The aim of this article is to reflect upon philosophical worldviews and models of “Design” reasoning in light of four generic approaches of business strategizing, based upon their relevance for prospective ergonomics and design practice. Through comparisons of Business Management and Design Thinking literature, similarities can be found among worldviews, generic strategies and design-reasoning models. The understanding of these similarities is to be used as a framework by business managers, design managers and designers to distinguish between pluralistic and more focused strategies for innovation, as well as to categorize methods and tools according to process and outcome. Finally, by taking a pluralistic turn in this strategy framework a closer look will be provided on how prospective products and services should be valued and designed in complex and competitive developed economies. Results also indicate that the prospective role of the designer should be more and more facilitative, being able to manage complex constellations of users, organizations and other stakeholders who will be involved in the creation of prospective products and services. A more inclusive innovation strategy is to be adopted, where human-centered methods and tools take more center stage to assist in anticipating hidden needs and creative solutions.