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Chulalongkorn Business School associate professor Pasu Decharin explained why the "right side of the brain" has become increasingly important for businesses.

Most companies formulate their strategies from the "left side of the brain", which commands logic and analytical skills. However, using the left part of the brain alone is not sufficient for companies to gain a competitive advantage in today's world.

"From the information age, we're moving to the conceptual age. From knowledge workers, will it become an era of creative workers?" Pasu asked.

In the conceptual era, design will become an important issue for businesses. In foreign countries, "D-schools", or design schools, have become increasingly more important than "B-schools" (business schools), which place emphasis on teaching analytical skills.

"Business schools are now joining hands with design and engineering schools. It's now harder to enroll on a fine arts course than in a business school.

"Steve Jobs [Apple chief executive] takes his staff to art museums so they will be inspired and get new ideas and be more creative. He has never believed art and technology are mutually exclusive," he said.

Most businesses are still quite "analysis driven", "number crunchers" and "process driven" when drawing up strategies. Strategic thinking, which utilises the right part of the brain associated with creativity, should instead be used for strategic planning.

"Analytical thinking in planning strategy causes many companies to reach a deadend. They don't know how to grow further and are unable to create sufficient differentiation," he said.

Pasu said Major Cineplex Group's Vicha Poolvaraluck has followed one of Ideo's "five-point model for strategising by design" called "Hit the Streets" by going and observing the experience of real people in the market, instead of sitting in an ivory tower.

Businesses should also possess "symphonic thinking", which enables them to "put the pieces together" or see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields the way that Vicha gets new ideas for his cinema business from different industries like airlines and hotel services.