Here is a article on the business value of good design. For decades, designers have been trying to justify their value beyond "we make things pretty," and this article talks about the new wave of start up companies that are being captained by designers. Dating back to IBM, good product and user interface design has been a competitive advantage for a growing number of companies such as Apple, BMW, Braun and even Microsoft, but that is another blog... here is the article http://bit.ly/PjwDlw