Organising new product development Knowledge hollowing-out and knowledge integration

The paper analyses the organization of the new product development process at FIAT from a resource-based perspective. The focus is on organizational resources for integrating dispersed specialist knowledge required in the development of complex products. The analysis shows how the application of a resource-based perspective is able to uncover negative long-term effects of outsourcing on the knowledge base (hollowing out), despite beneficial short-term effects on cost.New product development, FIAT Auto, knowledge integration systems integration, modularity, knowledge hollowing-out, resource-based view

Beyond product architecture: Division of labour and competence accumulation in complex product development

This paper considers the trade-off between leveraging external sources of innovation by outsourcing design and engineering activities and the ability to develop internal product development competences. The trade-off arises because the division of labor within and across firms' boundaries has a crucial role in shaping competence development processes, especially because the division of labor also influences opportunities for learning by doing. In new product development projects, learning by doing appears to be both a key determinant of competence development and a difficult-to-substitute form of learning. While the division of development tasks is often considered as guided by product architecture, we show that by decoupling the decisions concerning the product architecture and the allocation of development tasks, firms can realize the benefits of outsourcing such tasks while developing new internal competences. Drawing on a longitudinal case study in the automotive industry, we also identify a new organizational lever for shaping competence development paths and for designing firm boundaries. This lever consists in alternating different task allocation schemes over time for different types of development projects. We show why this is a novel solution, what its underlying logic is, and how it enables alleviating the trade-off between the benefits of leveraging external sources of innovation and the opportunities for competence development provided by in-house design and engineering. We discuss implications for theories of organizational boundary design and innovation management.innovation management; organizational boundaries; outsourcing; product architecture; modularity; new product development; template process; automotive industry; Fiat

Applying organizational routines in analyzing the behavior of organizations

The concept of organizational routine can foster our understanding of the behavior of organizations and of organizational change [Nelson, R.R., Winter, S.G., 1982. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, Cambridge; March, J.G., Simon, H.A., 1958. Organizations. Blackwell, Oxford (1993); Cyert, R.M., March, J.G., 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Blackwell, Oxford (1992)], but since empirical studies employing organizational routines as analytical perspective are still relatively rare, how to conduct such an analysis and what are its benefits is not yet fully evident. We wish to shed light on how employing routines contributes to understanding the behavior of organizations and to demonstrate the potential of such analysis. The empirical analysis of the product development process at an engineering centre shows that using organizational routines presents advantages over alternative analytical approaches. The paper also contributes to shed light on how to fruitfully employ an organizational routines perspective in analyzing the behavior of organizations, providing the foundation for further empirical work

Osservatorio sulla componentistica automotive italiana 2021

Nel 2021 il mondo ha dovuto fare i conti per il secondo anno di fila con la crisi sanitaria ed economica determinata dalla diffusione del virus COVID-19. Per l’industria dell’auto la crisi ha prodotto una serie di effetti sia sull’offerta sia sulla domanda, tra cui la crisi dei semiconduttori, l’incertezza economica legata alla crisi sanitaria, e la decisa accelerazione, a trazione EU, della transizione verso la mobilità elettrica. Per la filiera automotive italiana, ulteriori incognite sono legate alla formazione di Stellantis e il conseguente spostamento del baricentro decisionale fuori dall’Italia. Il quadro che emerge dal rapporto 2021 dell’Osservatorio è quello di una filiera i cui risultati in termini di fatturato, produzione ed export continuano ad essere in contrazione, e che necessita con urgenza dell’avvio di un programma di investimenti pubblici per sostenere l’attrattività di investimenti privati in Italia, e del rilancio dei poli italiani di eccellenza attraverso nuovi investimenti in ricerca e sviluppo, struttura manageriale, risorse finanziarie e una rinnovata capacità di ‘fare rete’

The Knowledge Base of (Multi-technology) Industries

Understanding the knowledge base of industries is of paramount importance for analyzing the dynamics of industries’ evolution and competition. This is particularly relevant for multitechnology industries that encompass an evolving variety of technical fields. Focusing on the automotive industry, we propose a methodological approach that identifies, as a starting point, the key actors that engage in the industries’ knowledge generation and then reconstructs their patent portfolio over time. We argue that this approach enables to map the process of accumulation of the competences that correspond to the industry’s technological core while uncovering the emerging technological trends that animate the industry’s development

Change and stability in the automotive industry: a patent analysis

This study explores the evolution of the knowledge base of the dominant Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the global automotive industry. Using data on patent families, we reconstruct and analyze their innovative portfolio in the period 1990-2014. The analysis documents experimentation in new technical fields as well as stability in industry- specific technical areas, allowing to draw implications on the underlying industry dynamics. Specifically, our results show that despite the emergence of technological opportunities in new and once-unrelated technical domains, the importance of core automotive technologies has increased over the period of analysis. At the same time, the relative position of carmakers along different performance dimensions has remained quite stable, suggesting that the technological capabilities that have traditionally driven success in this industry continue to play a key role in explaining firms’ competitive strength

Change and stability in the automotive industry: a patent analysis

3noopenThis study explores the evolution of the knowledge base of the dominant Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the global automotive industry. Using data on patent families, we reconstruct and analyze their innovative portfolio in the period 1990-2014. The analysis documents experimentation in new technical fields as well as stability in industry- specific technical areas, allowing to draw implications on the underlying industry dynamics. Specifically, our results show that despite the emergence of technological opportunities in new and once-unrelated technical domains, the importance of core automotive technologies has increased over the period of analysis. At the same time, the relative position of carmakers along different performance dimensions has remained quite stable, suggesting that the technological capabilities that have traditionally driven success in this industry continue to play a key role in explaining firms’ competitive strength.openAlessandra Perri; Daniela Silvestri; Francesco ZirpoliPerri, Alessandra; Silvestri, Daniela; Zirpoli, Francesc