The impact of global operations on product architecture: an exploratory study
通过三家全球制造企业的案例研究，发现内部网络能力、工厂数量与布局、供应商距离及市场细分等因素显著影响产品架构选择（集成式或模块化），为运营与设计决策提供参考。
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how global operations of manufacturing companies influence the choice of product architecture decisions, ranging from integral to modular product designs. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform a multiple-case study of three global manufacturing companies with integral and modular product architectures. Findings The authors find that the internal network capabilities, the number of capable plants, the focus of component plants, the focus of assembly plants, the distances from key suppliers to internal plants, and the number of market segments significantly influence the choice of integral vs modular architecture. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to three large manufacturing companies with global operations. However, the authors investigate both integral and modular products. The authors develop propositions that can be tested in further survey research. Practical implications The findings show that the type of global operations network influences the decision on product architecture, such that certain global operations characteristics support integral product designs, while other characteristics support modular designs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge this paper is the first study on the explicit impact of global operations on product architecture, rather than the other way around.