Technological Systems and Economic Performance: The Case of Factory Automation

ISBN-13: 9789401040655 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 495 str.

B. Carlsson

Opis

In 1987 the Swedish National Board for Technical Development (STU, later becoming the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development, NUTEK) initiated a study of Sweden's Technological Systems and Future Development Potential. A comprehensive, interdisciplinary study was envisioned, yielding not only useful insight but also a permanent competence base for future analyses of technological systems and technology policy in Sweden. Three leading Swedish research institutes were invited to participate: the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research in Stockholm, the Department ofIndustrial Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, and the Research Policy Institute at the University of Lund. I was invited to direct the project. The project group decided to focus initially on a particular technological system, namely factory automation, to be followed by similar studies of other systems. Numerous publications have resulted from the project thus far. The current volume represents a summary of our work on factory automation. It consists of several original essays and of some previously published papers which have been edited, in some cases substantially, in order to form a comprehensive and coherent picture of a technological system. To our knowledge, this is the first in-depth analysis of a technological system designed as a component of a systematic study of technological systems more generally. At the time of this writing, three further studies on electronics and computers, pharmaceuticals, and powder technology are under way, to be published in a later volume.

Spis treści

Preface; B. Carlsson. 1. Introduction; B. Carlsson. 2. On the Nature, Function and Composition of Technological Systems; B. Carlsson, R. Stankiewicz. 3. The Nature and Importance of Economic Competence; B. Carlsson, G. Eliason. 4. Mapping an Evolving Technology Cluster: The Composition and Structure of Factory Automation; A. Granberg. 5. The Academic Infrastructure of Factory Automation; A. Granberg. 6. The Role of the Science and Technology Infrastructure in the Development and Diffusion of Industrial Automation in Sweden; R. Stankiewicz. 7. Sourcing of Advanced Manufacturing Technology: The Role of Customer-Supplier Interaction; K. Tryggestad. 8. What Makes the Automation Industry Strategic? B. Carlsson, S. Jacobsson. 9. A Theoretical Framework for the Analysis of Supplier Industries; E. Ehrnberg, S. Jacobsson. 10. Technology Discontinuities and Company Strategies - Machine Tools and Flexible Manufacturing Systems; E. Ehrnberg, S. Jacobsson. 11. Diffusion and Industrial Dynamics in the Robot Industry; K. Dahlin. 12. The Importance of Economic Competence in Economic Growth: A Micro-to-Macro Analysis; B. Carlsson, E. Taymaz. 13. The Economic Impact of Factory Automation; B. Carlsson, E. Taymaz, K. Tryggestad. 14. Factory Automation and Government Policy; B. Carlsson, S. Jacobsson. 15. The Technological System for Factory Automation: An International Comparison; B. Carlsson. Author Index. Subject Index.