This paper combines theories of organizational design with theories of production to provide a novel perspective, which helps explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated "modern" corporations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I describe the...

Modularity describes the degree to which a complex system can be broken apart into subunits (modules) which can be recombined in various ways. Modularity is important for organizations and the economy because the boundaries of organizational units and corporations are likely to match the...

Any complex technological system can be decomposed into a number of subsystems and associated components, some of which are core to system function while others are only peripheral. The dynamics of how such “core-periphery” structures evolve and become embedded in a firm's innovation...