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Learning from failure across products

Author

Listed:
  • Kretschmer, Tobias
  • Glauber, Johanna
Abstract
Learning rates for the same or similar products differ significantly across firms. One reason for this heterogeneity may be that most firms are multiproduct firms and that they learn both within and across the products they produce and sell. Moreover, the organization of production and the technological design of (families of) products may affect the extent of learning across products. We study learning from failures within and across products in the US automotive industry, using safety recalls as a particularly costly form of product failure. We find that firms indeed learn from failure across products, but learning is faster if products use a common technological platform or are produced in a common plant. Severe product failures involving a supplier also lead to increased across-product learning. Our results shed light on the characteristics of firms’ learning from failure across products and extend the existing literature, which typically studies learning at the firm or the product level and thus misses out on an important channel for learning in manufacturing contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Kretschmer, Tobias & Glauber, Johanna, 2018. "Learning from failure across products," CEPR Discussion Papers 13140, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13140
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Organizational learning; Learning from failure; Product recalls; Automotive industry; Multiproduct firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L62 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Automobiles; Other Transportation Equipment; Related Parts and Equipment
    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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