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Presents a new sewing technology developed by Moll Automatische Nähsysteme GmbH, a German company. This allows complex shapes to be sewn in three dimensions as well as providing the means to automate the manufacture of apparel and other objects.

Investigates the use of robotic sewing systems for assembling car headrest covers at Moll, a German company. Notes the key role of robots in the production process by virtue of their flexible movement. Reports on increased use of computerization by the company and mentions a current research project looking at the use of robotic sewing systems aimed at the clothing industry, a much greater market.

The number of theoretical and empirical research on management control of innovation activities has significantly increased. Existing studies in this field are characterized by a wide dispersion and a multitude of different definitions. The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic review of the literature on management control of innovation activities and to synthesize the current body of knowledge.

Following a systematic review approach, this article reviews 79 articles on management control for innovation activities from 1959 to 2019 and inductively derives a multi-dimensional framework.

The review of existing studies advances the debate about the detrimental versus beneficial character of management control systems for innovation, showing that the repressing character of control is not inherent to control itself, but emanates from the design of the respective management control system.

The multi-dimensional framework connects and combines existing research and thus synthesizes the current state of knowledge in this field. Additionally, the framework can guide practitioners to systematically assess context factors and consequences of their management control systems design, and it shows avenues for future research.

The scientific and practical value of this paper is the convergence of the current body of knowledge consisting of various definitions and conceptualizations and the identification of avenues for future research.

The aviation industry has seen consistent growth over the past few decades. To maintain its sustainability and competitiveness, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the environmental impacts across the entire life cycle of the industry, including materials, processes and resources; manufacturing and production; lifetime services; reuse; end-of-life; and recycling. One important component of aircraft engines, integral rotors known as Blisks, are made of high-value metallic alloys that require complex and resource-intensive manufacturing processes. The purpose of this paper is to assess the ecological and economical impacts generated through Blisk production and thereby identify significant ‘hot-spots’.

This paper focuses on the methodology and approach for conducting a full-scale Blisk life cycle assessment (LCA) based on ISO 14040/44. Unlike previous papers in the European Aerospace Science Network series, which focused on the first two stages of LCA, this publication delves into the “life cycle impact assessment” and “interpretation” stages, providing an overview of the life cycle inventory modeling, impact category selection and presenting preliminary LCA results for the Blisk manufacturing process chain.

The result shows that the milled titanium Blisk has a lower CO₂ footprint than the milled nickel Blisk, which is less than half of the global warming potential (GWP) of the milled nickel Blisk. A main contributor to GWP arises from raw material production. However, no recycling scenarios were included in the analysis, which will be the topic of further investigations.

The originality of this work lies in the detailed ecological assessment of the manufacturing for complex engine components and the derivation of hot spots as well as potential improvements in terms of eco-footprint reduction throughout the products cradle-to-gate cycle. The LCA results serve as a basis for future approaches of process chain optimisation, use of “greener” materials and individual process improvements.

This chapter introduces electroencephalography (EEG), a measure of neurophysiological activity, as a critical method for investigating individual and team decision-making and cognition. EEG is a useful tool for expanding the theoretical and research horizons in organizational cognitive neuroscience, with a lower financial cost and higher portability than other neuroimaging methods (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging). This chapter briefly reviews past work that has applied cognitive neuroscience methods to investigate cognitive processes and outcomes. The focus is on describing contemporary EEG measures that reflect individual cognition and compare them to complementary measures in the field of psychology and management. The authors discuss how neurobiological measures of cognition relate to and may predict both individual cognitive performance and team cognitive performance (decision-making). This chapter aims to assist scholars in the field of managerial and organizational cognition in understanding the complementarity between psychological and neurophysiological methods, and how they may be combined to develop new hypotheses in the intersection of these research fields.

Our understanding of the influence of institutional conditions on process innovation is still limited, despite managers’ need to know which factors should be considered in decision-making and governments should be aware of how to foster process innovation through the provision of attractive institutions. Therefore, this paper aims to examine how institutional dimensions such as workforce, political instability, labor regulation, corruption, tax administration and transportation influence process innovation in smaller firms located in emerging countries other than the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

A data set from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys questioning over 20,000 companies from 41 emerging countries supplemented by the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for each country was used and analyzed by the means of general linear mixed models. The analysis emphasized small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and excluded BRICS countries.

The findings demonstrate which institutional factors matter for process innovation depending on company size and GDP.

This paper advances research on the influence of institutions on firm innovation – the institution–process innovation relationship in emerging countries other than the BRICS in particular. By considering the role of company size and GDP per capita on the institution–process innovation relationship, the paper offers more nuanced insights compared with prior studies and thus makes a strong contribution to the innovation theory. The data used are not suitable for a longitudinal study the same refers to capturing the variety found in the countries even those coming from the same geographic area.

The results provide practitioners, e.g. managers of SMEs, with concrete ideas on how to improve process innovation in their companies. Other actors such as policymakers too can benefit from the results as they will allow the design of more target group-oriented measures, aspects that can ultimately lead to more sustainable businesses.

By focusing on process innovation and emerging countries, the paper contributes to growing research efforts in emerging countries beyond the BRICS. Thus, the results add more diversity to the study of process innovation and its influencing external (institutional) factors. The emphasis on SMEs also allows us to highlight differences between different categories of SMEs.

The purpose of this multi-voiced paper is to propose a prosocial paradigm for the field of performance management and management control systems. This new paradigm suggests cultivating prosocial behaviour and prosocial groups in organizations to simultaneously achieve the objectives of economic performance and sustainability.

The authors share a common concern about the future of humanity and nature. They challenge the influential assumption of economic man from neoclassical economic theory and build on evolutionary science and the core design principles of prosocial groups to develop a prosocial paradigm.

Findings are based on the premise of the prosocial paradigm that self-interested behaviour may outperform prosocial behaviour within a group but that prosocial groups outperform groups dominated by self-interest. The authors explore various dimensions of performance management from the prosocial perspective in the private and public sectors.

The authors call for theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that explores the prosocial paradigm. They invite any approach, including positivist, interpretive and critical research, as well as those using qualitative, quantitative and interventionist methods.

This paper offers implications from the prosocial paradigm for practitioners, particularly for executives and managers, policymakers and educators.

Adoption of the prosocial paradigm in research and practice shapes what the authors call the prosocial market economy. This is an aspired cultural evolution that functions with market competition yet systematically strengthens prosociality as a cultural norm in organizations, markets and society at large.

This paper aims to show the interaction effects between clusters and cluster-specific attributes and the industrial internet of things (IoT) knowledge of a firm on the innovativeness of firms. Cluster theory and the concept of key enabling technologies are linked to test their effect on a firm’s incremental and radical knowledge generation.

Quantitative approach at the firm-level. By combining several data sources (e.g. ORBIS, PATSTAT and German subsidy catalogue) the paper relies on a unique database encompassing 8,347 firms in Germany. Ordinary least squares (OLS)-regression techniques are used for data analysis.

Industrial IoT is an important driver of radical patents, mediated positively by firm size. For incremental knowledge, a substitution effect occurs between a cluster and IoT effects, which is bigger for larger firms and dependent on cluster attributes and firms’ outside connections.

The paper opens up new research paths considering long-term disruptive effects of the industrial IoT compared to short-term effects on the innovativeness of firms within clusters. Additionally, it enables further research enriching the discussion about cluster attributes and how these affect ongoing processes.

Linking cluster theory and policy with Industry 4.0 raises awareness for being considerate in terms of funding and scrutinising one-size-fits-all approaches.

Connecting the concepts of a cluster and advanced manufacturing technologies as a proxy for industrial IoT, specifically focussing on both radical and incremental innovations is a new approach. Especially, taking into account the interaction effects between cluster attributes and the influence of industrial IoT on the innovativeness of firms.