Making Design Rules: A Multi-Domain Perspective

Andrea Prencipe () and Stefano Brusoni ()
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Andrea Prencipe: SPRU, University of Sussex, http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/profile22168.html

No 136, SPRU Working Paper Series from SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School

Abstract: This study analyzes the processes whereby organizations develop radical innovations in response to environmental transformations. It explores the changes in organizational structures, practices and business strategies entailed by the implementation of such innovations. From the literature on modularity, we borrow the idea that the evolutionary dynamics of artifacts and organizations are linked by design rules, i.e. a set of principles that allocate functions to components, identify the operating principle of each component and determine the interfaces among modules. Through an in-depth case study of radical innovation in tire manufacturing, we study the joint dynamics of technical and organizational change during the transition from old to new design rules. We argue that technical change and organization adaptation are linked, but that such relationship is mediated and rendered open-ended by the evolution of the underlying bodies of knowledge.

Keywords: organizational change; innovation; technological change; modularity; tire manufacturing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L20 L62 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2005-10-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-ino
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/documents/sewp136.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Making Design Rules: A Multidomain Perspective (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sru:ssewps:136

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