Skip Navigation



ICC Advance Access published online on November 7, 2005
Industrial and Corporate Change, doi:10.1093/icc/dth080
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
14/6/1109    most recent
dth080v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hobday, M.
Right arrow Articles by Prencipe, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved.

Article

Systems integration: a core capability of the modern corporation

Michael Hobday 1*, Andrew Davies 2*, and Andrea Prencipe 1*

1 Complex Product Systems Innovation Centre, Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU), Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QE
2 Innovation Studies Centre, Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Michael Hobday, E-mail: m.g.hobday{at}sussex.ac.uk
Andrew Davies, E-mail: a.c.davies{at}imperial.ac.uk
Andrea Prencipe, E-mail: m.g.hobday{at}sussex.ac.uk


  Abstract

Many of the world’s leading firms are developing a new model of industrial organization based on systems integration. Rather than performing all productive tasks in-house, companies are building the capabilities to design and integrate systems, while managing networks of component and subsystem suppliers. This article illustrates how systems integration evolved from its military, engineering-based, origins in the 1940s and 1950s to a modern-day strategic capability across a wide variety of sectors. Taking a resource-based view of the firm, the article shows how systems integration capabilities underpin the way high-technology companies compete by moving selectively up- and downstream in the marketplace through the simultaneous "twin" processes of vertical integration and disintegration. Systems integrators of capital goods move downstream into service-intensive offerings to expand revenue streams and increase profitability. By contrast, producers of high-volume components and consumer goods use systems integration capabilities to exploit upstream relationships with input suppliers. In both cases, strategic options and capabilities are shaped by the life cycle of each product. The article develops a clearer understanding of systems integration, arguing that it now represents a core capability of the modern high-technology corporation.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J ECON GEOGRHome page
N. M. Coe, P. Dicken, and M. Hess
Global production networks: realizing the potential
J. Econ. Geogr., May 1, 2008; 8(3): 271 - 295.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cambridge J EconHome page
P. Nolan, J. Zhang, and C. Liu
The global business revolution, the cascade effect, and the challenge for firms from developing countries
Camb. J. Econ., January 1, 2008; 32(1): 29 - 47.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.