MIT-Zaragoza Speaker Series: Glen Schmidt

Glen Schmidt
David Eccles Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor
Operations and Information Systems Department
David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

"Modular versus Integral Architectures: Empirical Analysis of a Healthcare Setting"

We extend the theory of modular versus integral product design architectures to a service setting. In particular, we analyze patient data from a mental healthcare provider to test the conditions under which an integral service design is preferred to a modular design in the treatment of depression. Our results support the hypothesis that the integral system outperforms the modular design when the interfaces between service processes are hard to manage. That is, the more complex the customer (the patient), the more superior the integral design (we measure customer complexity by the number of comorbidities). Results have implications with regard to how to best apply the theory of product modularity, as developed for physical products, to a service setting.

Bio

Glen Schmidt is a David Eccles Faculty fellow and Associate Professor in the Operations and Information Systems Department at the David Eccles School of Business (DESB), University of Utah, Salt Lake City. His research interests span topics in product design and supply chain management. A co-authored paper ("In search of the bullwhip effect") was a recent finalist in the M&SOM best paper competition, and he received the DESB’s Brady teaching award in 2010. Presently, he serves as President of the Product Innovation and Technology Management College at POMS and as co-organizer of the DESB’s annual Product and Service Innovation Conference. He obtained his PhD is from Stanford University after significant industry experience, and a previous academic affiliation was with Georgetown University.