Benefiting from modularity within and across firm boundaries

While existing research has shown the impact modularity can have on organizations, how firms themselves manage the interdependencies underlying modular designs is less well understood. This study addresses this, first by analyzing the role of architectural and systemic knowledge in changing product and organizational modularity. It then focuses on the extent to which development of modules takes place within or across firm boundaries and considers the drivers and outcomes of such decisions. In so doing, the paper connects research on modularity to the classic literature on product life-cycles, and extends this to current work on systems integration and platform ecosystems. Overall, the paper emphasizes the importance of intra and inter-firm modularity in terms of product and organizational mirroring, opportunities that emerge along the product life cycle, and how these can benefit systems integrators or modular firms.