Publication

This paper examines the limits to modularity and their impact on firm organization and industry structure. The author focuses on evidence from chip design, drawing on interviews from 2002 and 2003 with a sample of 60 companies and 15 research institutions in the US, Taiwan, Korea, China and Malaysia. The paper highlights differences in the coordination requirements of project execution and of technology development. The author documents constraints to interface standardization in the semiconductor industry and the slowdown of innovation that may result from strict adherence to market modularity.