Linking Cyclicality and Product Quality

  • Authors:

  • Manuel E. Sosa;Jürgen Mihm;Tyson R. Browning

  • Affiliations:

  • Technology and Operations Management, INSEAD, Singapore 138676;Technology and Operations Management, INSEAD, 77300 Fontainebleau, France;Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129

  • Venue:
  • Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

This paper examines the impact of architectural decisions on the level of defects in a product. We view products as collections of components linked together to work as an integrated whole. Previous work has established modularity how decoupled a component is from other product components as a critical determinant of defects, and we confirm its importance. Yet our study also provides empirical evidence for a relationship between product quality and cyclicality the extent to which a component depends on itself via other product components. We find cyclicality to be a determinant of quality that is distinct from, and no less important than, modularity. Extending this main result, we show how the cyclicality--quality relationship is affected by the centrality of a component in a cycle and the distribution of a cycle across product modules. These findings, which are based on an analysis of open source software development projects, have implications for the study and design of complex systems.