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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 study is to analyse the role of the clean development mechanism (CDM) established by the Kyoto Protocol in channelling foreign technology to China. Appraising the experience of CDM remains of key importance when drawing lessons for the post-2012 climate regime.

Descriptive analysis of the sources and the determinants of foreign technology transfer based on the examination of 1,355 registered projects. Econometric analysis of the probability of having a foreign supplier of technology in any project.

The prominence of German firms as technology providers and the absence of a strong relationship between technology suppliers and credit buyers. The econometric analysis finds that project size and cost, project location, credit buyers’ and consultants’ characteristics, as well as technology diffusion are all relevant factors in determining the probability of having a foreign supplier of technology.

China is a particularly interesting case for analysing technology transfer in CDM projects since, after a slow start, the country has become the largest and most dynamic CDM recipient worldwide. Furthermore, the analysis of CDM projects may offer some insights into the complex web of technological links between Chinese and foreign firms.

The transfer of emission-saving technologies to developing countries is expected to play a major role in addressing environmental problems worldwide.

This study analyses the sources and determinants of international technology transfer in CDM projects in China, and offers some insights into how the characteristics of the major players and the links between them affect this phenomenon.

China’s foreign aid efforts in Africa remain contentious. Chinese foreign aid tends to be different from “traditional” development assistance in that it frequently involves firms as the implementing agents of projects. Firms bring unique resources to public–private partnerships (PPPs) formed with government agencies, but their possible self-interested nature also gives rise to concerns over their development impact. Yet, on a larger scale, little is known about the characteristics of Chinese PPPs in foreign aid. Using project-level data available for 1,308 Chinese aid projects in 50 countries across Africa, the author characterizes the projects undertaken by firms and government agencies in a PPP and contrasts them to those executed by Chinese government agencies without firm involvement. This exploratory data analysis suggests that important differences apply, as Chinese PPPs tend to target different sustainable development goals (SDGs), work on the basis of distinct aid conditions, and implement projects that tend to be larger than those that are solely run by government agencies. Such observations raise important questions of an ethical, theoretical, and international nature, and warrant further research. The author develops a research agenda that aims at issues particularly important for business ethics scholars, organization theorists, and international business scholarship.

This chapter traces the history of digital libraries (DLs) in the United States through the funding sources that have supported DL research and development over the past decade and a half. A set of related questions are addressed: How have the mission and goals of funding agencies affected the types of projects that have been funded? What have been the deliverables from funded projects and how have the goals of the funding agencies shaped those deliverables? Funding agencies have exerted strong influence over research and development in DLs, and different funding agencies have funded different types of projects, with varying sets of concerns for driving the various fields that feed into DLs. This chapter will address the impact that DL funding has had on the development of research in the field of Library and Information Science, as well as on the practice of librarianship.

This chapter develops a conceptual framework to help us position and understand the increasing importance of project-based innovation for industrial organization in the 21st century. It builds on and extends Joan Woodward's (1958 and 1965) pioneering research, which classifies industrial organizations according to the complexity of production technology and volume of output. We suggest that a radical revision of Woodward's framework is required to account for the extensive use of project-based organizations to gain competitive advantage through accelerated innovation and growth in new technologies and markets.

At the beginning of the nineties, the Danish construction market was in the midst of a severe slump (Eurostat, 1995). At the same time, the German market was beginning to boom, due to the process of unifying the two German states (European Construction Research, 1995). Because of the poor home market circumstances, many Danish construction industry actors, including individual architects and architectural firms, attempted to find work in Germany (Halskov, 1995). However, the aspirations of most of these actors were dashed. By 1996, many of the largest Danish civil engineering and contracting firms had lost billions of Danish kroner, and a great number of small firms, typically architectural firms or subcontractors in the construction process, had also experienced severe losses, some of which had jeopardized the very existence of these firms (ibid.). This turn of events surprised both insiders in the Danish construction industry and the general Danish population as both groups believed that Denmark has high construction standards and that the most of the firms that had attempted operations in Germany were technically competent and had sound domestic business policies.

This chapter discusses the project to investigate, recommend, and create user-focused solutions for opening and operating Severn Library, a high-density storage facility, at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.

This chapter takes the case study approach, discussing the practical application of project management techniques to various stages of a large-scale project to plan for a high-density storage facility.

Although the Severn Library project began with a large project team, lack of formal project management expertise and the massive nature of the project led to its breakdown into smaller constituent projects, with the two authors filling the roles of “accidental project managers” to complete the work on time. Although this approach was ultimately successful, the overall success of the project could have been improved through more formal application of project management techniques.

This chapter discusses the experience of the authors at one large, public state university. The experience of other libraries and library managers may vary based on institutional context.

This chapter will be valuable to library managers interested in project management techniques in libraries, and/or in planning for high-density library storage facilities.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the only writing on the application of project management techniques to construction and operation of a high-density library storage facility.

Project management techniques for digital initiatives must shift with the transformation of content from analog to digital, from singular projects to mass-digitization and large-scale digital preservation. How are project management methods employed across digital practices, from digitization, to online access, to preservation? How can project management methods evolve to create a collaborative workflow across collection and service areas of librarianship, centered on digital stewardship?

Solutions for these questions are illustrated in an explanation of the workflows implemented at the University of Maryland, College Park Libraries and reflected upon in a case study of a recent digital initiative.

Centered on the efforts of two departments in the Libraries’ Digital Systems and Stewardship division, this chapter outlines the origins, techniques, and integration of digital project management with a focus on Waterfall and Agile project management. Furthermore, the integration and transition of project management methodologies and tools between groups is emphasized, mirroring the transformation of analog media to digital formats and the requisite shifts in thinking such projects require.

These case studies are based on research across the profession and implementation at the University of Maryland, College Park Libraries. The local application of two established project management techniques, Waterfall and Agile, are summarized and compared. Though regularly employed in application development, applying Agile project management in libraries is a relatively new practice and has not been widely documented in library literature.