Technological Systems And Industrial Dynamics

This volume consitutes a summary of several years' multi-disciplinary research by a group of Swedish researchers. The project 'Sweden's Technological Systems and Future Development Potential' was initiated by the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK) and has been carried out at the Department of Industrial Management and Economics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, the Research Policy Institute at the University of Lund, the Industrial Institute for Economic and Social Research (lUI) in Stockholm, and the Department of Industrial Economics and Management at the Royal Insitute of Technology, Stockholm, under the direction of Bo Carlsson, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. The project group decided early on to focus fIrst on the technological system for factory automation - a relatively mature system of great importance to Swedish industry and in which Sweden has reached a leading position internationally - and then to shift the attention to other systems in various stages of development and with varying Swedish strength. The work on factory automation resulted in numerous papers and publications, summarized in a volume published in 1995 (Technological Systems and Economic Performance: The Case of Factory Automation, ed. Bo Carlsson. Dordrecht.

Pt. 1. The ingredients -- pt. 2. The governance of localised technological knowledge -- pt. 3. The introduction of localised technological change.

The concept of localized technological change is emerging at the crossroads of different approaches to the economics of innovation and new technologies. The term `localized technological change' refers to the introduction of technological changes which make possible an increase in total factor productivity within only a limited range of techniques defined by the levels of factor intensity. This contrasts with `generalized technological change', which is defined as the global shift of all the techniques represented on the map of isoquants of the neoclassical tradition. The Economics of Localized Technological Change elaborates the notion of localized technology with respect to firms, factor substitution, sectors, regions and techniques. It also assesses the implications for industrial policy, technology and innovation policy. The book will be of interest to corporate policy makers, scholars of industrial organization and economics of innovation as well as business school students.

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.

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.

2013 Reprint of 1961 First Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This work has been cited as one of the most seminal works of the era. Forrester outlines industrial dynamics as an experimental, quantitative philosophy for designing corporate structure and policies that are compatible with an organization's growth and stability objectives. Forrester believes that management systems possess an orderly and identifiable framework that determines the character of industrial and economic behavior. In this volume, he presents for the first time a methodology for detecting and exhibiting this structure for study.