in the delivery of a specific
product or service through both
competition and cooperation.
«Energy» = money.
«Matter» = production resources.
(Well, actually, «matter» is barely
recycled).
Sources: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-ecosystems/a/what-is-an-ecosystem;
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-ecosystem.asp
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE MADE BY ECOSYSTEMS

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Sources: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-ecosystems/a/what-is-an-ecosystem;
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-ecosystem.asp
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE MADE BY ECOSYSTEMS
Changing one part of an eco/system usually
affects other parts and the whole system.
As designers, when we work for a firm designing and
delivering an service/product to an “end user”, we are altering
the whole eco/system related to such firm and end user.
Our “user-centricity” mindset is powerful when we care
about a given set of users, but in systems and business
design we need to go even further.

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Sources: https://www.ruinedby.design/
DO WE DESIGNERS HAVE A BAD ATTITUDE?!
... Mike

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A service is offered by an ecosystem of actors. Our client firm is
just one of such actors, that include employees, contractors,
suppliers, partners, and the social system in which such actors
make exchanges, generate reciprocal value and – at the very end –
serve the “end user”.
FOR WHOM WE ARE DESIGNING FOR?
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Sources: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-build-a-better-business-through-design; https://fourweekmba.com/business-design;
https://medium.com/spotless-says/where-does-business-design-come-from-63463bd9e878;
As designers, we will not work just for the “end
user” but for the whole ecosystem.
We will address experiences from a full
perspective, comprising social, ethical,
economical expectations of all the actors in our
ecosystem.
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Many designers interview and make workshops with business
stakeholders (CEOs, marketing managers, communication
managers, product managers…) to understand the strategic goals
and then define the service to be designed. Moreover, the other
actors in the ecosystem are not often actively involved:
WE SHOULD BE PARTNERS IN DEFINING THE BUSINESS STRATEGY OF A SERVICE
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As designers, we will answer for the strategy
as well as our client firm. We will not act just as
facilitators and we will not take on the role of
recipients of the firm ideas about the business.
We will co-ideate and shape both the
business strategy and the service, the
underlying ecosystem relationships and we will
challenge each of the actors.
2Sources: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-build-a-better-business-through-design; https://fourweekmba.com/business-design;
https://medium.com/spotless-says/where-does-business-design-come-from-63463bd9e878;

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AGENDA
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OUR CHALLENGE: THE FOOD DELIVERY BUSINESS
Everyone likes to receive a delicious meal at home, right?
Maybe with a really small extra price for the delivery…
Maybe because is is really too rainy for a walk to the nearest pub o
restaurant…
Maybe because we are too tired, at 10PM, to start cooking…
Maybe we just want to taste that delicious Greek moussaka made
by a restaurant 15 kilometres away… And it is 10PM… And it is
rainy…
That whole meal will cost around 20 euros. Maybe we will tip 1-2
euros. Maybe not.
LET’S START WITH THE “END USER”…
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We entered this business because it is booming.
People really like to get their meal at home.
There is plenty of delivery workforce, always available: students,
low-income citizens, immigrants, people that have been fired.
Our cost structure is amazing: no restaurant, no waiters, no
cleaning or rentals of dining rooms. Just low cost transport, maybe
a kitchen if we are going to make our own branded meals.
Waste? Social costs of labour? These things are on the shoulders
of our delivery people and our customers.
... THEN TALK ABOUT THE AVERAGE FOOD DELIVERY COMPANY
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“DoorDash offers a guaranteed
minimum for each job. For my first
order, the guarantee was $6.85 and the
customer tipped $3 via the app. But I still
received only $6.85.
Here’s how it works: If the customer had
tipped zero, DoorDash would have paid
me the whole $6.85. Because she tipped
$3, DoorDash kicked in only $3.85. She
was saving DoorDash $3, not tipping
me.”
AMAZING BUSINESS PRACTICES: PAY YOUR RUNNERS WITH THEIR OWN TIPS
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Sources: https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/22/20703434/delivery-app-tip-pay-theft-doordash-amazon-flex-instacart
Takeaways: no pay/wage transparency;
no reporting about money earned vs jobs.

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Arfaoui has no working papers and a
courier broker had outsourced the job
to him illicitly, because such broker
considered Uber Eats’ terms too cheap
— 3.50 euros per order plus a bit for
mileage — to do the work himself.
So Arfaoui, who had been living in an
abandoned car for a month, earns
about €17 a day for 4 hours of work and
owes a 30%-50% cut of earnings to his
broker. Job deals are made on the
street or through chats on Facebook,
WhatsApp and Telegram.
AMAZING BUSINESS PRACTICES: RENT YOUR JOB TO PEOPLE WITHOUT ANY RIGHTS
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Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/business/uber-eats-deliveroo-glovo-migrants.html
Takeaways: illegal job rental; complicity by food delivery firms;
nobody cares about the identity of the delivering guys.

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The Deliveroo tipping UX is ill designed:
Firstly, the tip is requested at the point
of purchase. The service hasn’t yet
been performed, and so there is a
weaker inclination on the part of the
patron to want to tip for good service. A
patron cannot tip by app after the
delivery.
Secondly, the default setting for the tip
is zero: the app designer) makes a
moral judgement on behalf of the
customer.
AMAZING BUSINESS PRACTICES: OUR CX PREVAILS OVER THE MONEY NEEDS OF OUR COURIERS
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Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlesradclyffe/2018/10/16/tip-or-no-tip-deliveroo-riders-ripped-off-by-default/#22b6d1277d75
Takeaways: design for the convenience of the delivery firm and of the
customers, not for the delivering guys.

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AGENDA
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OUR CHALLENGE: DESIGN A BETTER BUSINESS
Can we design a food delivery service trying to match both the
business and the ethical perspectives?
YOU are the business designers here.
You must try and ideate a (set of) services and relations that satisfy
your customers and all the actors involved in the business:
company stakeholders, partners/suppliers,
employees/contractors…
We have no time to work on a financial business case (we should do that,
however), so to satisfy our company stakeholders (investors and top management)
we will just work on a well-defined market and brand positioning.
WE WANT TO ENTER THE FOOD DELIVERY SPACE
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Let’s introduce some terms related to the way an organization sees
itself... And to what its customers think about its brand.
A purpose states why a company is doing business, beyond
making money. Sometimes a purpose is not immediately apparent
to a company in their first period of life.
A purpose drives (or should) everything the company does.
A purpose is a very long term statement... “Never changes”. It is the
very reason of the existence of the company.
WHY A FIRM IS DOING BUSINESS
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Sources: https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-mission-and-vision-statements/;, http://www.martyneumeier.com/scramble-book
https://hbr.org/2014/09/your-companys-purpose-is-not-its-vision-mission-or-values; https://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/08/23/how-to-find-your-companys-purpose/

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A vision is a statement describing what the company wants to
achieve in the long term. It is related to the impact a company
wants to have on its customers, the society, the context in which the
company operates.
A mission is a statement about the company’s way to achieve its
vision.
Sometimes vision and mission are mixed in a single sentence.
WHY A FIRM IS DOING BUSINESS
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Sources: https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-mission-and-vision-statements; http://www.martyneumeier.com/scramble-book

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GUESS THE FIRM!
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Sources: https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-mission-and-vision-statements/;, http://www.martyneumeier.com/scramble-book

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So, you are entering the food delivery space, right?
Why? (Other than making money)
What is your very purpose? Why you exist?
What is your vision? What is the future-state world you dream
about?
What is your mission? How your food-delivery business relates to
your mission and your purpose/vision?
Write down two/three statements defining the points above.
FIRST: BRAND/SERVICE VISION, MISSION AND POSITIONING
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(Why we exist, beyond
making money)
We believe that…
Purpose and
values/beliefs
(The difference we will
create when we ultimately
realize our Purpose)
We will…
Vision
…
Mission
Our company name: …
Time for this task: 20 minutes

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You are going to compete with the usual suspects… Foodora, Uber
Eats, Deliveroo…
What is your positioning?
How you differentiate and stand out w.r.t. your competitors? Price?
Service? Type of food? Cuisine?
Could ethical values be useful to differentiate your business?
Write down your positioning statement.
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Sources: “Positioning: the battle for your mind” and “Marketing warfare”, Al Ries Ries & Jack Trout; “Blue ocean strategy”, W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne;
””Contrarian branding”, Roland van der Vorst

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “THE CAREGIVERS”
Our purpose: We exist to take care of people who are not self-sufficient.
Our vision:
A world in which sick people and patients are cared in their
own beloved environment.
Our mission:
We deliver special foods to patients, to make them heal and
feel better.
Sick people, people who don’t know how to
take care of themselves…
We should be inclusive...
We should make the rich pay and let the poor
be cared for free or for a basic fee…

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS”
Our purpose:
We exist to take care of the environment and help people
do the same.
Our vision:
A world in which the waste produced by each household is
100% recycled.
Our mission:
We deliver food and groceries that are 100% recyclable,
and we manage the recycling process.
We deliver your groceries and food and we take away your related waste.
We try to recycle… Everything!
The more you recycle through us, the less you pay.

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “VEGANS FOR THE PLANET”
Our purpose:
We exist to stop the human consumption of animal
proteins, in order to save our ecosystems and forests.
Our vision:
A world in which humans have learned to eat vegetables
and enjoy it.
Our mission:
We deliver quality vegan meals and food for every taste at
a reasonable price.
We should promote vegan shops in any city…
The rich and the less wealthy should go
vegan, so how we could be affordable?
Vegans shops could not be in place, so how we could start up?

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “FAIR JOBS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY”
Our purpose: We exist to give human dignity and a job to people in need.
Our vision:
A world in which humans beings should not beg to live with
dignity and are not exploited.
Our mission:
We employ people in need to deliver meals and any goods
at home and we make you become a Samaritan.
We must give a fair job and pay to people in need!
Our customers must learn to trust both us and our delivery people. We will
guarantee our service but word of mouth and “member gets member” are key.
We want customers to pay more and tip more... How?

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “THE GOURMETS”
Our purpose:
We exist to develop a culture of good food, that is a
relevant aspect of human civilization and a civilized
lifestyle.
Our vision:
A world in which both the wealthy and the less wealthy can
have quality meals and enjoy life through food.
Our mission:
We promote local top restaurants and deliver their meals at
home.
Our customers know that we are affordable but not cheap. All in all, we deliver
top quality meals and we sell top quality experiences. And you will pay our
runner for their delivery service quality, too.
If you enjoy the meal of a restaurant, why don’t
you book a table with us and save money?
Need a full managed service for your important dinners and lunches at home
or office? We are here to serve.

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BUSINESS IDEA CARD: “THE CONNECTORS”
Our purpose: We exist to help local business thrive.
Our vision:
We will make any business in a local area develop its sales
both inside and outside that area.
Our mission:
We make you buy meals and local goods staying at home
or in store and we will deliver to your home.
We must promote the quality and prices of local, less known shops. How?
We make the service experience difference between a shop offering our
service and a shop who does not.

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For <customers> <our offer> is a <type of
service> which provides <main benefits>
unlike <main competitor> which provides
<competitor’s benefit>
Positioning statement

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Your vision, mission, positioning and values make sense for specific
clusters/personas. Remember: you are going to define your
business for them.
Who are your customers?
Let’s define essential marketing and behavioural personas. No
frills, just key behavioural aspects, beliefs and socio-demo
characteristics.
Key questions related to your value proposition: we will use a value
proposition canvas.
SECOND: YOUR CUSTOMERS AND YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS
39
Sources: https://www.strategyzer.com/canvas/value-proposition-canvas;
http://businessmodelalchemist.com/blog/2012/08/achieve-product-market-fit-with-our-brand-new-value-proposition-designer.html

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A very simple persona
• Sex
• Age
• Income
• Work
• What (s)he values?
• What (s)he hates?
• What social gratifications
(s)he seeks?
• Lifestyle
• Why (s)he wants <your
service> at home?
At this stage, we are exploring
our value proposition and the
soundness of our positioning,
so our persona has both
marketing and behavioural
elements. We should counduct
both quantitative market
analysis and user research, too!

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Gains
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• What functional jobs is your
customer trying get done? (e.g.
perform or complete a specific task,
solve a specific problem, ...)
• What social jobs is your customer
trying to get done? (e.g. trying to
look good, gain power or status, ...)
• What emotional jobs is your
customer trying get done? (e.g.
esthetics, feel good, security, ...)
• What basic needs is your customer
trying to satisfy? (e.g.
communication, sex, ...)
• …
• What does your customer find too
costly? (takes a lot of time, costs too
much money, requires substantial
efforts...)
• What makes your customer feel
bad? (frustrations, annoyances,
things that give them a headache...)
• How are current solutions
underperforming for your customer?
(lack of features, performance,
malfunctioning...)
• What are the main difficulties and
challenges your customer
encounters? (difficulties getting
things done, resistance...)
• What negative social consequences
does your customer encounter or
fear? (loss of face, power, trust, or
status...)
• What risks does your customer fear?
(financial, social, technical risks, or
what could go badly wrong...)
• …
Pains
• Which savings would make your
customer happy? (in terms of time,
money and effort...)
• What outcomes does your customer
expect and what would go beyond
his/her expectations? (quality level,
more of something, less of
something...)
• How do current solutions delight
your customer? (specific features,
performance, quality...)
• What would make your customer’s
job or life easier? (flatter learning
curve, more services, lower cost of
ownership...)
• What positive social consequences
does your customer desire? (makes
them look good, increase in power,
status...)
• What are customers looking for?
(good design, guarantees, specific
or more features...)
• …
Jobs
© BusinessModelAlchemist.com

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1. Define your customer’s persona
2. Use it to fill your value proposition canvas
•Start with the right side (customer): first her jobs, then her
pains, then her gains
•Fill the square box (your business) in the same matching order
Tips:
•Do not try to be exhaustive, keep things very simple
•Think as a startup: you have scarce resources, focus on the
main 1-2 needs/gains and your related proposition
42

Impact
Let’s introduce a fundamental yet easy-to-use tool to map the
activities and impacts that your business and your services require
in order to fulfil your mission and satisfy your customers.
Value net diagrams
Value nets are graphs in which each node represents an entity involved in
your business. Arcs are used to define value exchanges. Value
exchanges, in turn, could comprise goods, services, data, money… In
general, “values” that satisfy the mission or needs of a given entity.
For instance, you value net could comprise: your customer, the city in
which she lives, your delivery contractors and employees, restaurants,
kitchens, recycling partners.
THIRD: YOUR SOCIAL AND BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM
43
Sources: https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF5120/v12/undervisningsmateriale/ValueNetworks2012023.pdf; “Co-opetition”, Branderburger & Nalebuff;
https://www.provenmodels.com/593/co-opetition/brandenburger,-adam-m.--nalebuff,-barry-j.; “The Value Net: A Tool for Competitive Strategy”, Cinzia Parolini

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THIRD: YOUR SOCIAL AND BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM – A VALUE NET EXAMPLE
Gourmet @
home
Customer
Top quality
groceries
distributor
Runner
Gourmet
restaurant
Delivery
engagement
Shop
fulfillment
Meal
order
Meal
parcel
Meal / grocery
order
+
Delivery
needs
Top quality
groceries
Meal
parcel

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THIRD: YOUR SOCIAL AND BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM – A VALUE NET EXAMPLE
Gourmet @
home
Customer
Top quality
groceries
distributor
Runner
Gourmet
restaurant
Top quality
groceries
Meal
parcel
Meal / grocery
order
+
Delivery
needs
Delivery
engagement
Shop
fulfillment
Meal
order
Revenue
share
Order
payment
Meal
parcel
Fixed + %
fees
Basic pay
+ “per run”
+ “availability”
+ late night
runs
+ weather
Tip

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Value nets are a powerful envisioning and planning tool. Let’s use
them to…
… Define key entities and related goals
46
List your value net actors (other than your company and
your customers)
• Find at least the most important ones, in particular the ones
involved in financial transactions or activities strictly tied
to the vision you need to achieve)
• Define their motivations (needs, gains, social proofs...) that
make such entities participate in your ecosystem
1

Impact
Goals / needs
(Think about the actual mission of “...”)
- Business/sales?
- Social / Political?
- Communication / promotion?
- Stable Income? Life improvement?
Entity “...”: reason whys and potential value exchanges
Let’s use “Entity cards” to assess and define the business purpose of
the main actors in your eco/system:
Ecosystem attractors
(Think about what your ecosystem could provide to
support “...” goals)
- Sales volume?
- Reach? Brand positioning?
- Better wage? Job stability?
- ...
Resources that you need from “...”
- Money?
- Products? Services?
- Work time? Availability? Quality?
Values that your firm can offer
- More customers?
- Communications / Brand promotion?
- Basic fixed wage? Night shift / weather
compensation? Better work hours? Better tips?
- ...

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Value nets are a powerful envisioning and planning tool. Let’s use
them to…
… Define how your ecosystem should work
48
Sketch the related value net diagram!
Can you transform needs, goals and motivations of
your main actors into into “exchanged values”?
Can you map input and output values for each of such
actors?
2

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Now it’s time to sketch some parts of your digital/physical services
that are key to your value proposition and brand vision/mission.
You could use an overall journey map, or sketch some
service wireframes, or play some interactions among your most
relevant entities.
Pick the approach that suits you most!
LET’S DEFINE YOUR SERVICE (EXPERIENCE)
49

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Key points:
Do not try to describe you whole service, just its most relevant
aspects.
What did you ideate/design to tackle key ethical aspects related to
runners, society/citizens, carbon footprint or other entities/problems?
How your service interactions make your purpose/mission
explicit so it can be understood by your customers and key
partners?
How your service interactions make your brand purpose and
values trustworthy?
LET’S DEFINE YOUR SERVICE (EXPERIENCE)
50

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Wrap up

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
52
As you may have noticed, I have inserted some references to books
and online articles in the footer of the slides, for each slide
introducing notions or methods.
In this section I am going to presentyou some very, very, relevant
books and methodologies related to the topics we have explored.

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – POSITIONING
53

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
54

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – BRAND STRATEGY
55

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – AGILE STRATEGY
56

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – ECO/SYSTEMS THINKING
57

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – ECO/SYSTEMS THINKING
58

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – PLATFORM DESIGN TOOLKIT
59

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WRAP UP
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY – STRATEGYZER TOOLKIT
60

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Thank you!
Find this slide deck here:
https://medium.com/@salvatorelarosa/business-design-a-workshop-on-designing-a-service-from-strategy-to-ux-eb73a4bf207f
Interested in Business Design and Strategy+Experience topics? Join us:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/strategyandexperience

Business Design: a Workshop on Designing a Service from Strategy to UX

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