Immanent use of design thinking by an entrepreneur designer

The importance of the entrepreneurship is increasing every day. For many research it is considered as a main topic with different perspectives in such disciplines like business, sociology, law, marketing, economy and design at universities. In addition, entrepreneurship is one of the inputs, which is directly affecting national economy, and further development of the economy. It is funded by different many government agencies. In order to contribute entrepreneurship and national development, in this thesis an entrepreneur who is at very beginning of the path has been taken in to consideration. It can be also found in this study entrepreneurship period, franchising, branding and business model approach with design perspective. Thesis also will examine the current situation of the company. This thesis supports the sentence of "thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes and even strategy" and shows that design should not only design product but also it has a wide extent. Based on this saying, author aims to help and share her first hand experience about different methodologies and planning to show her way to other Industrial Product Designers like herself who would like to be an entrepreneur. In this thesis how an industrial product designer created her own opportunities, how she used governmental support, how she used 'design thinking' and designer perspective is explained by giving some examples. The research method applied in this study is "Case Study". Case study is a method used in social science research; it researches a single person, an environment, single type of document and event in details. In this thesis the establishment of the 'Istanbul Arac Temizligi Merkezi' company which has been created by Ayse Sine Serbes, graduated from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) the Department of Industrial Product Design and Department of Naval Architecture, by getting Entrepreneurship support from KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprise Development Organization) in KISGEM (Women's Business Development Center ) has been reviewed as a case . Bluegreenwax brand was created by entrepreneur. In this case study the company which is still at the beginning of its history has been researched. The focus of research is contemporary phenomena; "Design Thinking", "Entrepreneurship" and "Franchising" . In this study, following 'how' and 'why' questions are explored. • Why and how is a relation between 'Design Thinking' approaches and formation of the entrepreneur's business? • Why and how is a relation between creativity and opportunity identification? (This review has been done by preliminarily accepting that designer has creative feature.) • How and why being a Designer has influenced the creation of franchise system. Thesis, books, periodicals, government development plans about Entrepreneurship, to create a franchise system, design and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and business models, branding and 'Design Thinking', were examined. It has seen there is limited thesis about the terms of 'Entrepreneurship', 'Design Thinking' and 'Franchising' on national design discipline. In thesis firstly 'Design Thinking', 'entrepreneurship' and 'franchising' terms, their definitions by the history and different point of views important points, linked points between the terms represented. Literature and her entrepreneurship has been tried to be linked by considering education of author and her personal specifications. "Creating Value" which is considered as basic principles of entrepreneurship has been explained with examples of author. Particularly in recent years 'Design Thinking' been mentioned frequently in business world. When the Liedtka's 'Design Thinking' questions and expressions of entrepreneurs are considered together it has been found that entrepreneur's approach are matching with Liedtka's questions. Entrepreneur define her task question the options and started form the closest point to reduce risk. In order to define the problem entrepreneur started thinking her own needs and stated that "If this is the problem for me, it should also be problem for others" is linked with Verganti's view to personal culture and Steve Job's example. To assess the opportunity identification, which result creation of entrepreneur's business idea, creativity, based model of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is processed. The essence of the opportunity identification was concluded as a creative process. It is clear not everybody except people who are very familiar to management understands that franchising concept. It has been stated that since it is a good marketing method and because it is, a way of entrepreneurship development KOSGEB Entrepreneurship Development Centre also covers this issue. It has been emphasized in the thesis that franchising system is an opportunity for the people who want to start a business but not having the necessary knowledge to perform. The people who creates brand or has potential for that may expand their business faster by giving franchising. With this way, they can reach more users. In addition to the statements regarding brand designing, it has been reached that being a designer allows entrepreneur to visualize the logo on the computer and gives her a chance to design the name of brand. It is expressed that Entrepreneur has learned some computer programs during her design education and she has used these skills while she is visualizing Brand. Franchising system designed by the company is included in the thesis. It is explained that before starting this case study thesis owner of the company was not aware that she has established a franchising system. To compare processes of the company and processes of potential franchisor should take; The processes of potential franchisor should take represented. It is seen that entrepreneur applied the steps like pilot station, promotional material preparation to explain the benefits of the franchise to potential franchisees; selection and training of franchisees; production of an operations manual; marketing and advertising, which potential franchisors should take. It has been realized that immanently entrepreneur was following franchise system process and create a franchise system. It has been come into conclusion that entrepreneur applied the franchising method by using 'Design Thinking' approach. Focused on the use of visual objects on Bluegreenwax brand in the franchisees workshops. it has been expressed that using the design tools help Entrepreneur to show franchisee's how workshop of them will look like. For the reply of why and how is a relation between 'Design Thinking' approach and formation of the entrepreneur's business idea question; Firstly case's business idea process been examined according to Liedtka's Design Thinking question formation. And it has been realized that it is computable with Leidka's question. Case's processes and design thinking processes matched on the same table. Design thinking's steps linked with case's steps. Finally, the three models of the structure of the thesis; Creativity based opportunity identification model, design thinking stages and phases of franchising has been associated on the same graph. They link each other to show all the process and entrepreneur's process. As a result, if people coming from the Design discipline would like to be an entrepreneur they should not only think product oriented and giving designer service but also creating their own entrepreneurial opportunities. Especially in recent years problem-solving actions of design disciplines tend to adapt business models and to the business world. This actually shows that designers have the hardware to solve problems. In this case, designers who want to focus on entrepreneurship perhaps should start thinking about smallest topic, which is creating problem for them in their environment Instead of starting a business model with the fear of making a mistake, or start with finished preparation, Liedtka's 'Design Thinking' suggests the approach of producing interactive solutions. When the entrepreneur's entrepreneur process is evaluated, she is not in the position, which is offering the ideal solutions at once. Each day Entrepreneur questions her own system and with the effect of mistakes that she did, the upgrades her process. Increased incentives in recent years create opportunities for Entrepreneurs in terms of finding resources. If process for finding new business idea or product design applied to find new sources, new opportunities also for source can be identified. Entrepreneur in this study applied her problem solving approach to all issues on the process of entrepreneurship, created her own opportunities in order to ensure continuity of her business.