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Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities

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  • Fixson, Sebastian K.

Abstract

Research on modularity and commonality has grown substantially over the past 15 years. Searching 36 journals over more than the past 35 years, I identify over 160 references in the engineering and management literature that focus on modularity or commonality in the product and process development context. Each of the references is analyzed along the dimensions subject, effect, and research method. The subjects of these studies have been products, processes, organizations, and even innovations, although the set of references shows a strong preference towards products. Similarly, a broad range of effects has been studied, albeit with the topic cost dominating all other effects. A variety of research methods has been applied to the study of modularity and commonality but the distribution of research methods differs substantially for modularity and commonality research. Despite the wealth of existing research, there are still significant opportunities for future research. In particular, studies that incorporate modularity and commonality's multiple effects on various players along the supply chain, that combine multiple research methods, and that follow systems over time appear very promising.

Suggested Citation

  • Fixson, Sebastian K., 2007. "Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities," Working papers 37286, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:mit:sloanp:37286
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37286
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Fixson, Sebastian K. & Park, Jin-Kyu, 2007. "The Power of Integrality: Linkages between Product Architecture, Innovation, and Industry Structure," Working papers 37154, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    2. Vishal Agrawal & Atalay Atasu & Sezer Ülkü, 2021. "Leasing, Modularity, and the Circular Economy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6782-6802, November.
    3. Tsekouras, Kostas & Chatzistamoulou, Nikos & Kounetas, Kostas & Broadstock, David C., 2016. "Spillovers, path dependence and the productive performance of European transportation sectors in the presence of technology heterogeneity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 261-274.
    4. Kilsun Kim & Dilip Chhajed & Yunchuan Liu, 2013. "Can Commonality Relieve Cannibalization in Product Line Design?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 510-521, May.
    5. Vishal V. Agrawal & Sezer Ülkü, 2013. "The Role of Modular Upgradability as a Green Design Strategy," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 640-648, October.
    6. Jesús F. Lampón, 2023. "Efficiency in design and production to achieve sustainable development challenges in the automobile industry: Modular electric vehicle platforms," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 26-38, February.
    7. Rajesh K. Singh & Hari Om Sharma & Suresh K. Garg, 2016. "Study on Supply Chain Issues in an Auto Component Manufacturing Organization: Case Study," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(5), pages 1196-1210, October.
    8. Baud-Lavigne, Bertrand & Agard, Bruno & Penz, Bernard, 2012. "Mutual impacts of product standardization and supply chain design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 50-60.
    9. Verma, Nishant Kumar & Chatterjee, Ashish K., 2023. "Process flexibility in the presence of product modularity: Does modularity help?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    10. Fixson, Sebastian K. & Park, Jin-Kyu, 2008. "The power of integrality: Linkages between product architecture, innovation, and industry structure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1296-1316, September.
    11. Brylowski, Martin & Ludwig, Maximilian & Kersten, Wolfgang & Schultze, Wolfgang, 2020. "Product modularization in integrated supply chains: A product life-cycle phase specific concept for effect allocation," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Data Science and Innovation in Supply Chain Management: How Data Transforms the Value Chain. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Lo, volume 29, pages 25-76, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    12. Kwak, Kiho & Kim, Namil, 2022. "Industrial Leadership Changes without Technological Discontinuity: Modularization, Institution-Led Market Discontinuity, and Market Development Strategy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Kartik Kalaignanam & Tarun Kushwaha & Anand Nair, 2017. "The Product Quality Impact of Aligning Buyer-Supplier Network Structure and Product Architecture: an Empirical Investigation in the Automobile Industry," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Leandro Gauss & Daniel P. Lacerda & Paulo A. Cauchick Miguel, 2021. "Module-based product family design: systematic literature review and meta-synthesis," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 265-312, January.
    15. Kuthambalayan, Thyagaraj S. & Mehta, Peeyush & Shanker, Kripa, 2014. "Integrating operations and marketing decisions using delayed differentiation of products and guaranteed delivery time under stochastic demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 237(2), pages 617-627.
    16. Menezes, Mozart B.C. & Ruiz-Hernández, Diego & Guimaraes, Renato, 2016. "The component commonality problem in a real multidimensional space: An algorithmic approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(1), pages 105-116.
    17. Sezer Ülkü & Claudiu V. Dimofte & Glen M. Schmidt, 2012. "Consumer Valuation of Modularly Upgradeable Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(9), pages 1761-1776, September.
    18. Shuang Ma & Gang Du & Jianxin (Roger) Jiao & Ruchuan Zhang, 2016. "Hierarchical game joint optimization for product family-driven modular design," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 67(12), pages 1496-1509, December.
    19. Stadtherr, Frank & Wouters, Marc, 2021. "Extending target costing to include targets for R&D costs and production investments for a modular product portfolio—A case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).

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