From Mass Customization to Customization: an Opportunity for Entrepreneurial Differentiation
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Small, entrepreneurial businesses must be able to succes.~fullycompete with both large, wellestablished.firmsand smaller, agile .firms.By making use of modern technology to meet the product needs and wants of individual consumers, smaller firms can better position themselves as both mass producers and.firms involved in mass customization.This study evaluates the present status of customization among smaller.firmsand identifies key success factors enhancing the implementation ofproduct customization initiatives. Journal olSmall Business Strategy Vol. 15, No. I Spring/Summer 2004By taking advantage of technology to gamer customer input and to produce products that meet specific, individual needs, smaller entrepreneurial ventures can build a loyal customer base and establish positions in markets often ignored by larger competitors.Advances in technology in the product development realm, including agile and lean manufacturing, have led many firms from a mass production to a mass customization business model, signifying a dramatic shift of focus from "products to markets to niches to individual customers" (Pine l 993b, p. 225).Mass customization, or the "mass production of individually customized goods and services" (Pine l 993a, p. 26 ), drives firms to make this transition to customer driven production.Recent declines in the American Customer Satisfaction Index have been interpreted, in part, as a loss in customer choice (Duray and Milligan, 1999).Mass customization attempts to address specific customer needs with products that are, in effect, developed by the customer.By allowing significant customer input into product development at any of a number of stages of the product development/distribution cycle, mass customization has brought with it a significant change in the way customers interact with firms.
Institution: Northern Illinois University
Language: English
Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2137444206