Taking stock of prior research on the organizational capabilities for mass customization

The means to develop mass-customization capability (MCC), including the or-ganization capabilities that enable MCC, have extensively been investigated in the past. Very recently, this stream of research has borrowed the notion of capability hierarchy from the strategy literature. Yet, several capability hierarchies had im-plicitly been proposed before, since early 2000s, and a systematic review of this body of knowledge is still missing. To fill this gap, this paper begins with pro-posing a two-dimensional framework that integrates the two different ways in which the notion of capability hierarchy has been conceptualized in the strategy literature. Subsequently, the paper uses this framework to classify prior research findings on the links between MCC and other organizational capabilities, with the twofold purpose of taking stock of the available knowledge and providing direc-tions for future research. The results of this classification also help reconcile seemingly conflicting findings in the extant literature

Organizing for mass customization: literature review and research agenda

Due to the increase in sophisticated customer needs and intense competition, mass customisation has increasingly drawn the attention of companies and scholars. The importance of transforming organisations by building mass customisation capability has long been acknowledged. However, the discussion is generally scattered and disorganised in the literature. This paper reviews the mass customisation literature with the twofold purpose of providing a comprehensive and structured overview of prior research on mass customisation organisational antecedents and highlighting future opportunities to research this topic. By using an established framework in the organisation design theory, the paper provides comprehensive coverage of organisation-related issues and a reference for future research opportunities

Third-party logistics providers offering form postponement services: value propositions and organisational approaches

In today's global supply chains, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) can play an important role in implementing the principle of form postponement (FP). This proposes that activities creating product variety and the associated production mix decisions are deferred along a product family manufacturing and distribution process as long as possible. While both FP and third-party logistics have increasingly drawn the attention of the academic community over the last few years, less research has been carried out on FP supported by 3PLs. The present paper empirically investigates how 3PLs can deliver value to companies offering product variety by providing FP services, defined as the carrying out of variety-creating activities on behalf of these companies close to the target markets. Our findings indicate that, through an FP service, a 3PL can give its customers two different kinds of benefits: either improved performance in serving the customer's existing markets or entry into new geographical markets. Further, our results show that through the choice of the organisational solution for FP service provision, the 3PL can increase FP value by mitigating a number of disadvantages that the customer might incur in the case of in-house implementation of FP. Challenges that the 3PL needs to overcome to actually provide these potential benefits are also identified. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of our findings for both practice and research on FP

Design for form postponement: do not overlook organization design

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of the organizational changes related to the production-planning process that facilitate application of form postponement (FP), an increasingly popular operations-design principle meant to alleviate the negative impact of product variety and customization on operational performance. Design/methodology/approach - To achieve the theory-building objective, a multiple-case study involving four cases in the machinery industry was designed. In the inductive theory-building process, the authors borrowed from the information-processing theory to further corroborate the internal validity and generalizability of the findings. Findings - The theory proposed by the author indicates that greater utilization of lateral relations in the production-planning process, higher production-planning frequency, greater degree of self-containment of the production-planning task, and simplification of the production planning-related environment favor application of FP. Research limitations/implications - The level of analysis of the theory is the production-planning process of a product family within a company. Future research could extend inquiry of the organizational antecedents of FP at both higher and lower levels of analysis, such as the organization as a whole or the individuals participating in the production-planning process. Practical implications - The theory supports managerial decision making by suggesting how to redesign the organization part involved in the production-planning process of a product family in order to apply FP. The difficulty and cost of this organizational redesign effort should be taken into account when companies consider FP implementation. Originality/value - Past research has focused on changes to product design and to the manufacturing and supply chain process that enable FR This paper augments the understanding of FP enablers by developing the first model of organizational antecedents of FP. It also responds to calls for more research integrating insights from organization theory and operations/supply chain management

Revisiting form postponement at the operations-marketing interface: form postponement types, customer utility and sales performance

Research on form postponement finds that deferring product differentiation along a manufacturing and distribution process improves the efficiency of a manufacturer by reducing demand uncertainty and the related safety stock costs. The underlying assumption of this stream of research is that form postponement increases customer utility by ensuring the rapid delivery of many pre-specified product variants. However, we contend that form postponement can also foster customer utility by providing customers more time to articulate their needs or by sparing them the trouble of forecasting how their needs will change during the product’s lifespan. We hence propose that a manufacturer should implement different types of form postponement depending on its intended impact on customer utility. By doing so, we contribute to the literature on form postponement by acknowledging that its value is not restricted to the reduction of demand uncertainty and by showing how it should be used to link the operations and marketing strategies of a manufacturing firm

Gestione dei magazzini di beni a domanda indipendente

Sistemi di monitoraggio delle scorte. Come calcolare Q per il modello di riordino a quantit\ue0 fissa. Come calcolare R nel modello di riordino a quantit\ue0 fissa. Come calcolare P e T nel modello di riordino a periodo fisso

Gestione dei magazzini di beni a domanda dipendente

Che cos\u2019\ue8 un sistema MRP. Come lavora un sistema MRP

Concetti base di magazzino

Il concetto di magazzino. Scopi del magazzino. Costi del magazzino. Decisioni nella gestione del magazzino. Indicatori di prestazione per la gestione del magazzino. Le scorte nella catena di fornitura

through

The effect of sales configurator capabilities on the value perceived by the custome

Assessing configurators user need for social interaction during product configuration process

Commercial websites, including online sales configurators, are increasingly implementing technologies that enable social interactions, in order to provide users with social interaction possibilities that characterize retail shopping. One of these implementation strategies refers to connecting commercial websites to social software. Social software are web-based applications that support web users in social networking, interacting, sharing content and thus, in collecting feedback from various referents (e.g. user's online contacts, other web users, company representatives). Given the variety of possible connections between social software and configurators, mass customizers need to choose which connection(s) to implement, if any, to fulfil the configurator user need for social interaction. To make this choice, it is useful to be able to: (a) identify the various facets of the social interaction as user/consumer's navigation behaviour (b) measure the strength of configurator users\u2019 need for social interaction. Being able to assess the user need for social interaction could help mass customizers enhance the proactive support provided to the user during his/her configuration process. Accordingly, this study presents an exploratory analysis (a) by examining various facets of the social interaction need and subsequently (b) by proposing a multi-item scale to measure the social interaction need. The present paper aims at contributing research into the key role of feedback delivered to users from different referents during the configuration process and sheds further light on new online customers\u2019 needs