City Research Online

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between product modularity and innovation in 101 R&D teams. The key contribution and the departure from prior empirical work consists in bringing into relation multidimensional operationalizations of these two concepts. Product modularity is composed of standardization and reconfigurability and innovation of novelty and efficiency. Theory provides arguments for both negative and positive relationships between standardization and the two types of innovation, while positive relationships are argued for product reconfigurability. The empirical findings corroborate most of the theorizing, although negative relationships are found for standardization. This study contributes to the literature by unpacking the understanding of the concept of product modularity in R&D organizations since the multidimensional approach resolves some of the ambiguity from previous studies. The modularity literature long called for studies to empirically investigate product modularity in more than one dimension implying a number of theoretical implications discussed here.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the Industrial and Corporate Change Association. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Publisher Keywords:	Standardization, Reconfigurability, Product modularity, Innovation, Teams, R&D
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads