The Effects of Modular Production on the Module Suppliers' Willingness to Innovate

Due to the differences between traditional production mode and modular production mode, the modular enterprises' innovation behavior has been the focus of scholars under the field. This paper discusses and empirical analysis the suppliers' willingness to innovate in the modular production networks. The study found that the maturity of product modularization and the competition between module suppliers do help to promote the module suppliers' willingness to innovate, and the module's specificity, the uncertainty module supplier facing and the stability of contact rules will weaken its willingness to innovate. The study also found that there was no necessarily relationship between the size of the module suppliers and their willingness to innovate. In other words, there was no significant difference on small enterprises, medium-sized enterprises and the big enterprises on the willingness to innovate.