Modularization strategy: analysis of published articles on production and operations management (1999 to 2013)

The objective of this study was to analyze the main topics studied on the subject of modularization in 81 academic articles published between 1999 and 2013 in international and Brazilian journals that include research related to production and operations management. This analysis proposes a general framework of studies that serves as support for future research on modularization strategy. To fulfill the proposed objective, a systematic literature review was conducted using 10 international academic journals and two Brazilian academic journals that publish studies on the study topic. The main results include identifying the lack of studies on the background that leads to modularization, the lack of empirical and quantitative studies on its effects, and the use of modularization in the organizational, service, and environmental contexts. The present study also organizes modularization studies in the proposed conceptual structure and classifies the articles analyzed into a specific modularization taxonomy and in terms of the study's objective.