Research

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Global Economy (2007),
Gerald I. Susman, Editor.
This book is the result of the Third Klein Symposium, and addresses the resource supplement/leverage and innovation challenges that increased global trade represents for SMEs by exploring how they can become more competitive at home and in foreign markets as stand-alone firms or as members of supplier and customer networks. For more information, visit the Edward Elgar Publishing Web site.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), through its Manufacturing Extension Partnership, contracted with The Smeal College of Business to conduct a series of studies on manufacturing in the United States, in which CMTOC participated in whole or in part:

• The Identification and Analysis of Small Manufacturers that are Successful Global Competitors. (.pdf 807.2 kB) *Acrobat This study examined the strategies that SMEs use in their decision-making for internationalizing their business. Issues explored included market entry decisions (i.e., when, where, and how), intellectual property protection, and company structure and culture changes necessary for internationalization to occur.
• The Future of Manufacturing in the United States: the not-too-distant future (2010-2015). (.pdf 3.0 MB) * Acrobat This study was focused on the trends and strategic responses emerging as external drivers of US manufacturing businesses. The drivers included globalization, ecological awareness, demographics, and technology.
• Innovation Practices in Small Manufacturing Companies (.pdf 1.3 MB) *AcrobatThis research showed that in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing global economy, innovation aimed at sustaining and growing SMEs was substantially different from the 'traditional' model where the innovation was a unique product and/or unique manufacturing process.
• Innovation and Change Management in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Companies (.pdf 735Kb)*Acrobat
• Product and Service Development Processes and Practices (.pdf 894Kb)*Acrobat
  
  

Recognition and reconciliation of differences in interpretation of misalignments when collaborative technologies are introduced into new product development teams, by Gerald I. Susman, Barbara L. Gray, John Perry, and Candace E. Blair was published in the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management (Vol 20, Issue 1-2, 141-159) in June 2003. This study looked at how new product development teams learn how to adopt and adapt to collaborative technologies so that products can be designed virtually, i.e., "anytime" or "anyplace".