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Strategic Management Journal 2002

Modularity, strategic flexibility, and firm performance: a study of the home appliance industry

Nicolay Worren1; Karl Moore2; Pablo Cardona3,4

1 Jøtul (Norway) · 2 McGill University · 3 IESE Business School · 4 Universidad de Navarra

Abstract

Recent theorizing has proposed that modular product and process architectures are key enablers of strategic flexibility. We formulated an integrative conceptual model encompassing antecedents, contributing factors, and outcomes of modularity. We then tested this model on data from managers in U.S. and U.K. home appliance companies using structural equations modeling. The results indicate a positive relationship between modular product architectures and performance, with product model variety as a mediating variable. The results also highlight linkages between perceptions of market context and the use of modular products architectures, and between complementary organizational capabilities and firm performance.

DOI
10.1002/smj.276
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