The Dangers of Modularity

By placing a premium on predictability in their product development efforts, companies create a technology landscape that’s easier to navigate—but one that may produce fewer true breakthroughs.

by

Lee Fleming

and

Olav Sorenson

by

Lee Fleming

and

Olav Sorenson

From the Magazine (September 2001)

Nobel Prize–winning economist Ken Arrow had a succinct, almost poetic, way to describe technological advances: “The process of innovation is, virtually by definition, filled with uncertainty; it is a journey of exploration into a strange land.” Indeed, this mysterious terrain can be viewed as a mountainous landscape with soaring peaks and deep valleys, the summits corresponding to breakthrough inventions, the chasms representing dismal failures. We have recently charted this landscape in quantitative terms, drawing on more than 200 years of U.S. patent office data.

A version of this article appeared in the September 2001 issue of Harvard Business Review.

LF

Lee Fleming (lfleming@hbs.edu) is the Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Olav Sorenson is the Frederick Frank ’54 and Mary C. Tanner Professor of Management, Director of the Core Curriculum, Co-Director of the Initiative on Leadership and Organization, and Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), at Yale University. He has previously held positions at London Business School, UCLA, the University of Chicago, and the University of Toronto. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.

The Dangers of Modularity

Partner Center

Explore HBR

HBR Store

About HBR

Manage My Account

Follow HBR