Product architecture as a strategic weapon: How product architecture design changes affected an industry's competitive structure.

Abstract

This research attempts to address a research question: 'what are causes and consequences of the interactions between product architecture and industry structure?' In order to address the research question, this investigates four specific questions. First, how do product architectures change over time? Second, why do product architectures change? Third, how do industry structures change over time? Lastly, why do industry structures change? To investigate the four specific questions, this study examines the U.S. road and mountain bicycle component industry during the period from 1980 to 1992. A major finding is that causality runs from product architecture to industry structure in the bicycle component industry: following the evolution of product architecture, the industry structure evolves from a disintegrated to an integrated form. Findings from Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 are believed to provide valuable contributions to the literature and informative managerial implications.