"Increasing Complexity of Artifacts and the Role of Product Architecture"(in Japanese)

Masahiro Okuno-Fujiwara (), Hirokazu Takizawa and Yasunori Watanabe
Additional contact information
Hirokazu Takizawa: School of Global Studies, Tama University
Yasunori Watanabe: MMRC, 21st Century COE, University of Tokyo

No CIRJE-J-178, CIRJE J-Series from CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is twofold: One is to explain the concept of product architecture in the context of increasing complexity of artifacts; The other is to examine the condition under which the open-standard strategy is likely to be adopted. Dramatic decreases in mechanical information processing cost due to IT development induced hierarchical subdivision of artifacts with a modular structure consisting of numerous parts. This brought to the fore the question of how to solve the complicated coordination/integration problem between development of whole product system and that of individual parts. There are two ways of classifying solutions to this problem: One is the distinction between coordination by humans and coordination by product architecture; The other is the distinction between decentralized coordination through markets and cooperative coordination via organizations or networks. We argue that precommitted standardization and open development strategies are complements. We then set up a model for examining the problem faced by a monopolist with a core technology to decide to choose between open-standard strategy or closed-integral strategy. Some comparative analytic results are provided.

Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2007-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cirje.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/dp/2007/2007cj178.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Increasing Complexity of Artifacts and the Role of Product Architecture (Japanese) (2007)
Working Paper: "Increasing Complexity of Artifacts and the Role of Product Architecture"(in Japanese) (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tky:jseres:2007cj178

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CIRJE J-Series from CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CIRJE administrative office ().