Comment la production modulaire transforme l'industrie automobile

Vincent Frigant and Bernard Jullien

Revue d'économie industrielle, 2014, vol. n° 145, issue 1, 11-44

Abstract: ?In this paper, we explain why and how the ado? ?ption of a modular product-architecture transforms the organisation of industry. Considering the auto industry, we show that modularity-as-process transforms the overall automobile industry: carmakers, suppliers and buyer/suppliers relationships. Modularity-as-process is a key driver of carmakers? vertical disintegration, growth of suppliers and emergence of mega-suppliers, international division of labour and delocalizations. This single-industry case study provides some evidences of the ?mirroring? hypothesis (Colfer and Baldwin). In the last part of the paper, we stress that some carmakers develop a new generation of modular platforms. We examine their motivations but also the limits of these platforms and the risk of new unfilled promises.?

Keywords: Modularity; Modularisation; Industries Transformations; Mirroring Hypothesis; Technology-Organisation Relationship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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