Mature Industry Research Articles

Use of real time localization systems (RTLS) in the automotive production and the prospects of 5G – A literature review

ABSTRACT Numerous challenges in automotive production lead to an increased need for transparency and optimization. Real-Time-Location-Systems (RTLS) is a key tool for achieving this goal. They enable intelligent and automated production processes. Existing solutions such as Ultra-Wideband, Bluetooth-Low-Energy, or Radio-Frequency-Identification have drawbacks in costs, range, or accuracy. 5G is a newly developing standard, recently including high-accuracy positioning. It is unclear, however, if 5G positioning has reached industrial maturity. This contribution aims to determine the state-of-the-art of 5G positioning by performing a systematic literature review and comparing its findings to industrial positioning requirements. 143 articles were analyzed and categorized as: the fundamentals of radio-frequency positioning, an overview of existing solutions, the state-of-the-art, and the maturity of 5G as an industrial positioning system. Results show that, theoretically, centimeter-level accuracies are pursued. However, practical tests are rarely conducted. Concluding, 5G positioning shows great potential, but industrial pilots are required to validate the theoretical characteristics.

Mexican Retrogrades in the Wave of American Film Culture

As one of the most penetrating media, film is an important expression of national cultural soft power. From the beginning of the 20th century to the present, American film culture has swept the world, directly or indirectly dominating the global screen entertainment. Relying on its mature film industry, the United States has rapidly penetrated its culture and values to the world, affecting the cultural identities of other countries. (Under the long-term hegemony of "Hollywood" values, the Mexican film culture as its neighbor has been seriously affected. In Hollywood films, Mexico seems to be synonymous with "chaos", "poverty" and "violence". For Mexican filmmakers, how to keep the Mexican style in the film in the "encirclement and suppression" of American films is the first problem, and then the goal is to show the real Mexico to the world. In response to this situation, some Mexican filmmakers have successively tried a genre-based creative path, transplanting the Hollywood genre film model into the local narrative, in order to achieve a balance between commerciality and artistry. This is also the goal that a group of Mexican filmmakers of the new genre have always pursued. They reject the domineering "cultural fusion" of Hollywood, but take the initiative to choose the "wall" that crosses national borders, galloping into the global film industry with Mexican concepts and creativity. One of the worthiest of exploration is the Mexican director Alessandro Gonzalez Inarito, because he has lived in the United States for a long time, so he has witnessed the situation of Mexicans in the United States, in his film The two perspectives of the United States and Mexico have appeared many times, intuitively revealing Mexico in the eyes of Americans. And almost all the films he shoots contain Mexican elements, trying to break the world's stereotypes about Mexico through the perspective of Mexicans. In the past ten years, Mexican films have made good news on the international stage and become one of the most active countries in the film industry in the world. Therefore, through the study of Alessandro's films, it is necessary to break the Mexico established by the United States and to re-establish the understanding of Mexico and its films.

To join or not to join? Insights from coopetitive RD&I projects

Multipartner research, development and innovation (RD&I) projects are increasingly used to achieve complex innovation goals and keep pace with today's technological imperatives. The involvement of both competing and noncompeting partners increases the complexity of the relationships and poses a challenge to the outcomes of such projects. Therefore, the right choice of partners is particularly important in this context. Although previous research has mainly examined how focal firms deliberately select collaborative partners, this study demonstrates how non‐focal firms evaluate invitations to participate in RD&I projects with multiple partners and direct competitors. Going beyond the coopetitive dyad, we qualitatively examine six multipartner RD&I projects in mature industries involving competitors and noncompetitors. The findings suggest that the evaluation process differs between exploration and exploitation projects. We identify critical factors that guide direct competitors' process of deciding whether to participate in both types of projects, and we provide new insights into the attractiveness of coopetitive RD&I collaborations for firms in mature industries. The study's propositions advance theory and can be tested in future empirical studies. This study also provides valuable guidance for practitioners considering embarking on a coopetitive journey.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY: ASSESSMENT OF DIGITAL MATURITY OF THE RUSSIAN ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY

Based on the analysis of domestic and foreign experience of digital transformation and the conducted expert survey, the authors conclude that Russia, in comparison with other countries, does not have a leading position in the implementation of digital technologies. At the same time, the electric power industry being the basic sector of the economy which is responsible for its safe and sustainable development, in terms of digitalization is on the sidelines, yielding to retail, the banking industry, telecommunications and the manufacturing industry. At the same time, digitalisation is a promising direction and can have a significant positive impact on the electric power industry. The purpose of the study is to assess the current level of digital maturity of the electric power industry in Russia, identify the main barriers to digital transformation and develop proposals in order to overcome them.The article uses generalisation, comparative analysis, analyses empirical data of digitalisation in Russia and abroad, conducts a survey of experts in the electric power industry about its digital maturity.

Structural Characteristics of Games and Online Consumer Behaviour: an Analysis in the Italian Gambling Market

The rapid growth of e-commerce over the last years has sparked a stream of research that has analysed the impact of Internet retailing on consumer behavior. This paper intends to offer a contribution, in the field of management studies, to the understanding of the reasons why the level of e-commerce use in a specific service sector, that of gambling, is different for different categories of services offered. In particular, the aims of this work is to analyze how the nature and specific characteristics of the different types of games could influence the customers’ decisions in terms of choice between digital and physical purchase channels. Thus, consequently, impacting the degree of development of online sales for the different types of gambling. This analysis is carried out in the context of one of the main national legal gambling markets in the world, the Italian one, in which Internet gambling is now a mature and consolidated industry. The results of the analysis have shown that for most of the traditional betting categories offered in Italy – Lotteries, Lotto, Totalisator numerical game, Bingo, Virtual bets – the nature and the distinctive characteristics of the game give little emphasis to the potential benefits usually associated with online gambling, and this has determined a reduced development of online sales. Only for Sports-based games (sports betting) the nature and characteristics of the game seem to have exploited a number of significant benefits that Internet gambling offers to players. This helps to understand why betting websites for Sports-based games have become the main channel of purchase in Italy. These results have interesting managerial implications for gambling operators, as discussed in this work.

Oil markets between Scylla of recovery and Charybdis of climate policy

In 2020 the energy transition path was distorted by the COVID-19 pandemic which caused a sharp economic decline and a fast global recovery in 2021. Unlike that period, the years between 2001 and 2019 illustrated a different type of energy evolution for developed and developing countries regarding primary energy consumption. During this period the composition of energy balances of these two major groups demonstrated dramatic disparity, notably marked by the high share of coal in developing countries. The shock of 2020 led to a belief in expediting the transition to green energy, but in 2021 the economic recovery revived demand for oil and coal, dashing hopes for the growing renewable energy sources sector in the European Union that year. The return of coal, however, to the EU energy sector and stable demand for motor fuel globally led to the restoration of the GHG emission growth against the backdrop of the climate policy implementation failure. The current energy transition is denoted by features such as the flat oil demand in developed countries, the flat global demand for motor gasoline and the growing demand for diesel. The econometrics of demand for two motor oil products are quite opposite. For gasoline we have almost all hypotheses met: the negative influence of climate policy and oil prices, strong effect of dummies for shock of 2020 and 2021, and naturally 0.3 coefficient at GDP growth rate. Nevertheless, for diesel everything is exactly the opposite — only 0,4 coefficient at GDP and practically nothing else. This effect shows the strong role and trend for cargo use of diesel fueled trucks in the global economy. The high income of oil and gas majors in 2021 did not secure the investment upturn. A mature oil industry receives substantial profits for its investors, supplying dividends, and buying back debts without enlarging production capacities. At this point climate policy expectations of phasing out fossil fuels in the foreseeable future operated as a braking mechanism against reinvesting oil incomes. Moreover, at this junction we can observe governments’ limited capacity to pursue policies toward multiple objectives simultaneously: modest energy prices, energy transition and securing the sufficient capital formation for energy. The continued fusion of the economic upturn and energy transition will be dependent on demand and supply matching in the oil markets. It is also possible that the sanctions policies of 2022 may aggravate the situation, triggering high prices and uncertainties.

민간역량과 산업주기를 고려한 전략적 에너지 R&D 투자 방법론 연구

전략적 R&D 재원 배분은 혁신 성과를 창출하는 데 있어 기업이나 정부 구분 없이 중요한 역할을 차지한다. 그러나 양적인 R&D 재원 증가가 반드시 기업, 연구소, 대학 등 혁신 주체의 기술개발 역량 향상으로 나타나는 것은 아니다. 양적인 투자 확대보다는, 이론적인 배경에 근거하여 과학적인 근거에 기반한 방법론을 도출하고, 우선순위에 따라 R&D 재원을 배분하는 접근이 투자 효율성을 높이는 데 있어 더욱 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 정부 관점에서, 민간역량과 산업주기를 고려하여 투자전략을 수립하는 방법론을 도출하고, 이를 에너지 산업에 적용한 결과를 제시하였다. 투자 포트폴리오 구성을 위해 민간역량과 산업주기 분석, 기존 정부 R&D 투자 성과분석, 그리고 전문가 규명의 총 3단계 접근법이 사용되었다. 주요 결과로, 동일 에너지 산업에서도 상이한 민간역량, 산업주기를 고려하여 세부 분야별 차별화된 투자전략이 필요함을 확인하였으며, 실제 정부에서 활용 가능한 세부 분야별 전략을 도출하였다.

Economic estimation of Bitcoin mining’s climate damages demonstrates closer resemblance to digital crude than digital gold

This paper provides economic estimates of the energy-related climate damages of mining Bitcoin (BTC), the dominant proof-of-work cryptocurrency. We provide three sustainability criteria for signaling when the climate damages may be unsustainable. BTC mining fails all three. We find that for 2016–2021: (i) per coin climate damages from BTC were increasing, rather than decreasing with industry maturation; (ii) during certain time periods, BTC climate damages exceed the price of each coin created; (iii) on average, each $1 in BTC market value created was responsible for $0.35 in global climate damages, which as a share of market value is in the range between beef production and crude oil burned as gasoline, and an order-of-magnitude higher than wind and solar power. Taken together, these results represent a set of sustainability red flags. While proponents have offered BTC as representing “digital gold,” from a climate damages perspective it operates more like “digital crude”.

Essential Factors Enhancing Industrialized Building Implementation in Malaysian Residential Projects

Sustainable residential development requires a balance between the increasing demand for housing and the efficient use of materials and resources. The increasing use of industrialized building systems (IBSs) through new building techniques and materials holds high potential as an optimum construction alternative. Although considerable research has been conducted on industrialized buildings, very few studies have focused on low- and mid-rise residential buildings. Therefore, this paper aims to fill this gap. An extensive literature review was conducted to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) followed by an interview to discuss and validate the collected factors. This study resulted in twenty-six factors grouped into five CSFs comprising planning and control, roles and responsibilities, policies and incentives, industry maturity and technology advancement. In addition, 219 survey responses were collected and analyzed. Three factors were perceived differently among organizations including commitment toward IBS policy, implementation of preferential policy for IBSs and imposition of higher taxes on waste dumping. The top five CSFs were early planning to implement IBSs, extended training for local labor, effective communication among project players, project location evaluation and accessibility and standardized design concept adoption. The findings of this paper will help policymakers to review current practices and help develop a roadmap for sustainable IBS development for all industry organizations.

Open innovation in the food industry: trends and barriers — a case of the Jordanian food industry

This paper aims to provide an overview of open innovation (OI) and the food industry, examine the main drivers of this model in the food industry, and consider the impact of applying open innovation strategies by companies. A single case study method was conducted with expert interviews with one of the largest food manufacturers in Jordan. Even though the food industry is considered a somewhat mature industry and low-tech, there are a lot of trends and unexplored potential that could permit the application of OI. This is the first study examining OI in the food industry in Jordan and one of the first in the MENA region. It is meaningful for the application of open innovation in countries with a lack of resources and small market size, especially SMEs that lack awareness of the importance of open innovation strategies and their applications. The findings also indicated that small and limited markets could be a huge barrier that hinders the application of open innovation and also indicated that Jordanian culture plays a major role as well.

Oil market: Conflict between recovery and energy transition

The article considers the place of oil in the energy balance of developed and developing countries during the shocks associated with the technological progress, business cycles, climate policy trends, the pandemic of 2020, and the sanctions of 2022. The results reveal the stability of the demand for motor fuel in the post-pandemic recovery as well as the improvement of the position of oil companies. The study examines the multidirectional impact of climate policies: reducing oil demand and discouraging investment in oil production. In addition, our research considers sanctions and a partial oil embargo as a kind of forced industrial policy leading to the reorganization of the world’s oil production, delivery, and consumption systems, as well as the uncertainty in investment and an increase in energy prices. The stability of the demand for motor fuel in the post-pandemic recovery and the improvement of the position of oil companies are shown. The duality of the influence of the climate policy is considered: the reduction of relative oil demand, as well as the deterrence of investment in oil production. For a mature industry that provides high returns to investors, this means a normal change in the investment function from expanding capacity to increasing payments and market capitalization. The goal-setting conflict between energy security and the preservation of the planet’s climate is deepening. The fundamental question: how much government policy can change the natural processes of transformation, how quickly and at what cost, remains unresolved. Energy is proving to be one of the key touchstones for the ability of the world’s elites to coordinate on issues of sustainable development of the world economy and the preservation of the planet’s climate.

Toward sustaining the development of green residential buildings in China: A tripartite evolutionary game analysis

Green residential buildings (GRBs) are of instructive significance to the sustainable transformation of the construction industry. Yet, it is far from the case that the development of GRBs in China has been sustained toward a long-term autonomy-oriented goal from reliance on the government's efforts, which remains an area requiring more scholarly attention. Considering the strategic choices of key stakeholders that dominate the GRB market, this study innovatively introduced industry associations and idle penalty to establish a tripartite evolutionary game model involving the government, developer, and homebuyer to investigate the evolution process of the dynamic system. Then, equilibrium points and evolutionary stable strategies were analyzed. Finally, collaborative players' decision-making behavior and their sensitivity to critical factors in each stage were illustrated through numerical simulations. The results indicate the leading role of the government in the incubation stage, while such leadership effects are gradually replaced by market-led mechanisms as the GRB industry matures. In addition, appropriate subsidies and penalties can benefit the GRB development when dynamically fitting respective stages and high cost obstructs the government's initiative for the GRB market. Accordingly, a series of promotion mechanisms are proposed to afford theoretical guidance and managerial implications to prompt the long-term development of GRBs more effectively. • Autonomy-oriented transformation of the GRB industry is essential to sustaining its long-term development. • A tripartite evolutionary game model was established to analyze three stakeholders' strategies in the dynamic system. • Industry associations were innovatively introduced to explore the role of social supervision in the GRB market. • The idle penalty mechanism was introduced to examine its regulatory effects on opportunistic behavior of the developer. • A series of promotion mechanisms of the GRB industry were proposed in relation to different evolutionary processes.

New approach for bio-jet fuels production by hydrodeoxygenation of higher alcohols derived from C-C coupling of bio-ethanol

A new approach for the synthesis of jet fuel hydrocarbon from bio-ethanol was developed, the integrated catalytic process of ethanol C-C coupling and heavy alcohols hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) was reported. The initial bio-ethanol C-C coupling process was fulfilled directly in aqueous environment over Na/Ni@C catalyst. The obtained high-carbon alcohols can be separated into C4-C7 and C8-C16 alcohols respectively through convenient fractional distillation. The obtained C8-C16 alcohols mainly consist of β-branched primary alcohol, which are desired precursors for jet fuel hydrocarbons. To maintain the branched carbon skeleton in the subsequent alcohol HDO process, the Co-Mo2C catalyst with excellent C-O bonds cleavage and carbon skeleton retention ability were developed. Jet fuel hydrocarbons of 56.7% yield obtained from this approach is mainly C8-C16 branched alkanes, which is beneficial for the cold flow properties. This strategy creates new opportunities for producing alternative jet fuel from the mature bio-ethanol industry.

High-temperature superconductor-based power and propulsion system architectures as enablers for high power missions

The increasing competitiveness of electric propulsion systems (EPS) for primary spacecraft propulsion has paved the way for higher payload mass fractions by offering significantly higher specific impulses than chemical systems. Concurrently, High-Temperature Superconductors (HTS) have reached an unprecedented level of industrial maturity in recent years, and considering their low masses, compactness, and high current densities, they offer the potential to act as a disruptive technology in several spaceflight applications such as power management systems, re-entry and radiation shielding as investigated in the EU-funded MEESST project, as well as EPS. In the latter case, efforts are already ongoing to develop an HTS-enhanced Applied-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic (AF-MPD) thrusters for high power mission applications. The Tsiolkovsky equation infers that the payload mass fraction increases indefinitely with increased Specific Impulse (Isp), however, in the case of electric propulsion, the dependence of thrust on the available power complicates this issue when transfer time is a primary driver. Here, the Tsiolkovsky equation becomes inadequate and considering a non-dimensional version of the Tsiolkovsky equation in terms of the mission ΔV and transfer time, the EPS thrust efficiency, and the specific mass of the power system becomes necessary. This paper first discusses the recent advances in HTS and their suitability for spaceflight, before reviewing The development of power system technologies is reviewed and a conceptual power system architecture incorporating HTS is presented. These technologies are analysed using a non-dimensional Tsiolkovsky approach and their impacts on the overall payload mass fraction are assessed. For high-power missions (>100 kW), the use of HTS is shown to have a highly beneficial impact on the mass of the power system. Correspondingly, this enables higher payload mass fractions achievable at increased specific impulse operation, thus strengthening the case for high-power, high-Isp EPS technologies such as AF-MPDT.

ASSET RETRENCHMENT DAN PERFORMA PERUSAHAAN: EFEK PADA BERBAGAI STAGE LIFE CYCLE PERUSAHAAN

Asset retrenchment strategy is one way for a company to stay afloat in financial distress and to improve firm performance. However, previous research has mostly focused on companies operating in mature industries. This study aims to examine the effect of Assets Retrenchment on firm performance in different competitive environments. The population used in this study are companies from non-financial sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2010 and 2020. The sample size was determined using the purposive sampling method. Research data was collected from Osiris then analyzed using regression analysis techniques using SPSS software. Overall, asset retrenchment strategy is positively correlated with increasing firm performance. The implications of the findings will be taken into account in decision-making for management in choosing a turnaround strategy in dealing with financial distress and to improve company performance.

Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics

In nascent industries―whose new technologies are often poorly understood by regulators―contending with regulatory uncertainty can be crucial to organizational survival and growth. Prior research on nonmarket strategy has largely focused on established firms in mature industries, but such strategies are apt to differ for new ventures, which generally have limited resources and market power and operate in novel domains in which the rules of the game are underdeveloped. How do new ventures navigate regulatory uncertainty? To explore this question, we conduct an inductive, multi-case research study of five ventures that pioneered the nascent personal-genomics industry. Drawing on extensive qualitative data, we develop an emergent theoretical framework that elucidates how ventures navigate evolving regulatory uncertainty. Grounded in a power versus industry-evolution logic, this framework illuminates how ventures’ strategies for doing so vary and theorizes why certain strategies appear more effective than others. In doing so, we also introduce a novel logic of interaction— regulatory co-creation—that ventures can employ to shape emerging regulations. Taken together, our theory and findings challenge existing perspectives on strategy in nascent industries, shed light on the dynamic interplay between market and nonmarket strategy, and recast the relationship between ventures and regulators during the emergence of new technology industries.

R&D Strategy, IT Resource, and Radical Innovation Performance

How do firms in mature manufacturing industries manage their resources to adjust to the emerging trend of digital transformation and increase radical innovation (RI) performance? We start from Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT) to answer this question. ROT suggests that flexible resource management actions such as resource structuring and resource bundling could significantly contribute to the attainment of firms’ competitive advantages. Based on ROT, this study explores how different knowledge resource structuring strategies (explorative or exploitative R&D strategy) improves firm’s RI performance. In addition, firms could bundle IT resources with the knowledge resources produced by R&D, creating additional value and increasing RI performance. We collect survey data of 288 manufacturing firms in China to empirically investigate how different R&D strategies affect firms’ RI performance, and how IT resources (IT infrastructure and IT usage) moderate above relationships. The empirical results urge practitioners to pay attention to the differential roles of R&D strategies in fostering radical innovation. Bundling different types of IT resources with R&D strategy would also exert different results on firms’ radical innovation performance.

Multi-Agent Evolutionary Game in the Recycling Utilization of Sulfate-Rich Wastewater.

Current industrial development has led to an increase in sulfate-rich industrial sewage, threatening industrial ecology and the environment. Incorrectly treating high-concentration sulfate wastewater can cause serious environmental problems and even harm human health. Water with high sulfate levels can be treated as a resource and treated harmlessly to meet the needs of the circular economy. Today, governments worldwide are working hard to encourage the safe disposal and reuse of industrial salt-rich wastewater by recycling sulfate-rich wastewater (SRW) resources. However, the conflict of interests between the SRW production department, the SRW recycling department, and the governments often make it challenging to effectively manage sulfate-rich wastewater resources. This study aims to use the mechanism of evolutionary game theory (EGT) to conduct theoretical modelling and simulation analysis on the interaction of the behaviour of the above three participants. This paper focuses on the impact of government intervention and the ecological behaviour of wastewater producers on the behavioural decisions of recyclers. The results suggest that the government should play a leading role in developing the SRW resource recovery industry. SRW producers protect the environment in the mature stage, and recyclers actively collect and recover compliant sulfate wastewater resources. Governments should gradually deregulate and eventually withdraw from the market. Qualified recyclers and environmentally friendly wastewater producers can benefit from a mature SRW resources recovery industry.

Coopetitive tensions across project phases: A paradox perspective

Coopetition is a paradoxical phenomenon that encapsulates the dynamic interplay between cooperation and competition. Management of tensions, inherent in coopetitive relationships, is a success factor for this type of collaboration. Previous research has extensively examined management of tensions in the implementation phase of coopetitive innovation projects but has paid little attention to the dynamics of these tensions across different project phases. This gap is disconcerting since the innovation management literature recognizes the fuzziness and uncertainty of the pre-project phase as critical to the continuity of an innovation project. We argue that differences between project phases are likely to affect tensions, and qualitatively investigate their nature and management in the pre-project and implementation phases. The findings indicate that companies in mature industries often experience strong intra-organizational tensions during the pre-project phase due to performing and organizing paradoxes. These tensions may harm companies' participation in projects and need to be handled by a working-through strategy at the company level. In contrast, inter-organizational tensions are identified as the dominant type of tensions during the project implementation phase due to performing, organizing and learning paradoxes. Inter-organizational tensions need to be addressed by working-through strategy, splitting-and-integration strategy or a combination of the two strategies, respectively.

Institutionalization of a collaborative governance model to deliver large, inter-organizational projects

PurposeIn this study, we develop further understanding of how institutional change is created within a mature and local industry. In this pursuit, we examine how a collaborative large project governance model was institutionalized at an industrial sector-level through both industry-level activities and “institutional projects”.Design/methodology/approachThis study builds on the foundations of institutional fields and institutional change, suggesting that projects are not only shaped by their contexts but also produce institutional change themselves. We conducted extensive fieldwork on the institutionalization of a collaborative project governance model in Finland.FindingsThe findings illustrate how institutional change in governance of large and complex inter-organizational projects is created at the institutional field level. The institutionalized collaborative project governance model includes aspects of both relational and contractual governance. The change was facilitated by temporal links between the institutional projects as well as vertical links between the institutional projects and the field-level development programs.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to address how a collaborative large project governance model becomes the norm at the institutional field level beyond the boundaries of an individual project or organization.