Exploring the duality between product and organizational architectures
Subtitle: a test of the mirroring hypothesis
By: Alan D. MacCormack, John Rusnak, Carliss Y. Baldwin .
Contributors: Rusnak, John; Baldwin, Carliss Y. (Carliss Young); Harvard Business School
Edition: Rev.
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 08-039; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 08-039
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Boston]
Number of pages: 33
Description: A variety of academic work argues a relationship exists between the structure of a development organization and the design of the products that this organization produces. Specifically, products are often said to "mirror" the architectures of the organizations from which they come. This dynamic occurs because an organization's problem solving routines and normal patterns of communication tend to constrain the space of designs within which it searches for new solutions. Such a link, if confirmed empirically, would be important, given that product architecture has been shown to be an important predictor of product performance, product variety, process flexibility and industry evolution.
Notes: "Revised October 2008"--Publisher's web site.

Includes bibliographical references.