Abstract of my doctoral dissertation ”A Study on the Construction of Human-Centered Design Methods Adapted to Business Use Product Development”.

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 In order to survive, and to avoid price competition in commodity markets, companies should make an effort not only to improve the performance and functionality of their products, but also to improve the usability and the user experience. Japanese companies have therefore begun the introduction of human-centered design (HCD) processes in an attempt to meet this aim.

 The HCD processes were established as ISO 13407 (Ergonomics - Human-centred design processes for interactive systems) in 1999, after which Japanese companies began to use it. However, Japanese companies which develop business use products in particular, use trial and error to increase the effectiveness of their HCD processes. The reason for this is because the ISO only shows processes, not concrete implementation methods. Previous studies of the HCD processes have presented new perspectives by performing various analyses of the benefits of using the HCD methods. However, examples shown in technical books and academic papers refer almost only to the development of personal use products, and not the development of business use products.

 Business use products refer to medical instruments, instruments for office work and other instruments for professional use that are delivered to hospitals, offices and other facilities. There are some differences between business use products and personal use products. For example, the purchaser and the operator of business use products are different people, while in the case of personal use products, the purchaser and the operator are usually same. In addition, because business use products are used for business, the scope of use is limited, but personal use products are used at different times and in a variety of places.

 For these reasons, The HCD methods that are generally known are not applicable to business use product development. Japanese companies may therefore fail when introducing such products to the market. This paper aims to address this issue by describing the construction of customized human-centered design methods suitable for business use product development.
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