Carliss Y. Baldwin

William L. White Professor of Business Administration, Emerita

+1 (617) 495-6673

Contact Information

(617) 495-6673

Design Rules, Vol. 1: The Power of Modularity

with Kim B. Clark

We live in a dynamic economic and commercial world, surrounded by objects of remarkable complexity and power. In many industries, changes in products and technologies have brought with them new kinds of firms and forms of organization. We are discovering news ways of structuring work, of bringing buyers and sellers together, and of creating and using market information. Although our fast-moving economy often seems to be outside of our influence or control, human beings create the things that create the market forces. Devices, software programs, production processes, contracts, firms, and market are all the fruit of purposeful action: they are designed.

Using the computer industry as an example, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark develop a powerful theory of design and industrial evolution. They argue that the industry has experienced previously unimaginable levels of innovation and growth because it embraced the concept of modularity, building complex products from smaller subsystems that can be designed independently yet function together as a whole. Modularity freed designers to experiment with different approaches, as long as they obeyed the established design rules. Drawing upon the literatures of industrial organization, real options, and computer architecture, the authors provide insight into the forces of change that drive today's economy.

Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture

with Alan MacCormack and John Rusnak

All complex systems can be described in terms of their architecture, that is, as a nested hierarchy of subsystems. In this paper, we use network methods to detect the core components of an architecture, to establish whether systems possess a core-periphery structure, and to measure important elements of these structures. Our results complement the wealth of theoretical papers published on system design and architecture. Using a sample of 1286 releases from 17 different software applications, we establish some stylized facts about the structure of real-world software systems. We find that the majority of systems in our sample – 67% to 89% – possess a core-periphery structure. However, it is important to note that a significant number of systems lack such a structure. Thus a considerable amount of managerial discretion exists when choosing the “best” architecture for a system. The contribution of this paper is to make hidden features of a system’s architecture visible. Our methods may be helpful in locating and measuring technical debt, that is, the cost of making and verifying future changes in a complex technical system.

Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for Developing Infrastructure

with Nuno Gil

Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection

with Joachim Henkel

Modularity is a means of partitioning technical knowledge about a product or process. When state-sanctioned intellectual property (IP) rights are ineffective or costly to enforce, modularity can be used to hide information and thus protect IP. We investigate the impact of modularity on IP protection by formally modeling the threat of expropriation by agents. The principal has three options to address this threat: trust, licensing, and paying agents to stay loyal. We show how the principal can influence the value of these options by modularizing the system and by hiring clans of agents, thus exploiting relationships among them. Extensions address screening and signaling in hiring, the effects of an imperfect legal system, and social norms of fairness. We illustrate our arguments with examples from practice.

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

with Eric von Hippel

Organization Science, 22(6):1399-1417

We argue that innovation by individual users and open collaborative innovation increasingly compete with and may displace producer innovation in many parts of the economy.

Carliss Y. Baldwin is the William L. White Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. She studies the process of design and its impact of design architecture on firm strategy, platforms, and business ecosystems. With Kim Clark, she authored Design Rules, Volume 1: The Power of Modularity. Her work has been published in a variety of leading journals including Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Management Science, Research Policy and Harvard Business Review. She has won numerous awards for research: most recently, she received a Doctor honoris causa from the Technical University Munich in 2014, and in 2015 was named the Distinguished Scholar of the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) division of the Academy of Management.

Carliss has a Doctorate and MBA from Harvard Business School, and an SB in Economics from MIT. She studied finance under Robert C. Merton, Franco Modigliani, and John Lintner.

At Harvard Business School, she developed and taught Mergers & Acquisitions, a second-year elective MBA course, and presently teaches Finance 2, a first-year required course. She has written over 50 cases and notes for MBA and executive classes. In 2014, her case on Roche’s Acquisition of Genentech was named the best case in Finance, Accounting and Control by the Case Centre.

Also at Harvard Business School, she has been a Director of Research, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Planning, and head of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. Within Harvard University, she has been on the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Chair of the Advisory Committee on Social Responsibility. She has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.

Featured Work

Design Rules, Vol. 1: The Power of Modularity

with Kim B. Clark

Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture

with Alan MacCormack and John Rusnak

Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for Developing Infrastructure

with Nuno Gil

Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection

with Joachim Henkel

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

with Eric von Hippel

Organization Science, 22(6):1399-1417

We argue that innovation by individual users and open collaborative innovation increasingly compete with and may displace producer innovation in many parts of the economy.

Books

Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. Design Rules, Volume 1, The Power of Modularity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. Design Rules, Volume 1, The Power of Modularity. Tokyo, Japan: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), 2004, Japanese ed. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. Design Rules, Volume 1, The Power of Modularity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006, Chinese Mandarin ed. View Details

Journal Articles

Lagerstrom, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Daniel J. Sturtevant, and Lee Doolan. "Exploring the Relationship Between Architecture Coupling and Software Vulnerabilities." Proceedings of the International Symposium on Engineering Secure Software and Systems (ESSoS) 9th (2017): 53–69. (Part of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, ISSN 0302-9743.) View Details
Colfer, Lyra J., and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence, and Exceptions." Industrial and Corporate Change 25, no. 5 (2016): 709–738. (Lead Article.) View Details
Lagerström, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and Alan MacCormack. "Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architecture: A Power Utility Case." Special Issue on DSM Conference 2014. Journal of Modern Project Management 3, no. 2 (September–December 2015): 114–121. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "In the Shadow of the Crowd: A Comment on 'Valve's Way'." Journal of Organization Design 4, no. 2 (2015): 5–7. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Alan MacCormack, and John Rusnak. "Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture." Research Policy 43, no. 8 (October 2014): 1381–1397. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Joachim Henkel. "Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection." Strategic Management Journal 36, no. 11 (November 2015): 1637–1655. View Details
Lakhani, Karim R., Kevin J. Boudreau, Po-Ru Loh, Lars Backstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Eric Lonstein, Mike Lydon, Alan MacCormack, Ramy A. Arnaout, and Eva C. Guinan. "Prize-based Contests Can Provide Solutions to Computational Biology Problems." Nature Biotechnology 31, no. 2 (February 2013): 108–111. View Details
Henkel, Joachim, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and Willy C. Shih. "IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property." California Management Review 55, no. 4 (Summer 2013): 65–82. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Organization Design for Business Ecosystems." Special Issue on The Future of Organization Design. Journal of Organization Design 1, no. 1 (2012). View Details
Luo, Jianxi, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Daniel E. Whitney, and Christopher L. Magee. "The Architecture of Transaction Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Hierarchy in Two Sectors." Industrial and Corporate Change 21, no. 6 (December 2012): 1307–1335. View Details
MacCormack, Alan, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and John Rusnak. "Exploring the Duality Between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the 'Mirroring' Hypothesis." Research Policy 41, no. 8 (October 2012): 1309–1324. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss, and Eric von Hippel. "Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation." Organization Science 22, no. 6 (November–December 2011): 1399–1417. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions, and the Boundaries of Firms." Industrial and Corporate Change 17, no. 1 (February 2008): 155–195. (Selected as one of the top twenty articles in the first twenty years of publication, 1992-2011.) View Details
Purao, S., C. Y. Baldwin, A. Hevner, V. Storey, J. Pries-Heje, and B. Smith. "The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field." Art. 29. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 23 (2008). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Christoph Hienerth, and Eric von Hippel. "How User Innovations Become Commercial Products: A Theoretical Investigation and a Case Study." Research Policy 35, no. 9 (December 2006). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "The Architecture of Participation: Does Code Architecture Mitigate Free Riding in the Open Source Development Model?" Management Science 52, no. 7 (July 2006). View Details
MacCormack, Alan, John Rusnak, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Exploring the Structure of Complex Software Designs: An Empirical Study of Open Source and Proprietary Code." Management Science 52, no. 7 (July 2006). View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and K. B. Clark. "Managing in an Age of Modularity." Harvard Business Review 75, no. 5 (September–October 1997): 84–93. View Details
Clark, K. B., and C. Y. Baldwin. "Capital Budgeting Systems and Capabilities Investments in U.S. Companies after World War II." Business History Review 68, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 73–109. (Winner of Newcomen-Harvard Award For the best article published each year in the Business History Review.) View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and K. B. Clark. "Capabilities and Capital Investment: New Perspectives on Capital Budgeting." Continental Bank Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 5, no. 2 (summer 1992): 67–82. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Sugato Bhattacharyya. "Choosing the Method of Sale: A Clinical Study of Conrail." Journal of Financial Economics 30, no. 1 (November 1991). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "How Capital Budgeting Deters Innovation--And What To Do About It." Research-Technology Management (November–December 1991). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Strategic Capital Budgeting: A Financial Approach to Investing for the Long Run." Cuadernos económicos de I.C.E. 42, no. 2 (1989). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Capital Factor: Competing for Capital in a Global Environment." Midland Corporate Finance Journal 5, no. 1 (spring 1987). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and R. S. Ruback. "Inflation, Uncertainty and Investment." Journal of Finance 41, no. 3 (July 1986): 657–668. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., J. J. Tribendis, and J. P. Clark. "The Evolution of Market Risk in the U.S. Steel Industry and Implications for Required Rates of Return." Journal of Industrial Economics 32, no. 5 (September 1984). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Christine E. Bishop. "Return to Nursing Home Investment: Issues for Public Policy." Health Care Financing Review 5, no. 4 (1984). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Donald R. Lessard, and Scott P. Mason. "Budgetary Time Bombs: Controlling Government Loan Guarantees." Canadian Public Policy 9, no. 3 (September 1983). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Scott P. Mason. "The Resolution of Claims in Financial Distress - The Case of Massey Ferguson." Journal of Finance 38, no. 2 (May 1983). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Productivity and Labor Unions: An Application of the Theory of Self-Enforcing Contracts." Journal of Business 56, no. 2 (April 1983). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Optimal Sequential Investment When Capital is Not Readily Reversible." Journal of Finance 37, no. 3 (June 1982). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Richard F. Meyer. "Liquidity Preference under Uncertainty." Journal of Financial Economics 7, no. 4 (December 1979). View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Timing of Mandated Investments -- A Framework for Decision-Making." MIT Sloan Management Review 20, no. 3 (spring 1979). View Details

Book Chapters

Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity and Organizations." In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. 2nd ed. Edited by James D. Wright, 718–723. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2015. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)." In The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Continuously updated edition, edited by Mie Augier and David J. Teece. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Electronic. (Pre-published, October 2013.) View Details
Waltl, Josef, Joachim Henkel, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "IP Modularity in Software Ecosystems: How SugarCRM's IP and Business Model Shape Its Product Architecture." In Software Business: Proceedings of the Third International Conference, ICSOB 2012, by M. A. Cusumano, B. Iyer, and N. Venkatraman, 94–106. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 2012. View Details
MacCormack, Alan, Carliss Baldwin, and John Rusnak. "Evaluating the Impact of the Mozilla Software Redesign Effort." Chap. 3.5 in Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications, by Steven D. Eppinger and Tyson R. Browning, 54–57. MIT Press, 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and C. Jason Woodard. "The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View." In Platforms, Markets and Innovation, edited by Annabelle Gawer. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "Modularity in the Design of Complex Engineering Systems." In Complex Engineered Systems: Science Meets Technology, edited by Ali Minai, Dan Braha, and Yaneer Bar Yam. New England Complex Systems Institute Series on Complexity. NY: Springer, 2006. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "Between 'Knowledge' and 'the Economy': Notes on the Scientific Study of Designs." In Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy, edited by B. Kahin and D. Foray. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "Preface." Preface to Design Rules, Volume 1, The Power of Modularity, by Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006, Chinese Mandarin ed. (Full text of Preface, Chinese ed.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "Preface." Preface to Design Rules, Volume 1, The Power of Modularity, by Carliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark. Tokyo, Japan: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), 2004, Japanese ed. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "The Value and Cost of Modularity." In Modularity, edited by Masahiko Aoki. Tokyo, Japan: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), 2002, Japanese ed. View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and Kim B. Clark. Comment on "Managing in an Age of Modularity." Managing in the Modular Age: Architectures, Networks, and Organizations, edited by Raghu Garud, Arun Kumaraswamy, and Richard Langlois. Blackwell Publishing, 2002. View Details
Baker, George P., Michael C. Jensen, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and Karen H. Wruck. "Organizations and Markets at Harvard Business School, 1984-1996." In The Intellectual Venture Capitalist: John H. McArthur and the Work of the Harvard Business School, 1980-1995, edited by T. K. McCraw and J. L. Cruikshank. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999. View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and K. B. Clark. "Sun Wars: Competition within a Modular Cluster." In Competing in the Age of Digital Convergence, edited by D. B. Yoffie. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and B. C. Esty. "Lessons from the Thrift Crisis." Chap. 2 in Financial Services: Perspectives and Challenges, edited by Samuel L. Hayes III, 35–64. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1993. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Scott P. Mason. "Evaluation of Government Financial Incentives to Large Scale Energy Projects: A Contingent Claims Approach." In Advances in Futures and Options Research. 3 vols. Edited by F. Fabozzi. JAI Press, 1988. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Capital Factor: Competing for Capital in a Global Environment." In Competition in Global Industries, edited by M. E. Porter. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1986. View Details

Working Papers

Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 7 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 2: Strategy without Numbers." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-040, September 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-039, September 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Ecosystems and Complementarities." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-033, August 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 4 The Mirroring Hypothesis: Linkages Inside and Across Transaction Free Zones." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-032, August 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 3 Transaction Free Zones." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-031, August 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 2 Transactions in a Task Network." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-030, August 2020. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-055, November 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-054, November 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 10 Variations on the Theme of Flow Production." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-034, September 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 9 Organizing to Rationalize." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-033, September 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 8 Rationalizing Flow Processes." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-032, September 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15 The IBM PC." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-074, January 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-073, January 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 7 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 2: Technical and Strategic Bottlenecks as Guides for Action." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-042, October 2018. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-037, October 2018. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Complementarity." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-036, October 2018. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 14 Introducing Open Platforms and Ecosystems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-035, October 2018. (Revised January 2019.) View Details
MacCormack, Alan, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-105, May 2017. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-084, March 2017. View Details
Lagerstrom, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Dan Sturtevant, and Lee Doolan. "Exploring the Relationship between Architecture Coupling and Software Vulnerabilities: A Google Chrome Case." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-078, February 2017. View Details
Colfer, Lyra J., and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-124, April 2016. (Revised May 2016.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Bottlenecks, Modules and Dynamic Architectural Capabilities." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 15-028, October 2014. (Revised May 2015.) View Details
Gil, Nuno, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for Developing Infrastructure." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-025, September 2013. (Revised January 2014.) View Details
Lagerstrom, Robert, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, and David Dreyfus. "Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Architecture: An Exploratory BioPharma Case." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-105, June 2013. View Details
Lagerstrom, Robert, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, and Stephan Aier. "Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Application Architecture: An Exploratory Telecom Case." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-103, June 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity and Organizations." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-046, November 2012. (To appear in the Elsevier International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition; available on request to the author.) View Details
Kuppuswamy, Venkat, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Risky Business: The Impact of Property Rights on Investment and Revenue in the Film Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-007, July 2012. (Revised August 2012.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Organization Design for Distributed Innovation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-100, May 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-063, February 2010. (Revised July 2010, October 2010.) View Details
MacCormack, Alan, John Rusnak, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "The Impact of Component Modularity on Design Evolution: Evidence from the Software Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-038, December 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and C. Jason Woodard. "Competition in Modular Clusters." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-042, December 2007. View Details
Lenfle, Sylvain, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "From Manufacturing to Design: An Essay on the Work of Kim B. Clark." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-057, March 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. Architectural Innovation and Dynamic Competition: The Smaller "Footprint" Strategy. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 07-014, August 2006. View Details
MacCormack, Alan, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and John Rusnak. "A Dependency Matrix Tool to Analyze Software Architecture." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 06-047, March 2006. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. "The Architecture of Cooperation: Does Code Architecture Mitigate Free Riding in the Open Source Development Model?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 03-209, November 2003. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim Clark. "The Fundamental Theorem of Design Economics." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 02-077, May 2002. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim Clark. "Institutional Forms, Part 1: The Technology of Design and Its Problems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 02-076, May 2002. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim Clark. "Modularity after the Crash." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 01-075, May 2001. View Details
Baldwin, C. Y., and K. B. Clark. "Modularity and Real Options." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 93-026, January 1993. View Details

Cases and Teaching Materials

Baldwin, Carliss Y., and W. Carl Kester. "Apple, Einhorn, and iPrefs (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 220-043, November 2019. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Hanoch Feit, Edward A. Minasian, and Brandon Van Buren. "Apple, Einhorn, and iPrefs." Harvard Business School Case 215-037, December 2014. (Revised April 2015.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Wei Wang. "Paramount Equipment, Inc., Spreadsheet for Instructors (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 914-560, July 2014. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Wei Wang. "Paramount Equipment, Inc., Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 914-559, July 2014. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Wei Wang. "Paramount Equipment, Inc. (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 914-558, July 2014. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Wei Wang. "Paramount Equipment, Inc." Harvard Business School Brief Case 914-557, July 2014. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Congressional Oversight Panel's Valuation of the TARP Warrants (A) (CW)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 213-704, April 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Stefon Burns. "Saks Incorporated." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 212-706, February 2012. (Revised December 2013.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss, and Stefon Burns. "Saks Incorporated." Harvard Business School Case 212-060, February 2012. (Revised December 2013.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and James Quinn. "The Auction for Burger King (A)." Harvard Business School Case 906-012, November 2005. (Revised October 2012.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Congressional Oversight Panel's Valuation of the TARP Warrants (A)." Harvard Business School Case 210-035, January 2010. (Revised October 2011.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Bo Becker, and Vincent Marie Dessain. "Roche's Acquisition of Genentech." Harvard Business School Case 210-040, February 2010. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Leonid P Sudakov. "PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (A)." Harvard Business School Case 801-458, June 2001. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 209-070, October 2008. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (D)." Harvard Business School Supplement 209-071, October 2008. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Leonid Soudakov. "PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 209-078, October 2008. (Revised September 2011.) View Details
Becker, Bo, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Roche's Acquisition of Genentech (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 211-039, December 2010. View Details
Taliaferro, Ryan D., and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 211-054, November 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals-Equity Consideration." Harvard Business School Module Note 208-077, October 2007. (Revised November 2010.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Ryan Taliaferro. "Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York." Harvard Business School Case 208-129, February 2008. (Revised October 2010.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Congressional Oversight Panel's Valuation of the TARP Warrants (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 210-036, January 2010. (Revised March 2010.) View Details
Jin, Li, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Li Liao, Huabing Li, and Jielun Zhu. "Framedia (A) Abridged." Harvard Business School Case 208-048, January 2008. (Revised March 2009.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals: Floors, Caps, and Collars." Harvard Business School Background Note 209-138, March 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals: How Poison Pills Work." Harvard Business School Background Note 208-061, October 2007. (Revised December 2008.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Walt Disney Company's Sleeping Beauty Bonds - Duration Analysis - courseware." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 208-725, June 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Walt Disney Company's Sleeping Beauty Bonds - Duration Analysis - courseware for instructors." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 208-726, June 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals: Introduction to the Deal NPV." Harvard Business School Module Note 208-060, October 2007. (Revised February 2008.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals: Accretion vs. Dilution of Earnings-per-share." Harvard Business School Background Note 208-059, October 2007. (Revised February 2008.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and James Quinn. "Northrop versus TRW." Harvard Business School Case 903-115, March 2003. (Revised January 2008.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Evaluating M&A Deals-Announcement Effects, Risk Arbitrage and Event Risk." Harvard Business School Background Note 208-103, December 2007. (Revised January 2008.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Four Deals." Harvard Business School Case 905-058, January 2005. (Revised April 2006.) View Details
O'Mahony, Siobhan, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "IBM and Linux (A) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 906-016, December 2005. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and James Quinn. "The Auction for Burger King (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 906-013, November 2005. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Charles Bryan, and Ken Leet. "Mike Finkelstein (B)." Harvard Business School Case 287-021, August 1986. (Revised May 2005.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Constance E. Bagley, and James Quinn. "M&A Legal Context: Hostile Takeovers." Harvard Business School Background Note 904-005, July 2003. (Revised February 2004.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Constance E. Bagley, and James Quinn. "M&A Legal Context: Standards Related to the Sale or Purchase of a Company." Harvard Business School Background Note 904-004, July 2003. (Revised February 2004.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Jeremy Swinson. "New Wachovia (A), The." Harvard Business School Case 903-033, August 2002. (Revised June 2003.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Siobhan O'Mahony, and James Quinn. "IBM and Linux (A)." Harvard Business School Case 903-083, June 2003. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Constance E. Bagley, and James Quinn. "M & A Legal Context: Basic Framework for Corporate Governance." Harvard Business School Background Note 803-200, June 2003. (Revised June 2003.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Jeremy Swinson. "New Wachovia (B), The." Harvard Business School Case 903-034, August 2002. (Revised May 2003.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and David Lane. "Compaq's Struggle." Harvard Business School Case 903-021, March 2003. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Introduction." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-121, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-123, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Free Cash Flow." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-126, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Short- and Long-Term Growth Rates and the Growth Horizon." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-127, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Advantage Horizon." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-128, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Invested Capital." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-122, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Earnings." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-124, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-125, August 2000. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail)." Harvard Business School Case 287-002, October 1986. (Revised November 2001.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Rita J. Seymour. "Comdisco, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 285-109, May 1985. (Revised October 2001.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Technical Note on Consideration: Floors, Caps, and Collars." Harvard Business School Technical Note 902-056, September 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Technical Note on Expectations." Harvard Business School Technical Note 902-055, August 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Barbara Feinberg. "Finnigan Corporation." Harvard Business School Case 902-045, August 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Harry Gruner. "Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)." Harvard Business School Case 287-023, September 1986. (Revised July 2001.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Technical Note on LBO Valuation (A): LBO Structure and the Target IRR Method of Valuation." Harvard Business School Technical Note 902-004, July 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Technical Note on LBO Valuation (B): The Equity Cash Flow Method of Valuation using CAPM." Harvard Business School Technical Note 902-005, July 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Barbara Feinberg. "Compaq Computer Corporation: The DEC Acquisition." Harvard Business School Case 800-199, November 1999. (Revised June 2001.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Christopher R Gordon. "ESL Golf (A)." Harvard Business School Case 801-429, June 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Christopher R Gordon. "ESL Golf (B)." Harvard Business School Case 801-430, June 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Christopher R Gordon. "ESL Golf Model Overview and Navigation Instructions." Harvard Business School Supplement 801-457, June 2001. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Walt Disney Company's Sleeping Beauty Bonds--Duration Analysis." Harvard Business School Exercise 294-038, January 1994. (Revised July 2000.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Michael C. Jensen, and Karen Wruck. "Case of the Colored Post-It Notes." Harvard Business School Case 897-069, December 1996. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Walt Disney Company's Sleeping Beauty Bonds." Harvard Business School Exercise 294-034, January 1994. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Trading the Right to Pollute: Developing the Market for Pollution Allowances." Harvard Business School Background Note 292-120, March 1992. (Revised November 1993.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (A), (B), and (C) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 294-017, August 1993. (Revised September 1993.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Thermo Electron Corp." Harvard Business School Case 292-104, March 1992. (Revised June 1992.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 290-051, June 1990. (Revised August 1990.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 290-052, June 1990. (Revised August 1990.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 290-053, June 1990. (Revised August 1990.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Scott P. Mason. "Massey-Ferguson Ltd.—1980." Harvard Business School Case 282-043, February 1982. (Revised June 1990.) View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Co. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 287-024, September 1986. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Scott P. Mason. "Massey-Ferguson--1981." Harvard Business School Case 282-044, April 1982. (Revised August 1983.) View Details

Presentations

Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Deciding What to Leave Out: Pragmatic Philosophy in Design Theory." Paper presented at the 7th International Workshop on Design Theory, Design Society. Design Theory Special Interest Group, Paris, France, January 27–28, 2014. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Principles Behind Open Source Business Models." Paper presented at the Innovation Lab, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, November 5, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Architectural Strategy and Design Evolution in Business Ecosystems: Discussion." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, August 10, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation." Lecture at the Trento Summer School, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and Università degli studi di Trento, Trento, Italy, July 8, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity and Open and User Innovation." Lecture at the Trento Summer School, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and Università degli studi di Trento, Trento, Italy, July 8, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Mirroring and Anti-Mirroring: Creating a Design Commons." Lecture at the Trento Summer School, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and Università degli studi di Trento, Trento, Italy, July 4, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Thin Crossing Points, Mundane Transaction Costs, and the Boundaries of Firms." Lecture at the Trento Summer School, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and Università degli studi di Trento, Trento, Italy, July 4, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Options and Positive Risk." Lecture at the Trento Summer School, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory (CEEL) and Università degli studi di Trento, Trento, Italy, July 3, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Positive Risk and the Innovation Commons." Paper presented at the Vienna Conference on Strategy, Organizational Design, and Innovation, Universität Wien. Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, Vienna, Austria, June 22–23, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture." Paper presented at the CRIOS Conference, Università Bocconi, Center for Research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy (CRIOS), Milan, Italy, June 19, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design as a Commons: Lessons from Teacher's Participation in the Design of New Schools." Paper presented at the Bocconi Study Days, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy, June 17–18, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Positive Risk and the Innovation Commons." Intersect, an Innovation Symposium, Harvard Business School Club of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, March 7, 2013. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularize—Allocate—Protect: How Firms Profit from Open Modular Systems." Lecture at the Digital Economy Seminar, MIT Center for Digital Business, Cambridge, MA, October 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularize—Allocate—Protect: How Firms Profit from Open Modular Systems." 13th International CINet Conference, CINet, Rome, Italy, September 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Strategy in Business Ecosystems: Next Steps." Lecture at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, August 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity and Distributed Innovation: Opportunities and Threats." Lecture at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, August 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Investigating Architectures and Knowledge." Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, August 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Organizational Design in Business Ecosystems." Paper presented at the Inaugural Organizational Design Community Conference, Boston, MA, August 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Angel's Bargain: Complementary Strategies in Business Ecosystems." 10th International Open and User Innovation Workshop, Boston, MA, July 30–August 1, 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Managing Intellectual Property in Business Ecosystems." 10th International Open and User Innovation Workshop, Cambridge, MA, July 30–August 1, 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Legal Challenges of Distributed Innovation." Lecture at the Association of American Law Schools Midyear Meeting, Association of American Law Schools, Berkeley, CA, June 8–12, 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Patents and Modularity." Paper presented at the 2^nd PatCon, Boston, MA, May 11–12, 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation." MIT Organizational Economics Lunch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, March 2012. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation." Paper presented at the Strategy Seminar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School, November 18, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Concurrent Sourcing and Selling." Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Miami, FL, November 6, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "IP Strategies in Open Systems." Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, Miami, FL, November 6, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation." Paper presented at the Strategy Seminar, Tuck School of Business, Hanover, NH, September 23, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Business Ecosystems and Open and User Innovation." Open and User Innovation Workshop, Vienna, Austria, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis." Paper presented at the Industry Studies Association Annual Conference, June 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Alan MacCormack. "Finding Technical Debt in Platform and Network Architectures." MathWorks, April 6, 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Bottleneck Strategies for Business Ecosystems." Paper presented at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) Seminar, January 2011. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Open Standards and Their Enemies." Wharton School, December 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Finding Potential Bottlenecks You Can Build a Platform Upon." Paper presented at the Open and User Innovation Workshop, November 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The (Necessary) Virtue of Openness." Paper presented at the Strategy and International Management Group, London Business School, October 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Using Architecture to Capture Value: The Case of Software." University of Edinburgh, September 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Designs as Selfish Genes: Modularity, Options and Industry Structure." University of Lancaster, September 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Hidden Structure: Core-Periphery and Other Architectures." Thomas J. Watson IBM Research Center, August 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Explaining the Financial Meltdown - Discussion." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, August 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Real Options and Modularity." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, August 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity, Options and Design Evolution." Harvard Medical School, Department of Systems Biology, June 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Architecture of Complex Systems: Modularity, Options and Strategy." Siemens Corporation, Princeton, NJ, June 1, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Strategic Use of Architectural Knowledge by Entrepreneurial Firms." Paper presented at the DRUID Summer Conference, London, June 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Innovation." Paper presented at the DRUID Summer Conference, London, June 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Innovation." Paper presented at the User and Open Innovation: How Should Intellectual Property Law Respond?, St. Helena, CA, May 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Strategic Use of Architectural Knowledge by Entrepreneurial Firms." Paper presented at the Wharton Technology Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 01, 2010. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Fragile Core of the Financial System." Paper presented at the Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, October 01, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Eric von Hippel. "Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Innovation." Paper presented at the MIT-Harvard Economic Sociology Seminar, September 01, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Appropriating Value in Modular Systems." Linköping University, Sweden, September 1, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity for Value Appropriation - Drawing the Boundaries of Intellectual Property." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, August 01, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity for Value Appropriation - Drawing the Boundaries of Intellectual Property." Università del Salento, Italy, July 1, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Evolvability of Designs." Paper presented at the MIT Workshop of Network Architecture, June 01, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Exploring Core-Periphery Structures in Complex Software Products." Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, May 1, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions and the Boundaries of Firms." Vanderbilt University School of Law, Nashville, TN, February 1, 2009. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Design-Centric View of the Economy (and the Financial Crisis)." Paper presented at the International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, November 11, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Design-Centric View of the Economy (and the Financial Crisis)." Paper presented at the Collaborative Innovation and Design Capabilities International Workshop, October 31, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Design-Centric View of the Economy (and the Financial Crisis)." Paper presented at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, October 12–15, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Where Will Open Development Communities Prevail?" Paper presented at the HBS-MIT User and Open Innovation Workshop, Boston, MA, August 08, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Design-Centric View of the Economy." Paper presented at the International Schumpeter Society Conference, July 02, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Self-Organization in Open Source Development: Discussion." DRUID-DIME Academy Winter Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 17, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Economics of Collaborative User Innovation." Paper presented at the Conference on Open and Proprietary Innovation Regimes, June 17, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "The Architecture of Platforms." Paper presented at the Platforms, Markets and Innovation Conference, London, UK, June 02, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "A Design-Centric View of the Economy." Paper presented at the Innovation Exchange Conference, May 09, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "John Virgil Lintner." Paper presented at the HBS Centennial History Colloquium, Boston, MA, April 17, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Architectural Strategy and Open/Distributed Innovation." Paper presented at the DRUID/Scansor Conference on Distributed Innovation, Stanford, CA, March 27, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions and the Boundaries of Firms." Paper presented at the MIT/Sloan Seminar in Organizational Economics, Cambridge, MA, February 14, 2008. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Theory and Methods." Paper presented at the Miniconference with École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, Boston, MA, October 16, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Modularity, Transactions, and the Boundaries of Firms: A Synthesis." Paper presented at the Ross School of Business Strategy Seminar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 07, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions and the Boundaries of Firms." Paper presented at the Ross School of Business Strategy Seminar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 07, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., Michael Jacobides, and Reza Dizaji. "From the Structure of the Value Chain to the Strategic Dynamics of Industry Sectors." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, August 07, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Frameworks for Thinking about Modularity, Industry Architecture, and Evolution." Paper presented at the Sloan Industry Studies Annual Conference, Cambridge, MA, April 27, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Architecture, Innovation and Industry Structure." Paper presented at the Washington University Strategy Seminar, St. Louis, MO, April 9, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Steps toward a Science of Design." National Science Foundation Conference on the Science of Design, Alexandria, VA, March 1–2, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Making Money from Design Architecture." Lecture at the Product Design and Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Engineering Systems Division, Cambridge, MA, January 27, 2007. View Details
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Eric von Hippel. "How User Innovations become Commercial Products." Paper presented at the HBS Technology and Operations Management Seminar, Boston, MA, January 11, 2007. View Details

Research Summary

Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource production to innovative suppliers, and many firms have structured their products as open systems in which users and complementors are invited to innovate.

In general, distributed innovation in open systems is made possible by the modularity of the underlying product or process. Modularity reduces the risk that small changes in the environment will cause the whole system to fail, and makes it easier for the entire system to evolve towards higher levels of performance. This is true for complex products and processes and for networks of firms loosely linked in so-called business ecosystems.

My research is aimed at understanding how modularity is achieved in technical systems as well as the impact of modularity on firm value and industry structure. Currently I am working on projects focused on (1) impact of modularity on intellectual property, (2) the hidden structure of complex systems (especially software), and (3) how design rights may be shared across modular boundaries.

Awards & Honors

Winner of the 2015 Case Centre Award in the Finance, Accounting and Control category for “Roche’s Acquisition of Genentech” with Bo Becker and Vincent Dessain (HBS Case 210-040).

Awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Technische Universität München (TUM) in 2014.

Winner of the 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management.

In 2012, "Where Do Transactions Come From? Modularity, Transactions, and the Boundaries of Firms" (2008) was selected as one of the Best Twenty Articles from First Twenty Years of Publication, Industrial and Corporate Change, 1992-2011.

Received the 2008 Distinguished Speaker Award from the Technology Management Section of INFORMS.

Winner of the 2007 University of Vienna Best Paper Award for "How User Innovations Become Commercial Products: A Theoretical Investigation and a Case Study" with Christoph Hienerth and Eric von Hippel (Research Policy, 2006).

Winner of the Newcomen-Harvard Award for Best Paper Published in the Business History Review in 1994 for "Capital Budgeting Systems and Capabilities Investments in U.S. Companies after World War II" (with Kim B. Clark, spring 1994).

Additional Information

Areas of Interest