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This paper deals with the organizing of interactive product development. Developing products in interaction between firms may provide benefits in terms of specialization, increased innovation, and possibilities to perform development activities in parallel. However, the differentiation of product development among a number of firms also implies that various dependencies need to be dealt with across firm boundaries. How dependencies may be dealt with across firms is related to how product development is organized. The purpose of the paper is to explore dependencies and how interactive product development may be organized with regard to these dependencies.

The analytical framework is based on the industrial network approach, and deals with the development of products in terms of adaptation and combination of heterogeneous resources. There are dependencies between resources, that is, they are embedded, implying that no resource can be developed in isolation. The characteristics of and dependencies related to four main categories of resources (products, production facilities, business units and business relationships) provide a basis for analyzing the organizing of interactive product development.

Three in-depth case studies are used to explore the organizing of interactive product development with regard to dependencies. The first two cases are based on the development of the electrical system and the seats for Volvo’s large car platform (P2), performed in interaction with Delphi and Lear respectively. The third case is based on the interaction between Scania and Dayco/DFC Tech for the development of various pipes and hoses for a new truck model.

The analysis is focused on what different dependencies the firms considered and dealt with, and how product development was organized with regard to these dependencies. It is concluded that there is a complex and dynamic pattern of dependencies that reaches far beyond the developed product as well as beyond individual business units. To deal with these dependencies, development may be organized in teams where several business units are represented. This enables interaction between different business units’ resource collections, which is important for resource adaptation as well as for innovation. The delimiting and relating functions of the team boundary are elaborated upon and it is argued that also teams may be regarded as actors. It is also concluded that a modular product structure may entail a modular organization with regard to the teams, though, interaction between business units and teams is needed. A strong connection between the technical structure and the organizational structure is identified and it is concluded that policies regarding the technical structure (e.g. concerning “carry-over”) cannot be separated from the management of the organizational structure (e.g. the supplier structure). The organizing of product development is in itself a complex and dynamic task that needs to be subject to interaction between business units.

This paper presents the second-generation estimates for the Italian engineering industry in 1911, a year documented both by the customary demographic census, and the first industrial census. The first part of this paper uses the census data to estimate the industry’s value added, sector by sector; the second further disaggregates each sector by activity, and estimates the value added, employment, physical product, and metal consumption of each one. A third, concluding section dwells on the dependence of cross-section estimates on time-series evidence. Three appendices detail the specific algorithms that generate the present estimates; a fourth, a useful sample of firm-specific data.

Purpose – We seek explanation for the existence of international activity in industries whose characteristics provide conflicting rationales for international expansion. In such industries, the competitive value of some industrial characteristics is magnified by international expansion, whereas the value of others is undermined by these moves. The tension is amplified in the presence of sustainability concerns and the quest for meeting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on case studies of the world's largest multinational enterprise (MNE) producers of hydropower plant equipment, which provide representative examples of MNEs in renewable energy industries. We examine the strategic balances that these MNEs strike to deal with the conflicting pressure of international strategy and their performance outcomes.Findings – The insights we generate from the case studies suggest that there might be plural ways to successfully address such tensions, and firms’ histories and competitive advantages shape the choices they make in the face of these conflicts.Implications – Our contribution is of notable merits in the contemporary world whereby the pressure for international expansion extends to industries whose characteristics both favour and inhibit international activity. We outline the distinctive impact that sustainability concerns have in this tension.Originality/value of chapter – Our study serves to deepen the understanding of international activity in the renewable energy sector, a relatively understudied sector, whose significance in the world economy and in international business is growing rapidly. It is novel in extending the tension of international activity to include sustainability and CSR concerns.

The chapter considers the significance of the oil and gas industry for the Russian economy. The authors analyze the current state of the oil and gas industry, their specific weight in the structure of Russian GDP, and tax revenues from this industry to the Russian budget that was estimated. We give scenario analysis that considers the problems that the Russian economy may face because of the sanctions, the price fluctuations at the commodity market, and the crisis phenomena in the world economy. The chapter points out that localization of technology production and development of technologies for offshore oil and gas production in the Arctic zone may become an incentive to further ensure import substitution for Russia. At present, the experience of Arctic defense enterprises in the production of equipment for oil and gas production and processing is becoming increasingly popular. The chapter elaborates the most significant examples of the creation of new industries in the Arctic zone, the prospects of seismic exploration on the Arctic shelf, and that localization of production capacities and service bases will allow obtaining a multiplicative incentive for a qualitatively new industrial and infrastructure development of the northern territories. Also, we provide an assessment of the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, which makes economically attractive use of natural gas on a regional level as LNG opens the way to fuel high-power needs and to long-distance transport.

Lean manufacturing, a philosophy that revolutionized the manufacturing industry, is often linked to the Toyota Production System (TPS). At the core of a lean company, one can observe proper implementation of lean manufacturing tools and practices such as just-in-time, work teams, cellular manufacturing, lean layout, etc. The goal of lean production is to minimize the waste producing activities while offering the same or enhanced quality to customers.

The aim of this research is to investigate the implementation degree of lean manufacturing and its tools and practices focusing on the case of an SME in Albania as a concrete example. Higher attention is given to some of the pillars of lean manufacturing such as just-in-time and cellular manufacturing.

In this case study, researchers observed a variety of features of lean production. Just-in-time was implemented to a certain extent and cellular manufacturing at a more surprising level, which was facilitated especially by the U-shaped facility layout designs observed during the site visits. The value stream mapping showed a proper group technology in place and the management displayed signs of engagement and future advancement desire regarding this philosophy.

This chapter draws together three strands of literature on clustering, entrepreneurship and international business, and examines the relationships between these three phenomena in promoting firm formation and growth within clusters. The evidence drawn on includes econometric models based on the unique International Trade in Services Film and Television dataset, an indepth interview survey and other questionnaire survey data. The key conclusions are firstly that strong clusters promote entrepreneurship, which in turn promotes cluster strength in a self-reinforcing manner. Secondly, some firms are better able than others to benefit from cluster locations due to their superior firm competencies and absorptive capacity. Thirdly, cluster strength and internationalisation are mutually reinforcing. Cluster strength contributes to the ability of entrepreneurial firms to expand overseas via export sales, licensing and FDI. Evidence is presented that indicates firms have a greater intensity of export and import activity if they have resource strengths, some of which are derived from their membership of a strong cluster. Strong clusters also attract multinational firms and in the case of the London media cluster, although those multinationals appear somewhat less embedded than non-multinational enterprises (MNEs), they are nevertheless quite strongly embedded. This means that there is a second important cluster feedback loop as spillovers from MNEs to local firms enhance cluster strength, which attracts further multinationals. The acquisition of high performing firms by overseas MNEs does not appear to have reduced either their performance or their embeddedness in a cluster. Fourthly, the nature of internationalisation strategies is conditioned by firm and industry characteristics. In particular, the extent to which tacit knowledge is embodied in a product emerges as being influential in terms of decisions on which internationalisation mode to use. Finally, the resource-based view of the firm emerges as a useful integrative framework for understanding the interplay between clusters, entrepreneurship and internationalisation strategies.

The purpose of this chapter is to study the key components of well-balanced information economy. The authors offer a hypothesis that progressive development of information economy in the country depends on the balance of its components. The methodology of the research is based on using the method of comparative analysis and analysis of statistical information for determining the state, tendencies, and dynamics of development of the main components of well-balanced information economy. The research allowed for generalization of certain empirical data on structural components of well-balanced information economy of Russia. The performed research showed that there is a difference in approaches to determination of the essence of information economy and variety of approaches to its structure. Also, there is a sustainable tendency of growth of the key components of information economy: in the sphere of production of means of information equipment, reliability of functional equipment grows, its weight and dimensions reduce, and energy saving ratio increases; in the sphere of production of information products, variety of products grows and limits of their usage expand – from professional activities to application in households; service sphere in information economy is the fastest growing component – especially in the sphere of telecommunication systems. Russia is peculiar for imbalance between separate components of information economy, which is deepened by excessive dependence of domestic market of the information and communication technology (ICT) on foreign suppliers; as a result of which Russian companies lag behind their rivals. Hence, formation of well-balanced information economy requires symbiosis of efforts of the state, private business, and scientific community. Qualitative growth of economy is possible with technologies that allow evaluating the current state of markets and spheres and conducting effective forecasting of their development, as well as reacting to changes in the situation in national and world markets.