Modularity, interfaces definition and the integration of external sources of innovation in the automotive industry

Abstract

In the last two decad es, the au to industr y has shown a steady increase of vehicle development outsourcing and a shift of both pr oduct developm ent tasks and knowledge from car makers to suppliers. This trend has increased the interest toward product m odularity as a tool to suggest that they may work as substitutes and are rather difficult to combine.

Transdisciplinarity Seen Through Information, Communication, Computation, (Inter-)Action and Cognition

“…However, modular development requires contextual knowledge to interconnected parts. Contrary to earlier expectations of complexity outsourcing, (Cabigiosu et al 2013) states that "modular design does not substitute for high-power interorganizational coordination mechanisms". This supports the current change, especially in research and development departments, towards interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary departments, such as e.g.…”

Supplier integration for new product developments : antecedents for supplier integration in modular product designs

“…Several empirical studies indicate that knowledge plays an important role in the relationship between product modularity and the degree of inter-organizational integration (Brusoni et al, 2001;Cabigiosu et al, 2013;Sanchez & Mahoney, 1996). In this respect Brusoni et al's study (2001) in the aircraft industry shows that systems integration firms that maintain a knowledge base that covers the whole product system are more effective in coordinating the design and manufacturing activities within their network of specialized subsystem suppliers.…”

“…Prencipe (2000) also argued that a deep understanding of components' inner working helped manufacturers of aircraft engine control systems to specify, assess, test and integrate components that are externally sourced. Later studies found that in many cases modularity (in the form of standard interfaces) did not per se eliminate the need for buyer-supplier integration (Cabigiosu & Camuffo, 2012a;Cabigiosu et al, 2013;Colfer & Baldwin, 2010). Despite attempts to modularize systems, modularization is unlikely to fully eliminate and/or codify all the interdependencies between subsystems and companies ex ante (Cabigiosu & Camuffo, 2012a;Colfer & Baldwin, 2010;Ethiraj & Levinthal, 2004;Staudenmayer et al, 2005).…”

“…grey-box integration) may complement modularity as a means to coordinate the interdependencies that tend to emerge ex post after definition of the modular design interfaces (Staudenmayer et al, 2005). A study in the air conditioning industry suggests that buyer-supplier coordination was indeed facilitated through interface stability only at high levels of component and architectural knowledge held by the OEM as this improved its ability to predict the technical interdependences characterizing the design of the product (Cabigiosu et al, 2013).…”

“…Buyer-supplier collaboration in relation to modular product architectures has received significant scholarly attention (Cabigiosu, Zirpoli, & Camuffo, 2013;Danese & Filippini, 2010;Howard & Squire, 2007). A stream of the modularity literature has dealt with the across-firm mirroring hypothesis predicting that firms benefit from isomorphism between the "thickness" of their interfirm relationships and the technical patterns of dependency in the system under development (Cabigiosu & Camuffo, 2012a;Colfer & Baldwin, 2010;Sanchez & Mahoney, 1996).…”