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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.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the key differences in the production processes of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). This exploration not only includes the fundamental physical architectural differences between the types of vehicles but also their entirely different supporting supply chains and underpinning business logics. Many nuanced and less-discussed considerations such as geopolitics, supporting infrastructure, and background policy implications are also covered. This chapter stems from the collection and analysis of secondary peer-reviewed data that is supplemented by verified press publications. The automotive industry moves at an incredibly fast pace, and thus understanding the sociotechnical transition to BEVs requires the additional, timely context of press publications. The overall result of this chapter is a holistic overview of the BEV’s value chain, and more importantly some much needed context for readers to better appreciate the significant implications that are involved. Society is not merely substituting one ‘full fat’ product for a ‘low calorie’ version, but rather we are adopting a new technology that solves some of our problems but comes with challenges of its own. In the coming transition to BEVs, it will be impossible to switch technologies without reformulating various policies and reconsidering how we consume transportation as a commodity or a service. By presenting how society intends to evolve its predominant road propulsion system, this chapter seeks to explain the twists and turns ahead, and offer a glimpse of a more sustainable path forward.

Connected machines are the automation of several types of machines connected towards beneficial growth of sustainable construction especially in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This chapter gave an insight into the emergence of digitalisation in the construction sector and the importance of connected machines in sustainable construction. It further elucidated its mode of operations, devices applicable, drivers and challenges for its full application in construction and benefits on construction projects. It finally gave a conclusion on its urgent need for full incorporation due to its technological benefits for present and future construction works.

Three distinctive domains of inquiry in comparative and international education (CIE) point to epistemic fault lines that simultaneously enable and disable the possibilities for social transformation in the cultural ecologies that demarcate, but also entangle, the so-called Global South and the North. Historically, these domains of inquiry – language/multilingualism, education, and development – engage arenas in which ideas about wellbeing, social arrangements, and the politics of knowledge (and of power) are constantly constructed, contested, and renegotiated. This analysis pinpoints some of the discursive technologies, which guarantee that active scholarly innovations and differentiation proceed in ways that ultimately leave intact the territorialized regionalizations of development differences. It reflects on ongoing fieldwork from the South to highlight three spheres of social control, and struggle, illustrative of the coloniality of difference and the expanding institutionalization of learning (as schooling) in an era of global interventionism. These loci – the sources of knowledge traditions, the sites of its enactment, and the power of knowledge transactions – represent overlapping activation points through which education interventions both stimulate and stultify social transformations. Specifically, the sources, sites, and power of knowledge offer empirical and discursive tools for historiographic reconsideration of the role of linguistic diversity and education in social change processes, and, crucially, for shifting critical focus from merely the occidentality of contemporary education traditions to the universalism of its social imaginaries. In this critical reading of new understandings of language(s) as invention, therefore, lies analytic opportunities for rethinking epistemic dilemmas in linking education and “development” in CIE scholarship.

This chapter treats new product development in relation to management and organization. The data comprise new product development within four Danish manufacturing firms studied by interviewing the management, product leaders and other employees. The results show how integrated product development procedures have furthered a stronger market orientation. The stage-gate version of integration has fertilized knowledge across functions. The new procedures have made the understanding of cooperation across functions topical and have been followed up by more involvement of the employees. The changes have run into barriers which to a certain extent have been met by organizational changes.

This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges for Western firms that wish to engage in manufacturing operations in Iran, and particularly in the automotive industry. Although Iran has a long and fruitful history of embracing foreign investment, collaboration with foreign firms suffered in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The imposition of UN sanctions in 2012, following the disagreements between Iran and leading Western powers over Iran’s nuclear policy, has resulted in a further exodus of foreign manufacturers from Iran, hurting the production quality, adoption of up-to-date technology and alignment to international standards for manufacturing, such as vehicle safety and engine emissions in Iran.

The removal of sanctions, contingent on the success of nuclear negotiations between Iran and leading world powers, could provide Iran with an opportunity to recommence manufacturing collaboration with Western firms. The case of the automotive industry discussed in this chapter indicates some of the challenges that Iran is likely to face if it once again wants to become a player in international markets.

The world has witnessed three major individual revolutions until now. We are in the fourth industrial revolution, and there are technological breakthroughs that have not been seen before. Responding fast to changing consumer expectations in a competitive climate brought on by globalization has become a global reality, requiring enterprises to alter their manufacturing systems. The incorporation of machines that can interact and make decisions into production has altered the manufacturing processes. The application of the Industry 4.0 revolution to manufacturing processes has paved the way for the development of smart factories. Production may be made 24 hours a day in these factories where productivity grows with applications such as the internet of things (IoT), cyber-physical systems, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. All applications utilized in smart factories boost productivity and reduce costs and human error rates. Countries should undergo change in order to adapt to the competitive climate established by Industry 4.0, in which the entire world lives. Many industrialized countries have taken significant strides in this direction, including this process into their national policies. Turkey's ability to adapt to Industry 4.0 technologies in a digitalized competitive environment, as well as swiftly grow smart factory applications in altering production processes, is critical to its global economic standing.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent changes in the role played by Africa as a traditional natural resources supplier for the world economy in a multipolar context. We highlight, on the one hand, how Africa remains a prominent supplier of critical minerals needed for information and communication technologies (ICT), including platinum, vanadium, coltan, chromium, manganese, zirconium, etc., and how the boomerang effect results in Africa also importing electronic waste. On the other hand, we show how the BRICS’ growth model, based on a very intensive use of natural resources acquired through international trade, is now being fuelled by Africa too. BRICS countries (especially China and India) are making foreign direct investments in Africa using their state companies to ensure the supply of natural resources under favourable economic terms. Thus, Africa appears as a disputed territory between the old domination of the advanced capitalist countries and emerging powers like the BRICS. However, this should not mask the fact that the European Union and North America are still the dominant foreign powers in the continent. Finally, we discuss which scenarios are open to further this multipolar moment, particularly in the wake of the great crisis.