In 1980 Robert Blaich, the senior managing director of design at Philips, introduced a design management system that regards design, production, and marketing as a single unit. This was an important contribution to the definition of design as a core element in business. At Philips Design, Stefano Marzano became CEO and Chief Creative Director in 1991, continuing the work of Robert Blaich to align design processes with business processes and furthering design strategy as an important asset of the overall business strategy.