The effects of product modularity on competitive performance: Do integration strategies mediate the relationship?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of product modularity on four aspects of competitive performance: cost, quality, flexibility, and cycle time. Constructs were created from a comprehensive survey of the automotive sector. Regression is used to ascertain the relationship between the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of operations & production management 2007-01, Vol.27 (10), p.1046-1068
Main Authors: Jacobs, Mark, Vickery, Shawnee K, Droge, Cornelia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architecture
Automobile industry
Competition
Competitive advantage
Costs
Economies of scale
Flexibility
Learning curves
Manufacturing
Market strategy
Modularity
Operations management
Product design
Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of product modularity on four aspects of competitive performance: cost, quality, flexibility, and cycle time. Constructs were created from a comprehensive survey of the automotive sector. Regression is used to ascertain the relationship between the constructs of product modularity and performance with three different integration strategies as mediators. Modularity positively and directly influences each aspect of competitive performance for each integration strategy tested. Indirect effects were found for each integration strategy for cost and flexibility; and for manufacturing integration and cycle time. A product modularity strategy enables simultaneous improvements on multiple dimensions of competitive performance. This research is the first to empirically validate the effects of product modularity on competitive performance. Furthermore, it provides insight into the exact nature of product modularity's influence on competitive performance.
ISSN:0144-3577
1758-6593
DOI:10.1108/01443570710820620