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Manufacturing firms are under many financial and competitive pressures which focus attention on the performance of their manufacturing processes. In this paper the opportunities for improving the environmental impact of products within the constraints of existing manufacturing infrastructure are examined. Approaches which support sustainability in two aspects are proposed, firstly, the provision of products to the users in ways which extend the product life and secondly, manufacturing approaches which reduce resource usage. This paper outlines three different sustainable development strategies for different product types and describes the cost implications for manufacturers across the lifecycle. The performance measures affected by these strategies are examined drawing on product development case studies from a number of high technology sectors to highlight the different approaches taken. The results are intended to aid manufacturers during the earliest stages of business planning to consider alternative product development approaches which are more sustainable.

Copyright @ Springer-Verlag London Limited 2010. The final version of this article may be viewed at the link below.This paper examines the forecasting implications for product–service systems (PSS) applications in manufacturing firms. The approach taken is to identify the scope of operations for PSS applications by identifying all the activities associated with the service deployment in the telecom sector. The paper then develops a revenue model for manufacturing firms providing PSS applications. The revenue model identifies three generic revenue streams that provide the basis for discussion on the differences in forecasting approaches, including collaborative approaches based on PSS staff being geographically co-located

Wearable technology has become mainstream in this information age, it is needed to understand how the potential users of this emerging technology gain value from the innovation of the technology, consequently increasing users' diffusion. Extant literature on the acceptance of mobile computing has been developing such as in mobile banking services and in healthcare service, however, the study of users' acceptance about the emergence of wearable mobile computing is still at the early stages. This paper examines the development of a conceptual framework to understand the technology adoption factors for wearable mobile computing utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and related factors on mobility and pervasive computing. Data of 272 respondents were collected using quantitative approach of survey based questionnaires conducted in Malaysia. The findings of this research revealed the factors of mobility (MOB), personalization (PN) and perceived enjoyment (PE) achieved the highest average score by respondents, followed by perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU), observability (OBS), facilitating condition (FC) and social influence (SI). As wearable technology is perceived to be pervasive, mobility (MOB) and perceived enjoyment (PE) contribute the dominant factor for usage acceptance, while Perceived Usefulness (PU) from established model TAM, still plays an important factors in predicting innovation adoption of wearable mobile computing.

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