IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v17y2006i2p179-189.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making Design Rules: A Multidomain Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Brusoni

    (CESPRI and CRORA, Bocconi University, Via Sarfatti, 25, 20136 Milan, Italy, and Silvio Tronchetti Provera Foundation, Via G. Negri, 10, 20123, Milan, Italy)

  • Andrea Prencipe

    (Faculty of Economics, University G. d’Annunzio, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy, and SPRU, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QE United Kingdom)

Abstract

Design rules allocate functions to modules, identify operating principles, and set interfaces among modules that determine how organizations evolve. A case study of radical innovation in tire manufacturing illustrates the transition from old to new design rules through the joint adaptation of the manufacturing organization and the product to reflect changes in the underlying engineering knowledge. The case shows how knowledge evolution mediates organizational and technological change and makes any organization design openended and evolving.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Brusoni & Andrea Prencipe, 2006. "Making Design Rules: A Multidomain Perspective," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 179-189, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:17:y:2006:i:2:p:179-189
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1060.0180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1060.0180
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.1060.0180?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raghu Garud & Arun Kumaraswamy, 1995. "Technological and organizational designs for realizing economies of substitution," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 93-109.
    2. Mary Tripsas & Giovanni Gavetti, 2000. "Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: evidence from digital imaging," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(10‐11), pages 1147-1161, October.
    3. Richard N. Langlois, 2003. "The vanishing hand: the changing dynamics of industrial capitalism," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(2), pages 351-385, April.
    4. Pavitt, Keith, 1998. "Technologies, Products and Organization in the Innovating Firm: What Adam Smith Tells Us and Joseph Schumpeter Doesn't," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 7(3), pages 433-452, September.
    5. Prencipe, Andrea, 1997. "Technological competencies and product's evolutionary dynamics a case study from the aero-engine industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1261-1276, January.
    6. William Lazonick & Andrea Prencipe, 2005. "Dynamic capabilities and sustained innovation: strategic control and financial commitment at Rolls-Royce plc," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(3), pages 501-542, June.
    7. John F. Padgett, 2000. "Organizational Genesis, Identity and Control: The Transformation of Banking in Renaissance Florence," Working Papers 00-07-038, Santa Fe Institute.
    8. Anna Grandori, 2001. "Neither Hierarchy nor Identity: Knowledge-Governance Mechanisms and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 5(3), pages 381-399, September.
    9. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1997. "Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(7), pages 934-950, July.
    10. Sull, Donald N & Tedlow, Richard S & Rosenbloom, Richard S, 1997. "Managerial Commitments and Technological Change in the US Tire Industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(2), pages 461-501, March.
    11. Timothy J. Sturgeon, 2002. "Modular production networks: a new American model of industrial organization," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 451-496, June.
    12. D'Adderio, Luciana, 2001. "Crafting the virtual prototype: how firms integrate knowledge and capabilities across organisational boundaries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1409-1424, December.
    13. Melissa A. Schilling & H. Kevin Steensma, 2002. "Disentangling the Theories of Firm Boundaries: A Path Model and Empirical Test," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(4), pages 387-401, August.
    14. Langlois, Richard N. & Robertson, Paul L., 1992. "Networks and innovation in a modular system: Lessons from the microcomputer and stereo component industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 297-313, August.
    15. Akira Takeishi, 2002. "Knowledge Partitioning in the Interfirm Division of Labor: The Case of Automotive Product Development," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 321-338, June.
    16. Jan W. Rivkin, 2000. "Imitation of Complex Strategies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(6), pages 824-844, June.
    17. Stefano Brusoni & Giorgia Sgalari, 2006. "New combinations in old industries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 25-43, April.
    18. Anna Grandori, 1997. "Governance Structures, Coordination Mechanisms and Cognitive Models," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 1(1), pages 29-47, March.
    19. Ulrich, Karl, 1995. "The role of product architecture in the manufacturing firm," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 419-440, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Simge Tuna & Stefano Brusoni & Anja Schulze, 2019. "Architectural knowledge generation: evidence from a field study," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(5), pages 977-1009.
    2. Rahul Kapoor, 2013. "Persistence of Integration in the Face of Specialization: How Firms Navigated the Winds of Disintegration and Shaped the Architecture of the Semiconductor Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1195-1213, August.
    3. Andreas Reinstaller, 2012. "Modularity and its Implications for the Theory of the Firm," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 32, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Stefano Brusoni & Keith Pavitt, 2003. "Problem solving and the co-ordination of innovative activities," SPRU Working Paper Series 93, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    5. Andreas Reinstaller, 2011. "The Modularity of Technology and Organisations. Implications for the Theory of the Firm," WIFO Working Papers 398, WIFO.
    6. Frenken, Koen, 2006. "A fitness landscape approach to technological complexity, modularity, and vertical disintegration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 288-305, September.
    7. Vincent Frigant & Damien Talbot, 2003. "Convergence et diversité du passage à la production modulaire dans l'aéronautique et l'automobile en Europe," Post-Print hal-00246171, HAL.
    8. Vincent Frigant & Damien Talbot, 2007. "Proximites Et Logique Modulaire Dans L'Automobile Et L'Aeronautique : Vers Une Dualisation Des Espaces D'Approvisionnement," Post-Print hal-02376436, HAL.
    9. Vincent FRIGANT (E3i, IFReDE-GRES), 2005. "Proximities in Modular Production: an Analysis of the Globalization of the Automotive Fisrt Tier Suppliers (In French)," Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) 2005-11, Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales.
    10. Vincent Frigant & Damien Talbot, 2005. "Technological Determinism and Modularity: Lessons from a Comparison between Aircraft and Auto Industries in Europe," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 337-355.
    11. Nicholas Burton & Peter Galvin, 2020. "Component complementarity and transaction costs: the evolution of product design," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 845-867, August.
    12. Frigant, 2004. "Modularity: the foundations of an architect firm? (In French)," Industrial Organization 0405002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Leonardo Bargigli, 2005. "The limits of modularity in innovation and production," KITeS Working Papers 176, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Sep 2005.
    14. Frigant, Vincent, 2014. "Une comparaison de la fragmentation internationale des chaînes d’approvisionnement automobiles allemande et française," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 15.
    15. Vincent FRIGANT, 2007. "Between Internationalisation and Proximity: the internationalisation process of automotive first tier suppliers," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2007-13, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    16. Stefano Brusoni, 2003. "Authority in the Age of Modularity," SPRU Working Paper Series 101, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    17. Anna Cabigiosu & Arnaldo Camuffo, 2012. "Beyond the “Mirroring” Hypothesis: Product Modularity and Interorganizational Relations in the Air Conditioning Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 686-703, June.
    18. Giovanni Dosi & Mike Hobday & Luigi Marengo & Andrea Prencipe, 2002. "The Economics Of System Integration: Toward An Evolutionary Interpretation," LEM Papers Series 2002/16, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    19. Vincent Frigant, 2005. "Vanishing hand versus Systems integrators - Une revue de la littérature sur l'impact organisationnel de la modularité," Revue d'Économie Industrielle, Programme National Persée, vol. 109(1), pages 29-52.
    20. Anna Cabigiosu, 2018. "When do modular dominant designs emerge? A theoretical framework," Working Papers 05, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    modularity; design rules; dynamic multiple networks; tires; tire manufacturing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • L62 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Automobiles; Other Transportation Equipment; Related Parts and Equipment

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:17:y:2006:i:2:p:179-189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.