Design of Industrial and Supra-Firm Architectures: Growth and Sustainability

Abstract

Abstract:The scope of organization design has expanded steadily from work-flow issues and job specifications to firm-level considerations and now to supra-firm industrial structures, where such issues as modularity and clustering loom large. economic analysis has made little headway in analyzing how increasing returns may be generated through suprafirm structures such as networks and clusters, nor in the question of how their industrial architecture (modular vs. integral, open vs. closed) affects economic performance. The focus here is on the supra-firm industrial architectures that have arisen, either spontaneously through the evolution of capitalism or through purposeful design, involving both state and private actors. Striking cases such as the Chinese automotive industry, which started with the production of conventional automobiles and motorcycles and now encompasses both two-wheeled and four-wheeled electric vehicles, provide testimony to the power of some industrial configurations to outperform others. My analyses and arguments are placed in the global context of the urgent need to find ways to accelerate the uptake of green technologies (such as electric vehicles) in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time promote the industrialization of countries still at lower levels of income and wealth.

Networks, Clusters, and Small Worlds: Are they related?

“…The success of regions like Silicon Valley comes from specialized Are they related? 51 complementarities arising between neighboring firms, something that cannot be accounted for in simple capital and labor terms in a production function (Mathews, 2012). Clusters allow the integration of agents characterized by different skills, competencies, and assets, enabling the generation of new ideas.…”

Transitioning from an economic cluster to a collaborative community: mining projects in Greenland

“…This is well recognized and object of increased attention (Mathews, 2012). Clusters represent a setting in which both traditional production activities and entrepreneurial and innovative activities take place (Mathews, 2012). Firms that form part of a cluster can accomplish many more activities by having access to more resources over the single, isolated firm, and expanding the market for their products and services (Mathews, 2012).…”

“…This represents a new way of thinking about local economies (Porter, 1998(Porter, , 2000. This is well recognized and object of increased attention (Mathews, 2012). Clusters represent a setting in which both traditional production activities and entrepreneurial and innovative activities take place (Mathews, 2012).…”

“…Clusters represent a setting in which both traditional production activities and entrepreneurial and innovative activities take place (Mathews, 2012). Firms that form part of a cluster can accomplish many more activities by having access to more resources over the single, isolated firm, and expanding the market for their products and services (Mathews, 2012). Ultimately, a cluster is a system where interconnections among members result in a whole that is greater than sum of its parts (Porter, 1998(Porter, , 2000.…”

“…Industrial clusters are powerful engines to wealth creation (Mathews, 2012;Ghadar et al, 2012). They cut across traditional industry classifications and are concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions co-located in a specific geographic region and linked by commonalities and complementarities in a particular field (Ketels, 2003;Porter, 1998Porter, , 2000Porter et al, 2004).…”