Modular - Publications - Faculty & Research

2017
Other Article

Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance

By: Alan MacCormack and Robert Lagerstrom

The modern industrial corporation encompasses a myriad of different software applications, each of which must work in concert to deliver functionality to end-users. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of competition in today’s product-markets dictates... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Effectiveness

Citation

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

12 Apr 2007
Working Paper Summaries

From Manufacturing to Design: An Essay on the Work of Kim B. Clark

Keywords: by Sylvain Lenfle & Carliss Y. Baldwin; Manufacturing

January 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Curriculum Associates: Turning the Page from Tradition to Innovation

By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An

Set in Fall 2014, the traditional textbook publishing industry is being transformed by technological innovations and new student achievement standards. This case chronicles how Rob Waldron, CEO, and his team bring Curriculum Associates (CA), a traditional supplemental... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; SaaS; Turnaround; Textbook Publishing; Innovation; Sales Cycle; HR Strategy; Privately-funded Businesses; Sustainable Growth; Product Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Publishing Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

2011
Working Paper

From Single Deals to Negotiation Campaigns

By: David A Lax and James K. Sebenius

Negotiation scholars typically take the individual deal, or a few linked deals, as the unit of analysis. While analyzing one deal requires a familiar conceptual framework, doing the same for a broader "negotiation campaign" calls for a different focus and set of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Framework; Business Subsidiaries; Agreements and Arrangements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Information Management; Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

Citation

Read Now

15 Oct 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Mixed Source

Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Gastón Llanes; Technology

12 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Bottlenecks, Modules and Dynamic Architectural Capabilities

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin

Karim R. Lakhani

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; communications; computer; health care; high technology; information technology industry; internet; pharmaceuticals; software; video games

16 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 16

develop more modular designs than tightly coupled organizations. We test this hypothesis, using a sample of matched-pair products. We find strong evidence to support the mirroring hypothesis. In all of the pairs we examine, the product... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2022
Case

Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau

The majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO)... View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Vaccine; mRNA; COVID; COVID-19; Inequity; Hub-and-spoke; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Production; Social Issues; Business and Government Relations; South Africa; Africa

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Web

Degrees, Certifications & Alumni Status | About

multi-week regional programs that deliver a global curriculum through a regional lens; and programs created exclusively for an organization or association. A flexible variety of program formats and locations are available: on campus, View Details

Jan W. Rivkin

Jan W. Rivkin is a Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. In the past, he has served as Faculty Chair of the MBA Program, Senior Associate Dean for Research, and head of the Strategy Unit. His research, course development, and teaching focus on... View Details

Keywords: airline; computer; internet; music; transportation

09 Apr 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Visualizing and Measuring Software Portfolio Architectures: A Flexibility Analysis

Keywords: by Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack & David Dreyfus; Video Game; Web Services

18 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Organization Design for Distributed Innovation

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin

Stefan H. Thomke

Stefan Thomke (sthomke@hbs.edu), an authority on the management of innovation, is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with firms on product, process, and... View Details

Carliss Y. Baldwin

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... View Details

Keywords: computer; electronics; software

01 Jun 2023
News

Elevator Pitch: Block by Block

Illustration by Drue Wagner Illustration by Drue Wagner Curtis Wong (MBA 2019) Founder and CEO, Cloud Apartments Concept: Cloud Apartments is a product company within the rental apartment space. Its flagship line of modular apartments,... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; construction; housing; design; Construction of Buildings; Construction

30 Nov 2016
HBS Seminar

Melissa Valentine and Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements

extreme heat, loss of the Web or telephone lines, disruption in the water supply). 2. A flexible set of response modules. Leaders should be able to pull combinations of pre-set response "modules" off the shelf. Modularizing the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

22 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin, Alan MacCormack & John Rusnak

November 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Infarm: Betting the (Indoor) Farm on Food Security

By: Elie Ofek

In the summer of 2023, the co-founders of Infarm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) company, were contemplating a major pivot going forward. While Infarm had successfully shown it could grow over 75 products—mainly herbs, leafy greens and mushrooms—in modular... View Details