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Unlike the historical robots, the contemporary and futuristic ‘working’ robots within organisations are capable of taking decisions without human intervention. This chapter reviews the technical evolution of robots across history with the necessary evolution of operational procedures regarding laws and ethical standards. The objective of this review is to have a futuristic holistic insight into the new generation of robots that are invading our working environment within organisations. Out of the very wide perspective of robotics research field, this chapter only discusses the ‘working’ robots (excluding domestic, social, and warfare robots) in organisations along with its ethical and legal associated issues. To achieve this objective, the recent ‘working robot’ definition and associated expected ethics and laws, termed in this chapter as ‘Ten Commandments’ would be necessary for the utilisation of robotics before releasing ‘intelligent’ robots in the workplace environment. The proposed ‘Ten Commandments’ can be utilised by robot manufacturer to embed ‘machine testimony’ to their products. Providing that such ‘robot ethics’ built as part of the algorithmic structure of robots, a useful innovation like robot–manager is also identified in the organisational environment which can have multiple benefits as discussed in this chapter.

We investigate product innovation by a cohort of entrants who use technology that eventually suffers disruption. We concentrate on two types of entrants – those with and those without relevant prior experience in the disrupted technology. Using the industrial robotics industry as the context of our study, we explore product innovation using disrupted technology during two time periods: the first prior to sales takeoff of the disruptive products and the second subsequent to takeoff. We find that the two types of entrants did not differ in product innovation prior to takeoff, but firms with prior experience in the disrupted technology manufactured more innovative products subsequent to the sales takeoff of disruptive products. Our research underscores that the boundary conditions of the utility of prior experience is more nuanced than that which literature suggests – it affects product innovation only in the post-sales takeoff period when the demand uncertainties are relatively low. Our findings also suggest that the boundary conditions of Christensen’s thesis are narrower than predicted by prior literature.

As an answer for the limited growth potentials of diversification and internationalization, services became increasingly important for industrial firms in recent years. Based on existing and established business concepts, companies explore new segments in their traditional value chains beyond traditional market penetration strategies: they pursue service transition strategies to open up new sources for growth, even in markets that do not promise great expansion potential. Our paper addresses the issue of economies of scope of service transition. In this context, we first explore the question, to what extent the insights about product diversification strategies from physical goods sectors can be transferred to the service sector. Using competence-based considerations on diversification we focus on dynamic economies of scope, whose central idea is exploration and development of new resources rather than the static exploitation of existing ones. Furthermore, we integrate the largely neglected issue of how the phenomenon of service diversification depends on the industry's life cycle stage. In a small empirical study of the German mechanical engineering industry we demonstrate that diversification steps into services require a shift in the resource and competence base of firms. Using a dynamic perspective, we construct a conceptual framework for analyzing and explaining the advantages of service transition strategies. The developed model describes a service diversification trajectory and points out that the establishment of a profitable service business requires the exploration and development of competences and adequate organizational structures.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) proposes to take into account the “voice of the customer,” through a list of customer needs, which are (qualitatively) mapped to technical requirements in House One. But customers do not perceive products in this space, nor do they not make purchase decisions in this space. Marketing specialists use statistical models to map between a simpler space of customer perceptions and the long and detailed list of needs. For automobiles, for example, the main axes in perceptual space might be categories such as luxury, performance, sport, and utility. A product’s position on these few axes determines the detailed customer requirements consistent with the automobiles’ position such as interior volume, gauges and accessories, seating type, fuel economy, door height, horsepower, interior noise level, seating capacity, paint colors, trim, and so forth. Statistical models such as factor analysis and principal components analysis are used to describe the mapping between these spaces, which we call House Zero.

This paper focus on House One. Two important steps of the product development process using House One are: (1) setting technical targets; (2) identifying the inherent tradeoffs in a design including a position of merit. Utility functions are used to determine feature preferences for a product. Conjoint analysis is used to capture the product preference and potential market share. Linear interpolation and the slope point formula are used to determine other points of customer needs. This research draws from the formal mapping concepts developed by Nam Suh and the qualitative maps of quality function deployment, to present unified information and mapping paradigm for concurrent product/process design. This approach is the virtual integrated design method that is tested upon data from a business design problem.

Drawing on interviews with men and women gun carriers, this paper considers the intersection of femininity and guns. It argues that two sets of expectations shape the normative relationship between women and guns: First, armed women are a blind spot in feminist discourse, which tends to reproduce the “pacifist presumption” that women are nonviolent caretakers and peacemakers. Second, contemporary pro-gun discourse often bases women’s gun carry within their duties and obligations as mothers in a form of “martial maternalism.” Inflected with a post-feminist appropriation of rights and equality, this pro-gun discourse reproduces gender binaries through a discourse of gender inclusivity. Following previous analyses that emphasize the contradictory politics of gender in conservative spaces, my analysis emphasizes how the gendered politics of guns is sustained by multiple, though not necessarily shared, understandings of women’s guns by men and women within American gun culture.

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the complexities of marketing organization especially in bigger firms. This chapter draws attention to one of these major drivers for change — globalization. This is done with the help of an in-depth case study of ABB Robotics.

The case describes how a change is achieved through a major marketing reorganization process. Initially, there are major difficulties grasping the organizational problem and identifying its causes. Many different organizational “issues” are part of the problem in the multifaceted case. Relying on complexity theory, the case suggests that a more complex environment with greater number of relevant players, which are — themselves — interconnected through networks, will also exhibit a greater range of change. Change and reorganization processes like the one confronting the case company would rather be the normal situation for companies embedded in complex global networks.

This chapter treats the management’s understanding of the potential of managing interaction between product innovation and learning. The chapter draws its empirical results from interviews with the management, project leaders, and other employees working on product innovations in five manufacturing firms visited three to four times during 2001–2002. It is shown that the managed interaction between innovation and learning is promoted by explicit strategic consideration and most strongly by a knowledge management strategy. Important positive and negative structural conditions are highlighted.