From men and machines to the organizational learning curve

Learning curves can arise out of routing problems, or out of sequencing problems, or a combination of both. In this paper, learning curves arising out of routing problems are investigated by means of numerical simulations, whereas some properties of the learning curves arising out of sequencing problems are analyzed by means of a computational model. In both cases, the arousal of organizational learning curves is conceived as the emergence of routines. In both cases, the conditions for this to occur are that (i) there are sufficiently many novel possibilities of arranging the units composing the organization, and that (ii) these units are sufficiently many and sufficiently flexible.