Game Plan for Team Estonia: Facilitating Change through Strategic Design

This thesis explores how a strategic design approach can be applied to transform the practice of business diplomacy. Through secondary research, stakeholder interviews, and a comparative analysis of lead generation processes in the public and private sectors, the study identifies a need for greater clarity, structure, and communication within the diplomatic support system to provide more targeted and effective assistance to Estonian companies entering global markets. Workshops, ideation sessions, and testing with stakeholders served as initial steps toward change and laid the foundation for implementation.

The main outcome of this thesis is a design component in the form of a strategic framework titled “Game Plan for Team Estonia.” This visual tool brings together key elements of the strategic model, including a change management canvas, a mapping of business opportunity layers, and a service blueprint for mediating those opportunities. The fourth element is a one-pager that serves as an umbrella guide, aligning the three components of the design intervention into one coherent whole. The framework aims to improve stakeholder alignment, clarify roles, and make underlying processes more transparent and accessible.

Beyond simplifying a complex system, the design solution fosters a shared understandingmof an evolving business diplomacy strategy-shifting from reactive to proactive. It illustrates how officials, while operating within host country constraints, still exercise individual agency in mediating opportunities based on experience and local market knowledge.

Although limited in scope, this thesis contributes to the evolving role of strategic design in improving organizational performance. It opens space for further research into how design tools can support diplomatic practice. Ultimately, it affirms that strategic design is not merely symbolic in diplomacy- it can act as a catalyst for meaningful change by connecting stakeholders, strategy, and action.

‍