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Journal ArticleDOI

External Economies and Economic Progress: The Case of the Microcomputer Industry

Richard N. Langlois
- 01 Mar 1992 - 
- Vol. 66, Iss: 1, pp 1-50
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TLDR
In the microcomputer industry, the most successful products were those that took the greatest advantage and allowed users to take the most advantage of the market; and the greatest failures occurred when business enterprises bypassed the external network and attempted to rely significantly on internal capabilities as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract
The following article provides a thorough chronicle of the microcomputer industry. That industry is a striking case, in which industrial growth took place through the creation of “external” capabilities—that is, capabilities produced by and residing in a specialized market network rather than in large organizations enjoying internal economies of scale and scope. In the microcomputer industry, the most successful products were those that took the greatest advantage—and allowed users to take the greatest advantage—of the market; and the greatest failures occurred when business enterprises bypassed the external network and attempted to rely significantly on internal capabilities.

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Citations
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Network location and learning: the influence of network resources and firm capabilities on alliance formation

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a dynamic, firm-level study of the role of network resources in determining alliance formation and assesses the importance of firms' capabilities with alliance formation, and material resources as determinants of their alliance decisions.
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Toward a General Modular Systems Theory and Its Application to Interfirm Product Modularity

TL;DR: The author builds a general theory of modular systems, drawing on systems research from many disciplines, and then uses this general theory to derive a model of interfirm product modularity, including testable research propositions.
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Cooperative Networks and Competitive Dynamics: a Structural Embeddedness Perspective

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a multilevel conceptual model relating key network properties to competitive action and response, and a structural embeddedness perspective with a focus on simultaneous cooperation and competition was presented.
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Product complexity, innovation and industrial organisation

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight distinctive features of a neglected class of economic activity in the domain of innovation, namely the creation and development of high cost, complex products and systems (CoPS), asking how their nature might be expected to affect innovation and industrial organisation.
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Networks and innovation in a modular system: Lessons from the microcomputer and stereo component industries

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine theoretically and through case studies the phenomenon of the modular system, which they distinguish from a product conceived of as a prepackaged entity or appliance, and argue that such systems offer benefits on both the demand side and the supply side.
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors defined the visible hand of the modern business enterprise and defined the traditional processes of production and distribution in the United States. But they did not define the management and growth of modern industrial enterprises.
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Journal ArticleDOI

Networks of power : electrification in Western society, 1880-1930

TL;DR: A comparative history of the evolution of modern electric power systems is given in this paper, where the Dexter Prize winner describes large-scale technological change and demonstrates that technology cannot be understood unless placed in a cultural context.