Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically and critically review the extant literature on the design of global production and distribution networks to identify gaps in the literature and identify future research opportunities. The design aspects deal with strategic and structural decisions such as: opening or closing of manufacturing plants or distribution centres, selection of locations for manufacturing or warehousing, and making substantial capacity changes in manufacturing or distribution. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine the peer-reviewed literature on global production and distribution networks written in English. The search strategy is based on selected keywords and databases. The authors identify 109 articles from 1974 to 2012. Findings – The authors categorize the literature according to research methodology: case studies, conceptual modelling, surveys, and mathematical modelling. The amount of literature up to 2,000 is rather sparse, while there is a positive trend from 2,000 and onwards. The content analysis shows that different research methodologies focus on different but complementary aspects. The authors propose a research agenda for further research on design of global production and distribution networks. Research limitations/implications – The authors identify research opportunities related to complementary actor perspectives, extended supply chains that explicitly include transportation and suppliers, contingency factors, and new perspectives such as facility roles within production and distribution networks. Originality/value – This paper is to the author’s knowledge the first broad review that investigates the design aspects of the interrelationships between production and distribution facilities as well as transportation in global production and distribution networks across multiple research methodologies.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the extant literature on the relationship between product architectures and supply chain design to identify gaps in the literature and identify future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the peer-reviewed literature on product architectures and supply chain written in English. The search strategy is based on selected databases and keywords. In total, 56 articles from 1995 to 2013 were identified. Findings – Three key dimensions are identified for the categorization of the literature: the type of product architecture, the type of supply chain and the research methodology. Furthermore, we identify themes related to outsourcing, supplier selection, supplier relationships, distance from focal firm and alignment. Research limitations/implications – The present search strategy may have missed some references that are related to the area. However, as a counter-measure, we used back-tracking and forward-tracking to identify additional relevant papers. A research agenda is proposed for further research on the interaction of product architectures and supply chain design. Originality/value – This paper is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first broad review that investigates the interrelationship between product architectures and supply chain design.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how integral and modular product architectures influence the design properties of the global operations network. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform a multiple-case study of three global manufacturing companies, using interviews, seminars and structured questionnaires to identify ideal design properties. Findings The authors find that the choice of integral vs modular product architecture lead to significant differences in the preferred design properties of global operations networks concerning number of key technologies in-house, number of capable plants, focus at assembly plants, distance between assembly plant and market, and number of key supplier sites. Two of these were identified through this research, i.e. the number of capable plants and number of key supplier sites. The authors make a distinction between component and assembly plants, which adds detail to the understanding of the impact of product architecture on global operations. In addition, they develop five propositions that can be tested in further survey research. Research limitations/implications This study is restricted to three large manufacturing companies with global operations. However, the authors investigated both integral and modular products at these three companies and their associated global operations network. Still, further case or survey research involving a broader set of companies is warranted. Practical implications The key aspects for integral products are to have many key technologies in-house, concentration of production at a few capable plants, and economies-of-scale at assembly plants, while long distances between assembly plants and markets as well as few key supplier sites are acceptable. For modular products, the key aspects are many capable plants, economies-of-scope at assembly plants, short distance between assembly plants and markets, and many key supplier sites, while key technologies do not necessarily have to reside in-house – these can be accessed via key suppliers. Originality/value This paper is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study on the explicit impact of product architecture on global operations networks, especially considering the internal manufacturing network.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how global operations of manufacturing companies influence the choice of product architecture decisions, ranging from integral to modular product designs. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform a multiple-case study of three global manufacturing companies with integral and modular product architectures. Findings The authors find that the internal network capabilities, the number of capable plants, the focus of component plants, the focus of assembly plants, the distances from key suppliers to internal plants, and the number of market segments significantly influence the choice of integral vs modular architecture. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to three large manufacturing companies with global operations. However, the authors investigate both integral and modular products. The authors develop propositions that can be tested in further survey research. Practical implications The findings show that the type of global operations network influences the decision on product architecture, such that certain global operations characteristics support integral product designs, while other characteristics support modular designs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge this paper is the first study on the explicit impact of global operations on product architecture, rather than the other way around.

This paper investigates the relationships between product architectures and global operations networks and their impact on operational performance, based on survey data from 82 Swedish manufacturers. We find that modular and integral product architectures are associated with different characteristics of the global operations network, and that global operations network designs are characterised by three dimensions: network, plant and supply chain. The key aspects are network structure (configuration as well as coordination), plant focus (scale or scope) and the locus of supply chain capabilities (internal or external).