Written by authors Kim B. Clark and Carliss Y. Baldwin, this research introducing modularity as a design principle that fosters flexibility, scalability, and innovation across industries, was published by MIT Press in 2000.

Think about your smartphone. It's made up of many different parts - a screen, camera, processor, and battery - that all work together perfectly. This is an example of "modularity," which is at the heart of this story about how modern technology evolves.
Baldwin and Clark explain that our economy is constantly changing, creating new products, companies, and ways of doing business. While these changes might seem random or out of our control, they're actually the result of careful human design and planning.
The computer industry shows this perfectly. It grew incredibly fast because companies started building products in a modular way - like building with LEGO blocks. Instead of making one giant, complicated system, they broke computers down into smaller parts (modules) that could be designed separately but work together smoothly.
This modular approach had two big advantages:
Different teams could work on different parts at the same time
Designers could experiment with improving individual parts without having to redesign the whole system
It's like how you can upgrade your computer's memory or graphics card without buying a whole new computer. This flexibility led to much faster innovation and growth than anyone thought possible.
By studying this pattern in the computer industry, the authors help us understand how design choices shape not just products, but entire industries and markets. Their insights explain many of the rapid changes we see in today's economy, from how companies are organized to how products are developed and sold.
Read the original article here: https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/1856/Design-Rules-Volume-1The-Power-of-Modularity\
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