Design Thinking as a Strategy for Marketing Confectionery Products: A Case Study of Cocoa Processing Company—Ghana

Abstract

This research looked at a shift from plain technology improvements to real endeavours in order to address the needs of consumers and to generate powerful and sustainable solutions that could tackle the current and future challenges at Cocoa Processing Company through Design Thinking. The main objective was to investigate how Design Thinking can be used by Cocoa Processing Company as a critical strategic tool for the marketing of their confectionery products.

The research aimed at investigating how C.P.C used design thinking in its market strategies, to help increase its sales through discovery and creativity, bearing in mind the encouragement of customer satisfaction through design thinking and also differentiate its product from competitors. Primary and secondary data were used in collecting the data. The primary data was gathered through interviews with personnel from Marketing, R&D and Production departments of CPC and customers. The secondary data was information from Cocoa Processing Company’s web pages, annual reports and previous related research works on design thinking done by others on the Internet. The research population was ten and hence all were chosen as the sample size. Purposive sampling technique was used in gathering the data. The data was analysed using pattern matching which is also known as analytic technique. The study revealed that the organisation made use of design thinking in their marketing strategies in differentiating products from its competitors. The integration of the various departments within the organization also contributed in marketing the company’s products. It was recommended for CPC to use the Design Thinking Processes to assess its current design capabilities and identify the gaps in their design process. It was recommended for C.P.C to liaise with students with background in design, business and technology in the form of multidisciplinary teams to help improve marketing activities in the organisation.