The topology and dynamics of complex man- made systems

Understanding the structure and function of complex networks has recently become the foundation for explaining many different real-world complex biological, technological and informal social phenomena. The analysis of these networks has uncovered surprising statistical structural properties that have also been shown to have a major effect on their functionality, dynamics, robustness, and fragility. This paper examines the statistical properties of large-scale product development networks -- and discusses the significance of these properties in providing insight into ways of improving the strategic and operational decision-making of the organization. We believe that our new analysis methodology and empirical results are also relevant to other organizational information-carrying networks.