Constructing a Sustainable Collaborative Innovation Network for Global Manufacturing Firms: A Product Modularity View and a Case Study From China

An enduring challenge of soaring market complexity has significant impact on global manufacturing firms. The purpose of this paper is to explore a product modularity-based routine that enables global manufacturing firms to leverage product innovation, particularly in an open challenging environment through the collaborative innovation network. Based on an analysis of the effects of product modularity on collaborative innovation, this paper develops a collaborative innovation network model featuring customer-driven, module as innovation carrier and sustainability, in which the modular product architecture (MPA) plays a role in linking customers, the core firm, and heterogeneous external partners. Next, two kinds of generic partnership management mechanisms are designed. Results in conjunction with an explorative case study show that the positive impact of product modularity on collaborative innovation is verified, which not only facilitates interactions among participants in the collaborative innovation network, but also provides an effective way for the global manufacturing firm to manage external partners.