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This dissertation investigates how rapid learning occurs in high technology industries, many of which operate in what Bourgeois and Eisenhardt (1988) term" high velocity environments." The dissertation consists of three empirical studies, which follow the method of extended case study research (eg Yin, 1981; Eisenhardt, 1989a). Semiconductor manufacturing and process development are chosen as settings for this dissertation because they exemplify some of the attributes of high velocity environments.

The first study looks into how firms organize for learning. Existing definitions of modularity (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1995; Ulrich, 1995b; Baldwin & Clark, 1997) are expanded to provide a theoretical framework for differentiation and integration of organizations (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967, 1967a, 1969), technology (Iansiti & West, 1997; Iansiti, 1998), learning activity, accumulated knowledge and performance …