Towards the concept of “Factory of Things” in Intelligent Business Environments

The study of the Smart Factory has become a reality and is now acquiring the status of a well-established field in the study of business and technology management together with a variety of topics and research methods emerging from new practices of competition. Whilst, as Authors, we recognize the increase in theory and practice as a “viable” element since it expresses the vivacity of this discipline, we are also able to understand that there are several difficulties to revise and rebuild out of the methodological and conceptual approaches for the “Factory of the Future” because the narrative of this fledgling discipline is still to be written. Over the years the State of the Art has been enriched with scientific contributions mainly relating to the field of engineering and information systems and focusing largely on the aspects concerning the management and regulation of technology processes. Even if these contributions deserve scientific appreciation, we cannot consider their management aspects fully here, so as not to compromise a full understanding of the new research field. In order to extend the theoretical reference background, it is desirable to maintain a constructive exchange of ideas between business and technology streams of research; by learning from one another through a support system of theoretical and empirical evidence that will accumulate over time. With this in mind, we have tried to seize this invitation, providing a contribution that could be more meaningful for management scholars and practitioners, with the awareness of being at the origin, and without precluding any schools or viewpoints and without being concerned about the failure of reaching an overall consistency. This book project showcases a challenging view of the firm as a business organization that diverges from the current “conventional understanding” which is properly grounded on theories and practices belonging to previous entrepreneurial trajectories which were focused on traditional activities with the employment of low technology and innovation.