Modularity: the foundations of an architect firm? (In French)

The rise of the modular production in assembly industries is initially located in its capacity to manage the increasing complexity of the products. However these implications exceed this technological dimension. Many works advance that the modular production implies a reorganization of the firms and industries more generally. The modularity appears as a technological condition allowing to generate a fundamental reorganization of the firms leading to a managerial revolution: the architect firm. If the first part of this article attempts to clarify the mechanisms which justify the advent of these architect firms, the second is done more critical. First, we stress the internal limits of this mode of organization by clarifying the cognitive problems and the evolution of market power that emerges in modular industries. Second, we ask the question of its generalization. The article shows that the transfer of the architect firm should follow a hybrid way. Three points are discussed: the recognitions of the heterogeneity between industries, the institutional particularities and the heterogeneity between firms.