Linking product modularity to supply chain integration and flexibility

Abstract

This study builds a moderated mediation model to empirically investigate the impacts of product modularity and supply chain integration (i.e. supplier, customer, and internal integration) on the flexibility and moderating effects of the product life cycle (i.e. growth and maturity stages) on the relationships using data collected from 204 Chinese manufacturers. The findings reveal that both supplier integration and internal integration mediate the relationship between product modularity and flexibility. Moreover, the indirect effect of product modularity on flexibility through supplier integration is stronger during the growth stage than during the maturity stage. There is no difference in the indirect effect of product modularity on flexibility through internal integration, which is significant in both the growth and maturity stages. In addition, the impact of product modularity on customer integration is significantly stronger, whereas that of customer integration on flexibility is significantly weaker during the growth stage than during the maturity stage.

Keywords:

• Product modularity
• supply chain integration
• flexibility
• product life cycle

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Xuejun Xu and Dr. Lingfeng Chen for their supports in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [#71473087, #71420107024, #71520107001].

Notes on contributors

Zhiqiang Wang

Zhiqiang Wang received the Ph.D. degree in operations management from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2010. He is currently a Professor with the School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. His research interests include innovation management and supply chain management. Dr. Wang has authored/coauthored articles in refereed journals including International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Technovation, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, etc.

Min Zhang

Min Zhang is a Professor in Management in the Queen’s Management School, Queen’s University Belfast. He gained his PhD degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include operations management, innovation management, and business analytics. He has authored/coauthored articles in refereed journals including Production and Operations Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, and Production Planning and Control.