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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the impacts of additive manufacturing (AM) in manufacturing, business strategies and business performance and to determine the contingent factors driving performance. Accordingly, this study also clarifies the relationship between these impacts and company and product characteristics. \ud Design/methodology/approach - The authors conducted an exploratory study using multiple case research methodology, sampling 16 heterogeneous companies based on the theoretical replication approach. The potential impacts of AM were identified by reviewing the previous literature. For the driving factors, the paper follows the literature on AM, as well as the theories arisen from technology management literature. The qualitative information was collected by means of semi- structured interviews and documentary analysis to measure the effectiveness of AM in these aspects. \ud Findings - The paper derives and provides empirical insights regarding how this technology affects the industry. This study reveals how the implementation of AM in the Rapid Manufacturing (RM) of products made of metal has boosted productivity. These findings also demonstrate an increasing competitiveness of the early adopter SMEs using RM. \ud Research limitations/implications - This empirical research has been conducted by means of qualitative data. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions by quantitative measures. \ud Practical implications - The paper provides insights for the adaption of AM and its impacts on business strategies and performance. \ud Originality/value - This paper contributes to expanding the literature by depicting explicit links between the implementation of this revolutionary technology and business strategies and performance

Based on the phenomenal changes that additive manufacturing (AM) has brought to industries and markets, managerial approaches should be re-examined and developed to take advantage of emerging opportunities. This revolutionary technology is dramatically changing business and innovation models, shrinking supply chains and altering the global economy. For example, 3D printing shifts production locations closer to customers and leads to free-form product design as well as sustainable manufacturing. Several studies have been conducted on AM technology, but the research stream on AM management is still developing, with studies dispersed in journals across different research areas. Our study presents both systematic and quantitative analyses of the literature, including co-citation analysis, factor analysis and multidimensional scaling, to explore the structure of the AM research domains in the scope of management, business and economics. We found eight main research streams: AM technology selection, supply chain, product design and production cost models, environmental aspects, strategic challenges, manufacturing systems, open-source innovation and business models and economics. Finally, based on the results of our in-depth analysis of the literature, we found nine promising future research directions