Task co-use and product improvement: An organization design perspective

Deskripsi

Co-using tasks—using the same task to produce more than one product—promises economies of scope. However, task co-use also ties products together, changing a firm's task network by introducing cross-product interdependencies. In light of these interdependencies, we identify an unrecognized downside of task co-use for product reliability: Cross-product interdependencies complicate task design and increase the risk of malfunctions. Hence, task co-use may carry a reliability penalty. Second, we propose that the reliability penalty of task co-use may shrink with experience as cross-product interdependencies allow for cross-improvements and therefore potentially higher improvement rates of task co-using products. We study the US automotive industry and find our predictions supported, indicating that task co-use is a critical design parameter with important consequences for reliability and product improvement.