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Retailing thought and practice is premised on the assumption that consumers visit retailers to search for and acquire objects produced by manufacturers. In essence, we assume that the acts of consuming and producing are conducted by separate entities. This unspoken yet familiar premise shapes the questions retail scholars ask and the way retail practitioners think about their industry. Although this assumption accurately depicted retailing since the Industrial Revolution, its relevance is being challenged by a growing set of individuals who are equipped with new digital tools to engage in self-manufacturing. In this chapter, we examine self-manufacturing with a particular focus on the recent rise of desktop 3D printing. After discussing this new technology and reviewing the literature, we offer a conceptual classification of four distinct types of 3D printed objects and use this classification to inform a content analysis of over 400 of these objects. Based on this review and analysis, we discuss the implications of self-manufacturing for retailing thought and practice.

We develop an integrative conceptualization of how firms set and alter strategic goals, incorporating insights from goal-setting literatures across the disciplines of marketing, management, and psychology. Our framework accounts for the internal and external forces that impact the content of a firm's goals as well as the dynamic processes by which these goals are formed and changed over time. By proposing this framework, we strive to offer insights into the “black box” of organizational goals that connect firm resources and environmental context to firm strategies. Illustrative data to support our framework are provided from a case study of a Fortune 100 communication firm's entry into an emerging, high-technology, new product marketplace.