If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The objective of this study is to assess the applicability of Fine's three-dimensional modularity concept as a tool to describe and to analyze the alignment of product, process, and supply chain architectures. Fine claims that the degree of modularity in the final output product has a one-to-one correspondence with the degree of modularity in transformation processes and supply chains. Design/methodology/approach -An exploratory three-company case study is used to investigate Fine's three-dimensional modularity concept. Findings -Empirical research shows that Fine's three-dimensional modularity concept works well for descriptive purposes. However, the concept needs refinement when it is used for analytical purposes. For process modularity, the spatial aspect can be related to the concept of the territorial economy of firms, while the time aspect can be elaborated using a product life-cycle perspective and the concept of interface reversibility. With respect to supply chain modularity, the concept of modular production networks, which specifies combinations of different degrees of geographic, organizational, cultural, and electronic proximity, is appropriate. In the specific setting of the building industry, a methodology for developing product platform architectures would refine the dimension of product modularity.Research limitations/implications -Starting from the above-mentioned concepts, several strands of research are outlined for a further elaboration of product (developing a methodology for developing product platform architectures), process (taking a life-cycle perspective on module development), and supply chain modularity (analyzing conditions for the application of modular networks). Originality/value -The application of systematic engineering design methods, interface reversibility, and interorganizational ICT allows firms to align product, process, and supply chain modularity.

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The purpose of this study is to acquire a better understanding of why certain production and distribution facilities remain in Western Europe, in spite of economic globalisation. This paper focuses on companies located in the Netherlands but acting on an international scale. The issue is not addressed at a sectoral, regional, or even more aggregate level-of-analysis. Instead, the firm is the unit-of-analysis, which is why exploratory cases were conducted. The notion of strategic role (Ferdows 1989, 1997) is applied to assess internal motives for staying. The effect of external factors on individual facilities that differ with respect to these internal motives are also looked at. The findings suggest that facilities of high strategic importance within the multinational enterprise to which they belong have high expectations of the political/legal and macroeconomic environment. Furthermore, facilities preceding the major decoupling point in a supply chain seem to be more locationally stable than activities subsequent to this point. Copyright (c) 2003 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.

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