Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Industrial and Corporate Change
Volume
31
Issue
4
First Page
1056
Last Page
1085
Publisher
Oxford Academic
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
44346
Abstract
This paper explores the co-evolution of product and industry architecture by drawing on a longitudinal study of the UK personal pensions industry between 2005 and 2020. It provides qualitative evidence for the way in which institutional structures, particularly regulation, entwine with firm strategic choices to shape the contours of an industry value chain (IVC). We draw upon modularity theory and the literature on industry architecture to consider how strategic bottlenecks emerged and how value shifted between layers of the IVC. Furthermore, we examine the interplay between the agendas of the regulator and firm strategic responses to unpack how firms (product providers) responded by pursuing integrative innovation and less specialization to mitigate the effects of value migration to strategic bottlenecks. Our findings extend recent work on product and industry architecture, highlighting how markets evolve toward less modular product configurations and less industry specialization in response to these dynamics.
DOI
10.1093/icc/dtac009
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Burton, N., & Galvin, P. (2022). The effect of technology and regulation on the co-evolution of product and industry architecture. Industrial and Corporate Change, 31(4), 1056-1085. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtac009