Optimal modularity: A demonstration of the evolutionary advantage of modular architectures

Journal of Evolutionary Economics

Volumn 22, Issue 5, 2012, Pages 935-956

  Frenken, Koen ^a   Mendritzki, Stefan ^a  

^a EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Complexity; Decomposability; Hierarchy; Modularity; Near decomposability; NK model; Search

Indexed keywords

EID: 84869164190     PISSN: 09369937     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00191-011-0240-6     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Altenberg L (1994) Evolving better representations through selective genome growth. In: Proceedings of the IEEE world congress on computational intelligence, pp 182-187.
2. Arthur WB (2007) The structure of invention. Res Policy 36(2): 274-287.
3. Baldwin CY (2008) Where do transactions come from? Modularity, transactions, and the boundaries of firms. Ind Corp Change 17(1): 155-195.
4. Baldwin CY, Clark KB (2000) Design rules, vol 1: the power of modularity. Cambridge: MIT Press.
5. Bradshaw G (1992) The airplane and the logic of invention. In: RN Giere (ed) Cognitive models of science. The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp 239-250.
6. Brusoni S, Marengo L, Prencipe A, Valente M (2007) The value and costs of modularity: a problem-solving perspective. Eur Manage Rev 4: 121-132.
7. Ciarli T, Leoncini R, Montresor S, Valente M (2008) Technological change and the vertical organization of industries. J Evol Econ 18: 367-387.
8. Dosi G, Marengo L (2005) Division of labor, organizational coordination and market mechanisms in collective problem-solving. J Econ Behav Organ 58: 303-326.
9. Ethiraj SK, Levinthal DA (2004) Modularity and innovation in complex systems. Manage Sci 50: 159-173.
10. Frenken K (2006) A fitness landscape approach to technological complexity, modularity, and vertical disintegration. Struct Change Econ Dynam 17(3): 288-305.
11. Frenken K, Nuvolari A (2004). The early development of the steam engine: an evolutionary interpretation using complexity theory. Ind Corp Change 13(2): 419-450.
12. Frenken K, Marengo L, Valente M (1999) Interdependencies, near-decomposability and adaptation. In: Brenner T (ed) Computational techniques for modelling learning in economics. Kluwer, Boston, pp 145-165.
13. Gavetti G, Levinthal DA, Rivkin JW (2005) Strategy making in novel and complex worlds: the power of analogy. Strateg Manage J 26(8): 691-712.
14. Geisendorf S (2010) Searching NK fitness landscapes: on the trade off between speed and quality in complex problem solving. Comput Econ 35: 395-406.
15. Henderson RM, Clark KB (1990) Architectural innovation. Admin Sci Q 35: 9-30.
16. Kauffman SA (1993) The origins of order. Self-organization and selection in evolution. Oxford University Press, New York.
17. Kaul H, Jacobson SH (2006) Global optima results for the Kauffman NK model. Math Program 106(2): 319-338.
18. Langlois R, Garzarelli G (2008) Of hackers and hairdressers: modularity and the organizational economics of open-source collaboration. Ind Innov 15(2): 125-143.
19. Levinthal DA (1997) Adaptation on rugged landscapes. Manage Sci 43: 934-950.
20. Marengo L, Dosi G, Legrenzi P, Pasquali C (2000) The structure of problem-solving knowledge and the structure of organizations. Ind Corp Change 9: 757-788.
21. McNerney J, Farmer JD, Rdener S, Trancik JE (2011) The role of design complexity in technology improvement. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(22): 9008-9013.
22. Newman MEJ (2006) Modularity and community structure in networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103: 8577-8582.
23. Page SE (1996) Two measures of difficulty. Econ Theory 8: 321-346.
24. Rivkin JW, Siggelkow N (2007) Patterned interactions in complex systems: Implications for exploration. Manage Sci 53: 1068-1085.
25. Sarasvathy S, Simon HA (2000) Effectuation, near-decomposability, and the creation and growth of entrepreneurial firms. In: Presented at the first research policy technology entrepreneurship conference, University of Maryland. Available online at http://www. effectuation. org/ftp/Neardeco. doc., accessed on 18 September 2009.
26. Simon HA (1962) The architecture of complexity: hierarchic systems. Proc Amer Phil Soc 106: 467-482.
27. Simon HA (1969) The sciences of the artificial, third edition. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1996.
28. Simon HA (2002) Near decomposability and the speed of evolution. Ind Corp Change 11: 587-599.
29. Wagner GP, Altenberg L (1996) Complex adaptations and the evolution of evolvability. Evol 50: 967-976.