How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

This article examines the function of documents as a data source in qualitative research and discusses document analysis procedure in the context of actual research experiences. Targeted to research novices, the article takes a nuts‐and‐bolts approach to document analysis. It describes the nature and forms of documents, outlines the advantages and limitations of document analysis, and offers specific examples of the use of documents in the research process. The application of document analysis to a grounded theory study is illustrated.

Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method

Social Network Analysis

The circular economy concept has gained momentum both among scholars and practitioners. However, critics claim that it means many different things to different people. This paper provides further evidence for these critics. The aim of this paper is to create transparency regarding the current understandings of the circular economy concept. For this purpose, we have gathered 114 circular economy definitions which were coded on 17 dimensions. Our findings indicate that the circular economy is most frequently depicted as a combination of reduce, reuse and recycle activities, whereas it is oftentimes not highlighted that CE necessitates a systemic shift. We further find that the definitions show few explicit linkages of the circular economy concept to sustainable development. The main aim of the circular economy is considered to be economic prosperity, followed by environmental quality; its impact on social equity and future generations is barely mentioned. Furthermore, neither business models nor consumers are frequently outlined as enablers of the circular economy. We critically discuss the various circular economy conceptualizations throughout this paper. Overall, we hope to contribute via this study towards the coherence of the circular economy concept; we presume that significantly varying circular economy definitions may eventually result in the collapse of the concept.

Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions

This paper is based on the premises that the purpose of engineering education is to graduate engineers who can design, and that design thinking is complex. The paper begins by briefly reviewing the history and role of design in the engineering curriculum. Several dimensions of design thinking are then detailed, explaining why design is hard to learn and harder still to teach, and outlining the research available on how well design thinking skills are learned. The currently most-favored pedagogical model for teaching design, project-based learning (PBL), is explored next, along with available assessment data on its success. Two contexts for PBL are emphasized: first-year cornerstone courses and globally dispersed PBL courses. Finally, the paper lists some of the open research questions that must be answered to identify the best pedagogical practices of improving design learning, after which it closes by making recommendations for research aimed at enhancing design learning.

Engineering Design Thinking, Teaching, and Learning

The presence of non-metallic inclusions can result in material failure during the metal forming process or lead to a serious deterioration in the quality of the final product. Understanding the effects of inclusions during metal forming is therefore an important step towards predicting the behaviour of inclusions and subsequently minimizing their consequences.To aid this understanding the authors have carried out a finite element (FE) analysis into the effect that metal inclusions have during metal forming, and specifically the effect of non-metallic inclusions in rod drawing [1, 2]. The FE analysis was verified using experiments that simulated the rod drawing process. It is part of the results of these experiments which is briefly described in this paper. An aluminium oxide (Al2O3) sphere was embedded into an axially split rod which was then drawn through a carbide die. The subsequent deformation of the rod around the Al2O3 inclusion was studied. In addition, fracture of the rod, initiated at the...

The detrimental effect of non-metallic inclusions during metal forming processes

Recently, research and development is being actively conducted to develop light-weight representation schemes for product models and visualization-based systems to support collaborative product development. In this paper, several mainstream light-weight representation schemes and visualization-based systems are surveyed. Meanwhile, technologies to integrate visualization-based systems with other functional systems to establish collaborative product development environments are discussed.

Visualization Models and Technologies for Collaborative Product Development: Status and Promise

Hypertext, expert systems, and database techniques have been used to develop three systems to assist in design for fatigue. The first is used to provide life assessment. It integrates life prediction algorithms, includingstress-life and local strain methods, using a network of computing elements comprising rule-based systems, text, and images for explanation and procedural code. Linking between nodes of the network is accomplished by active links using the hypertext computing paradigm. The second system uses a combination of expert systems, hypertext, and database search to assist in the provision of advice on the modification of designs to improve fatigue performance. It incorporates advice on geometry, materials, component duty and environment, surface condition, and treatment. The third is a hypertext book for the provision of advice on good design practice. In each case, an advantage of using hypertext and expert systems is that the systems may readily be customized or extended by the user.

Chris McMahon

Papers

The detrimental effect of non-metallic inclusions during metal forming processes

Visualization Models and Technologies for Collaborative Product Development: Status and Promise

Hypertext and Expert Systems Application in Fatigue Assessment and Advice

Editorial for the special issue of information mining and retrieval in design

Reasoning with geometry: Predicting stress concentration factors