Boundary crossing in product introductions considering humans, technology and organization

The objective of the paper is to analyze how a product introduction involving Swedish-Chinese collaboration was influenced by human, technological and organizational aspects. The study showed that technical challenges concerned the infrastructure for communication and quality issues; organizational challenges concerned the new project model and updating drawing versions; and human related challenges included cultural differences and communication. The product introduction was highly challenging by crossing earlier boundaries in the human, technical, and organizational subsystems. Strong work demands were placed on the individuals while offering great opportunities for individual learning. Concurrent development of a new project model resulted in organizational learning.