Modularity and Innovation in Complex Systems.

Ethiraj, Sendil K.; Levinthal, Daniel A.

doi:10.5465/apbpp.2002.7519521

Cited by 102 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…We demonstrate that in a large project comprising many interactive tasks, a hierarchical or modular structure can, on average, alleviate the problem of large convergence time, as previously proposed (e.g. Hammer (1996)) and in agreement with empirical results (Ulrich, 1995;Sosa, 2003) and previous studies (Mihm et al, preprint;Rivken and Siggelkow, 2003;Ethiraj and Levinthal, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Performance Variability and Project Dynamics

Huberman

Wilkinson

2005

Comput Math Organiz Theor

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We present a dynamical model of complex cooperative projects such as large engineering design or software development efforts, comprised of concurrent and interrelated tasks. The model contains a stochastic component to account for temporal fluctuations both in task performance and in the interactions between related tasks. We show that as the system size increases, so does the average completion time. Also, for fixed system size, the dynamics of individual project realizations can exhibit large deviations from the average when fluctuations increase past a threshold, causing long delays in completion times. These effects are in agreement with empirical observation. We also show that the negative effects of both large groups and long delays caused by fluctuations may be mitigated by arranging projects in a hierarchical or modular structure. Our model is applicable to any arrangement of interdependent tasks, providing an analytical prediction for the average completion time as well as a numerical threshold for the fluctuation strength beyond which long delays are likely. In conjunction with previous modeling techniques, it thus provides managers with a predictive tool to be used in the design of a project's architecture.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Performance Variability and Project Dynamics

Huberman

Wilkinson

2005

Comput Math Organiz Theor

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“…However, extant simulation studies all implicitly assume that there are effective communications between modules (e.g. Siggelkow and Levinthal 2003;Ethiraj and Levinthal 2004b;ELR 2008), 6 so it is necessary for us to examine whether the effectiveness of intermodule communication can moderate the relationship between near decomposability and innovation performance.…”

Section: Organizational Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The principle of near decomposability forms the cornerstone of modular design (Baldwin and Clark 2000;Ethiraj and Levinthal 2004b;Sanchez and Mahoney 1996), but the literature do not explicate their relationship clearly, such as whether they are the same things. An important benefit of nearly decomposable structure is its capacity to localize the impact of environmental disturbances within specific subsystems, increase the survivability and adaptability of the system in a turbulent environment (Sanchez and Mahoney 1996;Simon 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Modularity and incremental innovation: the roles of design rules and organizational communication

Zhang

Gao

2010

Comput Math Organ Theory

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As little attention has been paid to the relationship between modularity and near decomposability, extant studies have not unveiled the impact of modularity on incremental innovation completely. We argue that the modular structure is a special case of nearly decomposable structure, in which the interdependencies between modules are specified by design rules, and the degree of modularity is defined by the level of near decomposability and the extent to which intermodule dependencies are specified. The results of our simulation experiments show that in the term of near decomposability, the increase of modularity leads to higher innovation advantage in the short term, but effective communication between modules can help systems with moderate and low modularity gain more innovation benefits in the long term; in the aspect of design rules, modularization may restrict the search space of the incremental innovation within each module, but under some conditions the option value of modularity may offset or even exceed the restriction effect of design rules.

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“…A prominent example is seminal paper ofMarch (1991) and further examples areDenrell and March (2001),Ethiraj and Levinthal (2004), orKnudsen and Levinthal (2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation-based research in management accounting and control: an illustrative overview

Leitner

Wall

2015

J Manag Control

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In this article, we provide an overview of applications of simulation as a research method in the domain of management accounting and control (MAC). According to different perspectives on management control systems, we report on simulation-based research efforts related to (1) management accounting systems, (2) organizational control mechanisms for managerial decision-making, and (3) strategy development and implementation. We find that-though not always labeled as "MAC"-simulation-based research provides valuable findings for the domain of MAC, and allows for shedding new light on conventional wisdom. For example, simulation-based research suggests that when evaluating the (in-)accuracy of management accounting systems, the mechanisms incorporated in management control systems, as well as the broader organizational context, like the organizational structure, has to be considered. We come to the conclusion that simulation-based research within the domain of MAC could, for example, contribute (i) to a deeper understanding of the interactions between the micro-and the macro-layer of organizations as well as (ii) to the emergent properties of management control systems.

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Modularity and Innovation in Complex Systems.

Cited by 102 publications

References 2 publications

Performance Variability and Project Dynamics

Performance Variability and Project Dynamics

Modularity and incremental innovation: the roles of design rules and organizational communication

Simulation-based research in management accounting and control: an illustrative overview

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