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This thesis report has been written for the Innovation in Business, Engineering, and Design master’s program (specialization in design) at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden, in collaboration with IKEA, a furniture company in Älmhult, Sweden.  This report is about finding form for customization to contribute to adapting cultures into product development. IKEA is iconic for Swedish design; however, it is a global company with customers all around the world. The research explores how IKEA can maintain its strong Swedish identity while inviting in different cultural influences. It decodes how cultural elements are integrated within the homes of people living away from their home countries.  A line of customized products was designed and developed with Ukrainian-influenced cultural values through form, colour, and pattern. Although the project was done through the lens of Ukrainian culture, the ideation behind the product development adaptability can be applied to any culture. The products bring together an understanding of product use and performance, as well as cultural traditions in the home.

Ideas for ways to use textiles and other materials as body coverings, or as a form of apparel decoration, as well as protection, continued to evolve throughout history. More complex ideas and outcomes developed with the advent of weaving, and rectangular shapes were draped in folds, tied, or wrapped around the body. An accepted practice in the apparel industry is seeking inspiration for ideas from a variety of people, places, and things. This practice of seeking inspiration from the environment leads to the question of whether copying is inherent within the apparel industry. History of costume research and study indicate that it is generally accepted that people wear differing apparel for each season of the year, with some repeat, or copying, in the same season in subsequent years. The terms counterfeiting, knocking-off, and copying are often used interchangeably, but further exploration of the terms show they are not the same. Counterfeiting has become, and remains a hot topic in the apparel industry, particularly in product development. Some designers have begun to challenge and demand their work be protected in some manner such as copyrights, trademarks, or patents. Questions and concerns abound among product developers. This study was exploratory in nature, seeking a definition, and identifying a specific point in the product development process, when a certain activity (i.e., copying) is more likely to be performed. Therefore, qualitative methods were used to achieve the objectives of the research. This research took a cross-sectional approach within a qualitative design study when selecting the participants. The cross-sections for the participants of this study were those participants in positions of direct influence on apparel product development. Analyzing the perceptions of the participants from the cross-sections in detail, inferences were made about the industry definition and method of copying, time of occurrence, and those most likely involved in decision making. The instrument for the study was an online survey with open-ended questions and fixed-response questions. Of the 20 participants, 11 accessed the survey with 10 choosing to participate. While some degree of similarity was observed in several of the definitions of copying, such as taking existing products to create new products, there was distinction when participants used phrases such as copying 'without changing anything' to 'copying the idea and concept.' Participants' definition of knocking-off can be summarized as a copy with variation in price point. Participants noted that the process of counterfeiting was an unauthorized or illegal copy of a product and often included copying labels or logos. Key reasons for copying products were reported as following trends and speed to market. / Ph. D.

Denna rapport beskriver prototypframtagningen av syrgasflaskan LIFT som utfördes på KTH med Hybrid Design som uppdragsgivare. Den fullt funktionella prototypen som presenteras i detta arbete är resultatet av en grundlig research som ämnade att undersöka hur en syrgasflaska bör se ut och fungera för att framgångsrikt penetrera den svenska marknaden. Syrgasflaskor för konsumentmarknaden finns sedan flera år tillbaka på bland annat den amerikanska marknaden och används flitigt av idrottare och träningsentusiaster för att effektivisera sin träning. Att tillföra extra syre till kroppen är ej dopningsklassat men enligt många kontroversiellt, speciellt i Sverige som arbetet visar. För att tillverka en syrgasflaska för den svenska marknaden krävdes ett gediget förarbete inför designarbetet. Arbetet inkluderade såväl kvalitet som kvanititetundersökningar men även fokusgrupper och testpersoner. De befintliga produkterna på marknaden analyserades och utvecklingspotentialen ansågs vara enorm vilket också resultatet visar, LIFT-syrgasflaska är något helt annat, för en helt ny typ av marknad här i Sverige. Fem olika koncept av syrgasflaskor presenteras i arbetet som resulterar i två finalister som ställs inför noggrann granskning innan en av dom framställs som prototyp och anses därmed vara den syrgasflaska som är mest lämpad för den svenska marknaden. / This report describes the prototype development of an oxygen boost bottle named LIFT that was carried out at KTH with Hybrid Design as the client. The fully functional prototype presented in this work is the result of a thorough research that aimed to investigate how an oxygen boost should look and function in order to successfully penetrate the Swedish market. Oxygen boost for the consumer market have been available for several years on the US market and are widely used by athletes and fitness enthusiasts to make their training more efficient. Adding extra oxygen to the body is not classified as doping but are according to many controversial, especially in Sweden as the work shows. In order to manufacture an oxygen boost bottle for the Swedish market, thorough preparatory work was required for the design work. The work included quality as well as quantity surveys but also focus groups and test subjects.The existing products on the market were analyzed and the potential of the development was considered to be enormous, which also the result shows - LIFT oxygen boost bottle is something completely different, for a completely new type of market here in Sweden. Five different concepts of oxygen boost canisters are presented in the work which results in two finalists who are subjected to careful scrutiny before one of them is produced as a prototype and is thus considered to be the oxygen boost bottle that is most suitable for the Swedish market.

No / Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the various mechanisms that can be used to integrate new technology into existing products, and to determine some of the conditions under which specific integration mechanisms are most appropriate. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopted an exploratory theory¿building approach based on analysis of data from 12 case studies, each representing companies with varying levels of: technological maturity of the organization and technological advancement of their products. Informants were managers and engineers who had responsibility for, or a significant role in, the integration of software and hardware. At least three interviews were conducted in each company and all interviews were of at least two hours duration. In total, 41 interviews were conducted. The different approaches used for technology integration were examined and subsequently mapped using the twin dimensions outlined above. Findings Cross¿case pattern analysis indicates that for technologically mature organizations, mechanisms based on processes are most appropriate, while for less mature organizations an approach based on structural mechanisms may be more suitable. Similarly, in cases involving high levels of technology advancement in the products, integration mechanisms based on processes and culture are preferable, whereas for low technology products the mechanisms are clustered around resource¿based approaches. Research limitations/implications Multiple cases do not permit as much depth as the classic single case study and tend to yield ¿modest¿ rather than ¿grand¿ theoretical development. The use of scaling to convert qualitative data into quantitative data, and the identification of patterns in cross¿case analysis are both based on interpretive judgements. Future research should examine the proposed model and its constructs in different settings and using alternative research methods. There is also an opportunity to explore the relationships between the integration mechanisms and the outcomes of integration projects, and finally, it would be useful to extend the work to service settings and to integration of process technology. Practical implications The findings provide guidance to managers in selecting alternative approaches to managing the process of technology integration in different contexts. Examples are given of practices associated with each integration mechanism, together with some of the tensions and challenges which arise during implementation. Originality/value The paper provides clear guidance on the approaches that can be used for technology integration for product development. It classifies these according to the level of maturity and experience in the organization and the level of advancement of the product offered by the technology.

There is an intersection of challenges where society’s social and ecological problems coincide with the industrial firm’s challenge to maintain profitability in a globalizing world. Products connect these challenges. The development of these products together with services (product-service systems) therefore provides a critical intervention point to address these challenges. This includes e.g. defining what the products and services are, how they will deliver value to users, and the business models that enable them to be realized, as well as how these can contribute to sustainable development of society. The overarching goal of this research is to contribute to sustainable development of society by better understanding how a strategic sustainable development perspective based on backcasting from basic principles for a sustainable society can be brought into and guide product-service system innovation. Interviews with industry professionals, workshops with both manufacturing companies and within student projects, and industrial cases studies, together with a review of literature and theoretical considerations, provide the methodological basis for this work. This thesis contributes to clarifying theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations for a strategic sustainable development perspective to guide product-service system innovation and provides a basis for the integration of these concepts. The findings indicate that the co-innovation of products and services in product-service systems can contribute to sustainable development of society both by supporting reduced material and energy use and by supporting improved life cycle management of materials. Further, a strategic sustainable development perspective can contribute to the refinement of existing tools and methods in product-service system innovation by providing an operational definition of sustainability articulated in the form of first-order principles that describe the boundary conditions for a sustainable society, and by providing guidelines for how to approach a vision of success inside those boundaries in a strategic way. In order to identify solutions that meet society’s pressing challenges, new solution spaces may need to be identified, and this can be enabled by a shift from product development with service as “add-ons” to their co-innovation in product-service systems. An initial approach for how this could be enabled through bringing together set-based approaches to design product-service systems with a strategic sustainable development perspective is presented.