Production systems have been increasingly globalized during the last 30-40 years and production is very often “off-shored”, in which industrialized countries transfer production to countries with lower costs, whether in labour, energy or pollution control. Global production also necessarily involves an increase in transport, which in turn has implications for the global environment.

An overarching principle for research in the Global Production focus area is on sustainable and innovative solutions with a multidisciplinary perspective. This means the research must address sustainability as it relates to environmental, social and economic issues, particularly how sustainability can be a driver for new innovation and new solutions. The research addresses the ongoing globalization and internationalization of business activities and how firms deal with challenges and opportunities in the design and management of their upstream supply chain and network (supply chain management), and downstream activities (product life cycle management), as well as extended producer responsibilities.

Norway’s largest enterprises have traditionally been a part of global production chains, but the trend is now for small and medium sized enterprises to also become more involved in global networks, both as suppliers and as end-producers. A key research goal for this focus area is understanding the environmental, cultural, social and economic challenges and expectations these companies face in a global value chain. A related issue is the examination of the barriers businesses need to overcome to position themselves in a global value chain while at the same time focusing on sustainable solutions in a global context. This work should allow researchers to model global production systems, as well as to determine how companies can establish new business opportunities based upon responsible technologies, and how they can use environmental and social responsibility as innovation drivers for the development of existing supply chains and products in a global supplier’s network, as well as in marketing mechanisms for sustainable solutions.