Int J Flex Manuf Syst (2007) 19:637–665 DOI 10.1007/s10696-008-9051-y
Mass customization research: trends, directions, diffusion intensity, and taxonomic frameworks Ashok Kumar Æ Said Gattoufi Æ Arnold Reisman
Published online: 21 May 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract Mass customization (MC) as a business strategy is designed to simultaneously compete on two rival competitive priorities—the price and customization level of a product. MC academics and experts have gone a step further. They suggest that MC is a unique strategy whose implementation promises across-theboard improvement in all four of the competitive priorities (price, quality, flexibility, and speed) simultaneously. Its growing adoption by businesses in recent years, the steep rise in success stories associated with MC, and the voluminous body of publications in a short period of its existence have created a need to study the directions, trends, application potential, and research strategies embedded in these publications. Accordingly, this paper studies and analyzes the trends and directions of the research published in 1,124 MC publications that have appeared in journals and magazines since the inception of the term mass customization in 1987 by Stan Davis in his classic book Future Perfect. Statistical trend analyses are conducted to study the vitality and health of the field of MC using number of publications and number of publication outlets and their respective trends. The publication outlet data conform to an S curve, establishing maturity of the MC field. The publication data show that the MC field has passed through four stages of growth: incubation or slow (1987–1992), exponential (1993–2003), stable and matured (2003–2005). There is a slight dip in 2006 in terms of publication outlets; there are, however, confirmatory A. Kumar (&) Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA e-mail:
[email protected] S. Gattoufi Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman e-mail:
[email protected] A. Reisman Reisman and Associates, Shaker Heights, OH, USA e-mail:
[email protected]
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factors that indicate that the dip in 2006 may be an outlier. This paper also suggests developing a clear understanding of the value and type of research embodied in MC publications through three types of taxonomic analyses. The frameworks for all three taxonomies are set forth, two of which have been previously employed in other areas of OR/MS (Reisman and Kirschnik, Oper Res 42(4):577–588, 1994; Oper Res 43(5):731–740, 1995): The first taxonomic framework first classifies the paper as a theory paper or an application paper. At the second stage, the application content of the publication is determined based on a five-point scale ranging from simple modeling of the real world to bona fide real-world application. The second taxonomic framework suggests usage of a taxonomy comprised of seven distinct types of research strategies. The former analysis provides important information about the application worthiness of the MC publications and hence their usefulness to the real world. The second analysis provides information about the type of research strategies used by MC researchers, which, in turn, allows drawing conclusions about the quality and rigor of such research. The third taxonomic framework suggested recommends classification of all publications among multilevel containers based on the disciplines that intersect with MC and their branches. Keywords Mass customization Taxonomy Content analysis Meta review Research strategy Application intensity
1 Introduction Increasingly hailed as the new strategic frontier and fueled by such success stories as Dell, Motorola, Hertz, Yahoo, Sears, Nike, Amazon, Toyota, and a host of others, mass customization has gathered remarkable momentum and currency in recent years. With its unique promise of delivering highly customized products at mass production (affordable) prices, it has not only successfully challenged the grand old assumption that high product customization necessarily carries an exorbitant price tag, it has also triggered a transformation of market dynamics in the most fundamental and structural fashion. Indeed, this unseemly marriage between the two rival competitive priorities—low price and high customization—made possible by application of mass customization principles has compelled businesses that compete on product customization to revisit their strategic formulations to factor in the lower than expected cost of customization and resulting lower prices. Arguably, mass customization has created a paradigm shift in strategic thinking that, we believe, has not been witnessed since Skinner’s seminal article of 1969 that questioned the long-standing premise and wisdom of competing on a single strategic variable (price), disregarding other variables: namely, quality, customization, responsiveness and service that fall under the umbrella of product differentiation. The elemental message of MC is that a custom product is no more the prerogative of the rich; it is well within the reach of the ‘‘average Joe’’ with an average purse size. Needless to say that the appeal of this message is profound and lasting for all customers regardless of their purchasing power. Barring some pathological exceptions at the extremes of the customization continuum, i.e., either where
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nothing short of a perfect customization is demanded by the customer (e.g., dresses for Hollywood actors for the ‘‘Oscars’’ or paintings by renowned artists) or where the product carries virtually no customization value (e.g., wheat flour or iodized salt), principles of mass customization can be employed to improve market share (Kumar et al. 2006b). At the root of the metamorphosis of this strategic landscape is the customer of today who is itching to express his or her personality through personalized products, but is restricted by the size of the purse. Mass customization is serving as a great enabler of the fulfillment of this expression through its signature characteristics: customer co-design and affordable price tag for customization. 1.1 Meta research and taxonomy: role and application The history and philosophy of science literature is replete with admonitions that as important as it is to publish knowledge gained from good research in a given subject area, it is even more important to periodically reflect and assess where the field has been, where it is heading, and what, if anything, should be done to change that field’s course (Gattouffi et al. 2004a, b, c). Hence, there is a critical role and need for some form of meta-research (MR) (Abbott 1988; Cooper 1984, 1988, 1998) for all disciplines that are useful for human progress. In primary (social science) research, data are collected by asking people questions or observing their behavior. In research synthesis, data are collected by conducting a search of reports describing past studies relevant to the topic of interest (Cooper 1998). MR serves other important objectives. One of these is consolidation of the knowledge in a given discipline; the other is expansion of the discipline’s scope. These are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they are complimentary. Reisman (1992) identifies at least two efficient and effective ways of consolidating knowledge. One of these is to create a taxonomy that serves to organize data among logical categories that facilitate further analysis. The other is to create a generalized framework (a general model or _ this theory) that subsumes all existing models, facts, or theories within that field. In paper, we employ both of these types of taxonomies. The taxonomies constructed and explored here have been used previously in the context of different operations reserach (OR), management science (MS), and operations management modules (Gattouffi et al. 2004a, b, c; Reisman et al. 1997a, b, 2001 among others). The first taxonomy assesses the application content of a publication based on a five-point scale ranging from pure theory to bona fide realworld application (Reisman and Kirschnik 1994). The second set of classifications uses a taxonomy comprised of seven distinct types of research strategies (Reisman and Kirschnik 1995). The classifications generated through these taxonomies are statistically analyzed to develop information and fact-based inferences about the application intensity of MC publications and the types of research strategies used by MC researchers. The former analysis provides important information about the application worthiness of the MC publications and hence their usefulness to the real world. The second analysis provides information about the type of research strategies used by MC researchers, which, in turn, allows drawing conclusions about
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the quality and rigor of such research. Further analyses are carried out of the trends and directions of the number of publications and publication outlets pertaining to mass customization. The findings of these trends unequivocally confirm the robustness and vitality of MC as a bona fide field of business. 1.2 Mass customization basics The term mass customization was first coined and defined in visionary terms by Davis (1987). Initial definitions of MC were rather broad and envisioned businesses delivering individualized product to each customer quickly and affordably as a result of integrating flexible and agile processes efficiently (Davis 1987; Kotler 1989; Pine et al. 1993; Hart 1995 among others). Subsequent definitions of MC are narrower and more practical. These envisage deployment of IT capabilities (for customer co-design), flexible processes, agile manufacturing systems, and MCspecific organizational/supply chain structures to deliver customized (as opposed to individualized or personalized) products with wide but limited options to customers (Tseng and Jiao 2001; Duray et al. 2000; Piller 2003; and others). A distillation of these definition leads to the following: MC is essentially a business strategy that permits building high customization levels into a product at low prices typically associated with mass production of those products. It has three distinct elements through which low price mechanisms spring forth: (1) modular product design, (2) finite solution space, and (3) customer co-design. Each of these serves to improve the customization level of the product, while also reducing cost and/or improving profits. In some cases, solution space is infinite where technological capabilities permit infinite variations of the product without impairing affordability. Examples of such MC applications include the garments industry where body scan technology permits exact fitting of garments through scan-manufacturing system coordinated operation. The terms used in the definition are briefly explained below. 1.2.1 Modular design The term modular product design refers to the fact that product is engineered in a way that, for each function of the product, there is a dedicated module. Each module, in turn, has several variants such that each variant provides a specific but different level of performance for the function it serves. For instance, a PC has many modules—a hard disk, a RAM, a video card, power supply, etc., each serving a different function. Each of these components has several variants, for example, RAM may be available in 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 MB. With this kind of performance indexing, a customer can pick and choose a configuration that serves him best, based on his needs for each function. Modular design helps achieve not only a high level of customization at affordable cost, it permits the all-important dialog between the customer and the company—called customer integration.
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1.2.2 Finite solution space Successful implementation of mass customization strategy requires the use of cellular processes, which have one-to-one correspondence with the product modules. Within each cell, the variants are treated as a product family. Thus, the processes needed to fabricate a specific product configuration chosen by a customer are easily determined, often through a process configuration firmware. The power of modular design is in reducing the complexity of processes. The term finite implies that there is a limited number of processes able to deliver a large, albeit limited, number of product configurations. 1.2.3 Customer co-design or integration Customer co-design is the central theme of mass customization. Quite often, through an interactive website, but also through telephone, the customer chooses a product configuration based on the offerings of a company. The customer chooses a specific level of performance of each of the functions that the product is intended to serve. For a PC, for instance, one may choose a 256-MB RAM, a 40-GB hard disk space, a 32-MB Video card, a 1700 monitor, etc. It should be stated that the scope of the term customer co-design has been enlarged and is reflected in its recent replacement: customer integration. The term customer integration implies that there is significant interaction between a company and its customers, most likely via the modular choices offered through a company’s website, permitting negotiations (Chen and Tseng 2007) and elicitation of affective needs (Jiao et al. 2007), etc. 1.3 Applications of mass customization strategies: anecdotal evidence Over the span of the last 2 decades, MC has registered significant growth both in applications as well as in research publications. Indeed, MC as a field has come a long way since its conception 2 decades ago. The list of business applications that have been touted as success stories of MC strategy is evident in the following two excerpts from Kumar (2004, Kumar et al. 2006a): ‘‘In the United States, Spira (1993) describing MC at Luttron electronics was among the early MC published case studies, and then Lutron electronics was often cited as a leading example in MC. Hart (1996) reports that CNN, starting 1980, was envisaged as a cable news service that would be available to everyone, whenever they wanted it, wherever they wanted it, and however they wanted it, hence a mass-customizer. Eastwood (1996) describes how Motorola began customizing their Bandit pager in the early 1980s, to offer customers up to 29 million product combinations encompassing hardware and software configurations. Dell, as described in Falkenberg (1998), started its MC program in the early 1980s and was able to make $6 million in mass customized computers. Peppers and Rogers (1997) describe the Levis-Strauss MC program and how it was offering more than 10,000 jeans variations via its
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Personal Pagers Division. Kubiak (1993) describes how Signtic began in the late 1980s to standardize a traditionally customized product, signs designed for each customer, to evolve from a customizer to a mass customizer’’ (Kumar 2004). ‘‘Lately, there is almost a steady stream of stories that support the positive view of mass customization. Dell Computer Corporation is regarded as the ultimate mass customizer. McGraw Hill (just in time print system for college books), Lenscrafter (customized glasses in an hour), Motorola (pagers), Hertz (customized rental cars at low rent for its gold card members), Cemex (customized quality cement delivered within 2 h), and Nike (fit, style, and functionality), are among the better known companies that are reporting significant improvements in their bottom lines through mass customization efforts. Amazon has employed the customer co-design aspect of mass customization through its web-site (amazon.com) with great benefit. Yahoo has used it to develop effective portals. Acumins (multivitamins), ChemStation (detergents), Lands’ End (pants and shirts), Lutro Electronics (lighting systems), Nike (sneakers and shoes), Procter & Gamble (beauty-care products through reflect.com), TaylorMade (golf clubs), Ultra Pac (plastic containers), and Yankee Candle (candles) are just a few more very impressive examples of mass customization strategy in action’’ Kumar et al. (2006a). Piller (2007) states that, ‘‘ … new promising initiatives have been developing during the last year. Indeed, not a month has gone by without a major mass customization initiative by an established company or a new start-up.’’ Kumar (2007) argues how companies are moving towards mass personalization from mass customization and provide numerous examples of companies in manufacturing, service, social networking, and e-retail industries. Some anecdotal instances of companies that have employed mass customization strategies provided in Kumar (2007) are listed below: Manufacturing companies: MyMuesli (customized cereal), Blends For Friends (tea blend), Conde Nast’s TasteBook (cookbook), and Reebok (footwear and apparel) among others. Furthermore, a recent issue of Business Week (Breaking the Mold, 2007) states, ‘‘many entrepreneurs are now launching companies, or expanding existing ones, by offering personalized products,’’ and cites examples of Chip N Dough (cookies, personalized cookie tins), Zyrra (personalized bras), Choiceshirts (customized designs of shirts with personalized logos), and Namemaker (giftwraps with custom slogans), and American Art Resources (customized art work in healthcare facilities). Spreadshirt (customer-designed t-shirts), Zazzle (custom shirts, stamps), CafePress (a variety of custom products including t-shirts, mugs, stamps, CDs, books, and other products). CafePress, which brings buyers and sellers of almost anything together on the Internet, represents an additional trend beyond simple personalization; it is also a one-stop personalization station as it acts as a caretaker of your customer services. Social networking: ‘‘The most noticeable developments underscoring the strategic initiatives aimed at personalization, however, have occurred in the
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industries that provide services that support or promote human creativity, self-expression, social networking, and/or pursuit of hobbies. Picaboo (customizing digital pictures and albums), LuLu (customizing, publishing and marketing manuscripts), CeWe (customized digital photo books, albums), Blurb (bookmaking software), and Moo (greeting cards, postcards) are just a few companies that have moved to the forefront of personalization movement, each registering impressive sales growths ([14%) in 2007. Perhaps the leader of such companies is Mark Zukerberg’s Facebook, which allows friends and families to upload their photos, exchange ideas, and upload other electronic files. It expanded its clientele to 62 million members of friends and families in a span of 3 years and is estimated to cross the 100 million mark at the end of 2007. The other companies that have helped the cause of personalization at a trailblazing speed are YouTube and MySpace. Not surprisingly, these three companies share the top five web traffic rankings determined by Alexa. To the extent volume of web traffic directly correlates with sales, these companies are living proofs of the success of personalization strategy’’ Kumar (2007). A recent article in the US News & World Report (21 November 2005) underscores the tremendous need for customer-centric strategies if the businesses are to survive: ‘‘It used to be (that) consumers wanted something state-of-the-art,’’ says Wharton professor of marketing Barbara Kahn. ‘‘Now they want something tailored to them.’’ Indeed, Brand Keys, a research firm that studies customer loyalty, found that customization is 30% of what draws a person to a brand today as opposed to only 6% in 1997. Furthermore, with the progressively increasing purchasing power, today’s customer wants to express his or her personality through personalized products, creating extraordinary pressure on businesses to integrate customization as a key variable in their strategy formulations. Based on the anecdotal evidence of the adoption of the MC strategy listed above, the fact that there have been a total of 1,124 articles published in 742 journals and magazines that relate to MC, and the fact there has been a rising trend (see Sect. 3.1 for both MC publications as well as MC publication-related outlets (with the sole exception of 2006, where the trend seems to taper down, picking back up in 2007), it can be concluded that MC is a robust, vital, and flourishing field that has high volumes of publications and applications. Furthermore, we can also conclude, based on the same parameters, that it is matured enough for introspection and review, and if warranted, for course correction. Gattoufi et al. (2004a) prescribe: Periodically, professionals in a given field must reflect and assess where the field has been, where it is heading, and what, if anything, should be done to change that field’s course, if warranted. This profound statement is essentially the motivation for this work. This paper is organized as follows: A historical perspective of MC as a field is presented in Sect. 2. A statistical trend analysis of the MC publications that appeared in journals and magazines since 1987 is presented in Sect. 3. Section 4 compares the diffusion intensity of MC with another field—data envelopment analysis—to explore its vitality and health. Section 5 presents three frameworks of
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taxonomies that will allow a useful content analysis of MC research and help lay down directions for change, if necessary. Section 6 provides concluding remarks.
2 Mass customization: a historical perspective Market segmentation based on similarity of customer preferences is a strategy over half a century old (Smith 1956). Indeed, business strategy models built around the idea of market segmentation have appeared in marketing literature with regularity (McCarthey 1960, Kotler 1967, and others). Toffler (1970), a noted futurologist, accurately forecasted the characteristics of future business systems: flat organizational structures, faster and high volumes of information flows (information overload), modularity, and disposable components—which became a reality in the late 1990s. Notably, these are consistent with the factors that promote an MC strategy. Again, Toffler (1984) was remarkably prescient in foreseeing customization/personalization as a key aspect of the current business practice: The customer ‘‘will become so integrated into the production process that we will find it difficult to tell who the producer is.’’ 2.1 The seminal and significant publications in MC In the archival literature, Davis’s (1987) Future Perfect represents the first formal MC publication that coined the idea, the term MC and other MC-related terminology, and underscored the strategic prowess of MC. The essence of the book is captured in the following four phrases: • • • •
Any time: Products and services should become available the instant a customer develops a need. Any place: Products and services should travel to customers, not vice versa. No matter: Manufacturers should separate the information contained in a product from the physical matter that gives it form. Mass customization: Production processes should generate an infinite variety of goods and services, uniquely tailored to customers.
It would be fair to say that while Davis articulated a great vision of mass customization strategy, his assumptions primarily remained idealistic and somewhat non-pragmatic. It assumed perfect markets, perfect competition, perfect employees and their ability to change jobs instantly, etc. It is widely agreed that Pine’s (1992) book—Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition—provided the pragmatic underpinnings—the nuts and bolts—for a successful deployment of MC for sustained competitive and financial advantage. It also provided a broad roadmap to effect transition from a cost-based mass production (MP) strategy to a cost + customization-based MC strategy. At least two contemporaneous publications by Pine (1993) and Pine et al. (1993) are widely regarded as seminal papers in MC. Not only did Pine provide the rationale for considering mass customization as a viable strategy, he also lent enough credence to the usefulness and value of MC as a strategy so that it began to assert itself as a bona-fide area for scholarly research.
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The first scholarly MC paper in academic journals appears to be ‘‘From Mass Marketing To Mass Customization’’ by Philip Kotler. He observed: ‘‘[Market] segmentation now has progressed to the era of mass customization, but even segmented markets are too broad. That level of analysis does not permit the development of niche strategies.’’ Kotler’s observation is beginning to prove a reality as mass customization strategy morphs moves into mass personalization of products and services (Kumar 2007). Kotler (1989) was indeed the first to give MC a marketing dimension by considering it as an alternative to traditional mass marketing strategy. Kotha (1995), somewhat critical of Pine’s book (Pine 1992), wherein mass customization was proposed as an alternative to mass production (MP), argued that MC and MP indeed co-exist in any company; only the degrees differ. Indeed, through the study of the dynamics of pursuing both MP and MC strategies in a landmark case study on National Bicycle Manufacturing Company, he developed an analytical framework to determine how and where to position a company on the MC-MP continuum that would yield maximum strategic and financial advantage. Kotha also described, in broad terms, the capabilities needed for successful implementations of MC. Along the same lines, Alptekinoglu (2004) used a game-theoretic approach to provide theoretical underpinnings in analyzing MC vs. MP. Alptekinoglu’s is the first known article that developed a mathematically rigorous, albeit highly limited, model of MC vs. MP revenue gains and thus proposed a model, at least in conceptual sense, how the optimality of the MC-MP mix can be addressed. Piller (2004) wrote a unique paper that takes stock of the MC progress since its inception. Through 12 propositions, this paper summarizes why MC remains a largely unexplored strategy and what needs to be done to make MC an effective business strategy. Also, Piller et al. (2004) is among the salient works that effectively address the issue of customer integration and the economies it brings to product price—a premier strategic benefit of mass customization. There has been a shortage of articles that take a critical view of MC as a business strategy. Pine (1993) analyzes the failure of Japanese car makers to achieve mass customization in the late 1980s, which is really a criticism of the business rather than MC. He reports that Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and Toyota experienced the same problems in implementing MC, mainly because they are adopting the strategy of continuous improvement that contradicts MC principles. He claims that Toyota, as well as the other Japanese car makers, created technically elegant features regardless of whether customers wanted them. A few works point out that more customization or more product choice does not automatically mean that the customer will pay a higher price premium. Desmeules (2002) and Schwartz (2000) address this issue. Schwartz calls too much choice of products, ‘‘a tyranny of choices’’; Lehman (1998) calls high product variety levels, ‘‘too much of a good thing.’’ Indeed, the customization literature has essentially established a concave behavior of the level of customization with that of price (Kumar 2004). An optimum point occurs as a certain level of customization is achieved; beyond that the customer is unwilling to respond favorably to increased customization. Thus, a prudent mass customizer would analyze the market data with respect to the customer propensity for customization, the optimality levels that customer would
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respond to in terms of price premium and delayed receipt of product, and the financial implications of adopting a higher level mass customization strategy. However, we did not find any work in MC that addresses this concave behavior and its manifestation in strategic formulations. Finally, Zipkin (2001) addresses the limitations of mass customization and identifies issues in manufacturing capabilities that may not allow MC to succeed. Kotha (1995), Alptekinoglu (2004), and Jiang et al. (2004) are significant in that they do not assume MC to be a universally superior strategy. They recommend that based on the markets preferences and company’s distinctive competencies, an optimal strategy should be chalked out to operate somewhere in between the two extreme systems of production: mass customization and mass production. Squire et al. (2006), based on the survey of MC implementation in UK industries, make the case that MC is a useful strategy, but has been hyped significantly beyond its true potential. Notwithstanding the considerable momentum gained and numerous success stories attributed to MC over the last decade, MC still needs a good deal of attention from OR/OM/MS researchers. There is a clear paucity of quantitative modeling and optimization routines that provide decision support to manufacturing and service systems as well as supply chains. The rigorous quantitative modeling within the MC field is limited to its components: risk-pooling and delayed differentiation and that was published in non-MC context. A partial list of such works would include Tayur et al. (1999), Lee and Tang (1997), Garg and Tang (1997) in delayed differentiation, Eppen (1979), Eppen and Schrage (1981), Zipkin (1984); Schwarz (1989), Kumar (1995) in Risk Pooling, and Leyuan et al. (2001), Balakrishnan and Jacob (1996), and Van Hoek et al. (1999) in product design. While there has been a substantial amount of research in the MC field, it has largely been modular rather than systemic or integrative. For instance, Duray et al. (2000) in operations management, Dellaert and Stremersch (2005) in marketing, Franke and von Hippel (2003) in innovation management, Simpson and D’Souza (2004) in engineering management, Pentland (2003) in organization science, and Kraemer et al. (2000) in management information systems have contributed significant articles in individual modules. We have, however, yet to see a concerted effort to bring together different business perspectives to enhance our understanding of MC as an integrated business strategy and its myriad interactions with intra- and extra-business environments. Finally, there have been but few papers that approach MC with a view to meaningfully ‘‘structure’’ the field so that it leads to useful content analysis. Among the early papers, Da Silveira et al. (2001) create a classification of various approaches for implementing MC and prescribe directions for future research. They also discuss the notion of MC enablers and their impact on the development of production systems. Another taxonomic publication of note is presented by Potter et al. (2004). Due to the dynamic nature of production and modular design of products in a mass customization setting, the traditional methods to manage supply chains do not do very well in such a setting. Potter et al. suggest a taxonomy that would be useful to manage supply chains in the MC environment.
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MC evolved in the corporate world in response to customer pressure on companies to serve all of the competitive priorities—price, quality, customization, delivery, service—simultaneously. However, an MC-specific methodology is still being developed in order to understand (to rationalize) and improve the implementation of this strategy. Both the strategy as well as the methodology have been of interest to a number of management sub-disciplines. These are: pperations management, supply chain management, operations research, management science, marketing, engineering management, among others. As is the case with data envelopment analysis, literature of which was extensively analyzed in Gattoufi et al. (2004a, b and c), where a debate is still ongoing as to whether it belongs to OR or to economic theory, so is the case with MC. The old adage of a success/victory having many fathers pertains. Alternately stated, its successes can be considered a phenomenon: if a paradigm becomes successful, authors from several disciplines claim that such a paradigm belongs to their disciplines. What are the implications of such a phenomenon if it exists? Does it matter? It matters in the sense that the more disciplines or sub-disciplines that become involved as evidenced by the diversity of journals including MC content, the more diffusion can be claimed for MC. The higher the rate of MC content articles being published is, the greater vitality can be claimed for MC. The greater the number of articles published in practitioner type journals and magazines is, the greater a relevance can be claimed for MC. Its relevance is also reflected in the fact that a majority of the 1,124 articles published are deeply rooted in the real world. The field has not as yet been in Abbot’s words (Abbott 1988) academicized in certain areas such as OR/MS/OM. In fact, as was the case with flexible manufacturing (Reisman et al. 1997b), the academicians are still playing a catch up game with industry. This short literature survey is far from exhaustive. Additional literature surveys are warranted to encompass the growing amount of literature related to modularization and postponement, two premier components of MC implementation. Furthermore, there are several other terms, such as one-to-one marketing or market of one, build-to-order or make to order, production platform, and product portfolio, which are attracting progressively increasing attention of researchers. All of these terms have a relationship and interdependency with MC. More literature surveys and exploratory research works are required to appropriately juxtapose these within the MC perspective.
3 Epistemology of the MC literature In this section, we present an epistemological review of MC using the database compiled by the authors through numerous sources. A number of graphs and charts statistically depict the MC literature over its entire life span so as to: (1) (2) (3)
Obtain a succinct, quantitative, yet operationally meaningful indication of its contributions, Draw appropriate conclusions regarding its historical impact on society in general and on the OR/MS profession in particular, and Derive insights and suggest directions for future research.
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MC intersects with all functions of business systems including their supply chains. However, its stronger relations could be traced to strategy, operations, marketing, and finance. Arguments have surfaced that OR/MS in general has undergone a ‘‘devolution’’ (Ackoff 1987) and what Corbett et al. (1993) called ‘‘natural drift’’ toward what Abott (1988) referred to as the ‘‘professional regression’’ from its real world roots to a preoccupation with mathematical constructs. Seen from this perspective, MC represents a counter-example to all such claims. 3.1 Statistical trend analysis 3.1.1 Sources of publications The list of publications that appeared during the entire life cycle of MC was compiled by exploring academic databases such as PROQuest, EBSCOHost, Ingenta, Emerald, Science Direct, and IEEE. The help of Dr. Frank Piller should also be recognized, who generously shared his MC publications database. From the list of references contained in these databases, those appearing in scholarly journals and longer than four pages in length were selected for content analysis. It should be pointed out that the data for 2007 are only up to August 2007, i.e., only contain information for the partial year. Hence, this year was excluded from any calculations unless otherwise mentioned. The final list, we believe, is large, representative, and reliable enough to capture the general trends and conclusions of the MC literature. In all 1,124 papers published in scholarly journals, trade journals, and magazines were identified as predominantly MC publications. 3.1.2 Statistical analysis of trends in MC publications A total of 1,124 articles were published at an average of 56 articles a year, ignoring the deficit in 2007 (see Table 1, Fig. 1). Of these only 13.7% were published in the first half (1987–1996) of the existence horizon of MC (1987–2007), allowing validity to the claim of exponential growth in the last half. As opposed to the overall average of 56 papers annually, an average of 112 publications appeared in the last 4 years (2003– 96). Indeed, the last 4 years account for over 41% of the total publications. This is a clear testimony to the vitality and robustness of the field. Figure 1 confirms these trends. Furthermore, Fig. 1 confirms the exponential growth of research volume in mass customization, which has not yet plateaued. Admittedly, there is a sudden dip in number of publications in 2006. However, 75 publications in first 8 months of 2007 suggest that the dip in 2006 is not a part of pattern. We conclude that the volume of research in MC indicates that the filed is healthy and growing impressively. 3.1.3 Statistical analysis of trends in MC publications outlets For this analysis, we compiled three types of data on yearly basis starting from 1987: the new publication outlets as they sprung out every year reflecting the growth and interest in the field and the total publication outlets in any given year
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Table 1 Year-wise data on MC publications
Year
Yearly publications in journals and magazines No. of articles
Cumulative % of articles
11
0.98
11
0.98
1989
4
0.36
15
1.33
1990
8
0.71
23
2.05
1991
7
0.62
30
2.67
1992
9
0.80
39
3.47
1993
27
2.40
66
5.87
1994
22
1.96
88
7.83
1995
27
2.40
115
10.23
1996
39
3.47
154
13.70
1997
73
6.49
227
20.20
1998
64
5.69
291
25.89
1999
71
6.32
362
32.21
2000
73
6.49
435
38.70
2001
72
6.41
507
45.11
2002
71
6.32
578
51.42
2003
119
10.59
697
62.01
2004
127
11.30
824
73.31
2005
134
11.92
958
85.23
2006
91
8.10
1,049
93.33
2007a
75
6.67
1,124
100.00
Total
1,124 56.2
Average (2003–06)
Partial year data: up to August 2007
Cumulative no. of articles
\1988
Average a
% of total articles
112.75
100.00 90.00 80.00
% of TotalArticles Cum. % of Articles
70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00
2006
2007*
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
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1994
1993
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1991
1990
1989
< 1988
0.00
Fig. 1 Percent and cumulative percent of MC articles (1987–2007)
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(see Tables 2 and 3, Figs. 2 and 3). A total of 365 new outlets germinated in 20 years of the MC field’s existence. Percent of these new outlets and cumulative percent of the new outlets are computed and shown in the table. Similar percentages are computed in respect of total publication outlet in a year and its cumulative value. Corresponding percentages are also computed. Table 2 indicates the rapid increase of the rate of new media becoming interested in publishing on MC. The new outlets column indicates an exponential growth in the number of new outlets coming on stream with MC contents. The salient findings with respect to the publication outlets are as follows: (1) only 26% of all the new outlets germinated in first half of the existence horizon of MC (1987–1996). Twenty-eight percent of new outlets came into being in the last 4 years (2003–2006). However, despite the high proportion of new outlets in recent years, it should be noted that the percent of new outlets declined somewhat in 2005 and 2006. We believe this is a sign of maturity of the field and not of its decline. After 365 journals/magazines in place, the need for additional outlets appears to be more than saturated. From Table 1, we note that there is not a decline in number of publications in 2007 (75 in 8 months puts 2007 right by the highest volume of publications when extrapolated over 12 months), and the total number of outlets has not declined in any significant way (see Table 2). This lends further credence to our conjecture that the decline in 2007 is merely an indication of the saturation of needs for extra outlets. Figure 2 below reflects the observations made above. In addition, Fig. 2 shows the ‘‘S’’ formation, which is typical of most knowledge bases as they approach maturity. Based on the number of publications and total outlets used for MC publications, we cannot yet conclude that MC is anywhere near decline. On the contrary, the evidence is clear that it is a healthy, robust, and thriving field of interest. The state of growth of MC can be summarized as follows: The MC field grew slowly in the first decade, grew exponentially in the next 5 years, and seems to have tapered off some in the last 5 years. This is typical of most fields of knowledge. While the next couple years should be watched with caution, the level of publications is steady at a very high level. At this point, the conclusion that the field is robust and healthy is logical. The drop in new outlets in 2006 does not appear to be an indicator of loss of vitality of the field. Any area that has 365 publications can be branded as nothing but healthy, robust, and vibrant. Table 3 and Fig. 3 above provide a logarithmic scale trend data and chart respectively of the variables studied in Fig. 2. The most important observation that can be deduced from Fig. 3 is that even on a logarithmic scale, the cumulative charts for new outlets as well as total outlets shows a linearly rising trend throughout the existence horizon of the MC field. The slope declines but remains upward after 1997 and almost flattens in 2005. All this leads to the conclusion that the field is arriving at its maturity in a healthy fashion. 3.1.4 Ranking of MC publication outlets There is a ranked list of journals based on the number of articles published by them during the entire existence horizon of MC (see Table 4). Due to space limitation, we have only provided the list of the top 25 journals. With 455 articles shared by these
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12
15
23
31
19
36
31
22
25
39
26
18
1994
1995
1996
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1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
6
1991
7
7
1990
11
3
1989
1993
10
\1988
1992
Number of new outlets
Year
Publication outlets
5.0
7.2
10.8
6.9
6.1
8.6
10.0
5.3
8.6
6.4
4.2
3.3
3.1
1.9
1.7
1.9
0.8
2.8
% New outlets
341
323
297
258
233
211
180
144
125
94
71
56
44
33
26
20
13
10
Cumulative new outlets
Table 2 Yearly data on MC publication outlets (1987–2007)
94.7
89.7
82.5
71.7
64.7
58.6
50.0
40.0
34.7
26.1
19.7
15.6
12.2
9.2
7.2
5.6
3.6
2.8
% of cumulative new outlets
69
73
80
53
54
60
58
45
50
33
23
19
14
9
7
8
3
11
Total number of outlets (new and old)
9.6
10.2
11.2
7.4
7.5
8.4
8.1
6.3
7.0
4.6
3.2
2.6
2.0
1.3
1.0
1.1
0.4
1.5
% Total outlets
669
600
527
447
394
340
280
222
177
127
94
71
52
38
29
22
14
11
Cumulative total number of outlets
93.3
83.7
73.5
62.3
55.0
47.4
39.1
31.0
24.7
17.7
13.1
9.9
7.3
5.3
4.0
3.1
2.0
1.5
% Cumulative total outlets
Mass customization research 651
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25.50
Last 4 years average [[
Partial year data
18.25
a
360
5
2007a
Average [[
19
2006
Total [[
Number of new outlets
Year
Publication outlets
Table 2 continued
1.4
5.3
% New outlets
365
360
Cumulative new outlets
100.0
% of cumulative new outlets
67.50
37.1
717
25
48
Total number of outlets (new and old)
3.5
6.7
% Total outlets
742
717
Cumulative total number of outlets 100.0
% Cumulative total outlets
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2007*
2006
2005
2004
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2002
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% New Oulets % of Cum. New Outlets % Total Outlets % Cum. Total Outlets
1989
100.0 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0
< 1988
Percent
Mass customization research
Year
Fig. 2 Trends of MC publication outlets
journals, which is about 40% of total publications, the remaining 60% articles are distributed in 340 journals, none of them publishing over 1% of total articles. This indicates that MC has a wide reach, encompasses a wide set of disciplines, and has indeed diffused in a variety of settings based on the application specifics. The most MC articles published in any one outlet, the International Journal of Operations & Production Management accounts for about 5% of the MC literature base. The top ten outlets account for no more than 24% of the literature, once again confirming the wide diffusion conjecture laid out above. The noteworthy aspect of this analysis in our opinion is the fact that the flagship journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, M&SOM are absent from the list of top 25 publications. This is significant since, as we said earlier, there is a void of rigorous quantitative modeling and decision support in implementing mass customization strategy successfully and effectively. This void is being filled nominally through some of the dedicated MC journal papers. However, this may just be compared with a trickle where full blast stream is needed.
4 The comparison of MC with DEA: the diffusion spread Diffusion or spread is an important criterion that determines the vitality and staying power of a field (Gattoufi et al. 2004a, b and c). Indeed, the more relevant and more useful (in terms of value to the society or its segment) a discipline is, the more diffusion it will command since more and more disciplines would like to embed it in their research work or transfer knowledge from that field into their own. Furthermore, wider diffusion level implies wider application base and greater acceptability across disciplines. Two of the best indicators of diffusion intensity of any field are: (1) The number of publication outlets drawn from different fields and (2) interdependencies with other discipline. On both of these counts MC fares very well in terms of diffusion intensity. Based on the data for publication outlets and our conjecture about wide diffusion of MC among outlets and disciplines, it would be interesting to compare its statistics with another field for which we have data available. Accordingly, we provide such a comparison below (Fig. 4).
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23
31
19
36
31
22
25
39
26
18
19
5
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007a
Partial year data
12
1994
a
7
11
6
1991
1993
7
1990
1992
0.5
0.7
1.3
1.3
1.4
1.6
1.4
1.3
1.5
1.6
1.3
1.5
1.4
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.8
0.8
0.8
1.0
3
1989
Number of new Log (new outlets outlets)
\1988 10
Year
Publication outlets
365
360
341
323
297
258
233
211
180
144
125
94
71
56
44
33
26
20
13
10
2.6
2.6
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.4
2.4
2.3
2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.1
1.0
Cumulative new Log (cumulative outlets new outlets)
Table 3 Logarithmic data of publication outlets (1987–2007)
25
48
69
73
80
53
54
60
58
45
50
33
23
19
14
9
7
8
3
11
Total number of outlets (new and old)
1.4
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.9
1.7
1.7
1.8
1.8
1.7
1.7
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.1
1.0
0.8
0.9
0.5
1.0
Log (total outlets)
742
717
669
600
527
447
394
340
280
222
177
127
94
71
52
38
29
22
14
11
Cumulative total number of outlets
2.9
2.9
2.8
2.8
2.7
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.3
1.1
1.0
Log (cumulative total outlets)
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2007*
2006
2005
2004
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2002
2001
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1999
1998
1997
1996
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1991
1990
Log(Cum. New Outlets) Log(Cum. Total Outlets)
1989
3.0 2.7 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.3 0.0
< 1988
Log (Statistic)
Mass customization research
Year
Fig. 3 Logarithmic trends of MC publication outlets
Table 4 Ranking of MC publication outlets based on number of publications Serial no. Name of outlet
Number of papers published
1
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
55
2
International Journal of Mass Customisation
40
3
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management 31
4
International Journal of Production Research
5
International Journal of Production Economics
21
6
Production Planning & Control
20
7
Planning Review
19
8
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
18
9
Integrated Manufacturing Systems
17
10
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems
16
11
International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
16
12
MIT Sloan Management Review
16
13
Harvard Business Review
15
14
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
15
15
Computers in Industry
14
16
European Journal of Operational Research
14
17
Journal of Operations Management
14
18
European Journal of Marketing
13
19
Industrial Management & Data Systems
11
20
International Journal of Logistics Management
11
21
Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management
11
22
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
11
23
International Journal of Service Industry Management
10
24
Journal of Product Innovation Management
10
25
Management Decision
10
26
Manufacturing Engineer
10
27
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4.1 Diffusion of DEA versus MC Figure 4 provides graphs that facilitate a comparison of the concentration in different outlets for the MC and DEA literature. A similar analysis of DEA literature is presented in Gattoufi et al. (2004a, b and c). Recognizing that the two disciplines are different in nature and scope, the comparison here is limited to the degree of diffusion of these disciplines. Their commonalties include inception and exponential and growth in the last 3 decades, ownership conflict (i.e., unclear as to which discipline they belong), and overlapping on several sub-fields through a wide range of applications. Both MC’s and DEA’s diffusion is indicated by the large number and diversity of journals serving as outlets for MC and DEA articles. The degree of concentration varies between the two as the following observations suggest. In fact, almost 40% of DEA articles are published in the top ten journals, while 23% of MC articles are published in the top ten outlets. Alternately, to get to 40% of total articles, MC needed 25 journals as opposed to DEA’s 10. The top 20 and top 100 journals serving as outlets for DEA account for roughly 50 and 70% of the publications, respectively. For MC literature, these proportions are 36 and 71%, respectively. Based on these numbers, one can argue that MC is slightly more distributed and has a greater degree of diffusion. In fact, to get to the 50% of all publications, MC needed 38 journals, and to get to 70%, MC needed 100 journals. This means that MC has a greater degree of diffusion with a larger ownership set. In summary, the literature considered for this study could be rationally divided into four distinct stages in the life cycle of the MC literature. The first stage is the slow incubation period (1987–1992) when the discipline grew out of its infancy and began to be recognized for its application value. This stage is followed by a period of steep, exponential growth reflected in rapid multiplication of publication outlets and research volume (1993–2002). Between 2002 and 2005, the field enjoyed a sustained level of high research productivity with a significant jump in publications
Cumulative Percentage of Number of Outlets
110% 100%
DEA
90% 80% 70% 60% 50%
MC
40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0%
%
10
%
20
30
%
% 40
50
%
% 60
% 70
% 80
% 90
Cumulative Percentage of Number of Publication
Fig. 4 Comparative analysis of MC and DEA for diffusion intensity
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0%
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0%
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and outlets for publications. The year 2006 is unique in that it has clearly resulted in a decline in the rate of new publication outlets as well as number of publications. Given the existing diffusion of MC research over 365 journals, the fact that the research productivity did not decline significantly in 2006, and the fact that total publication outlets did not decline precipitously in 2006, we believe that this counter-trend is a fallacy. This conclusion is further supported by publication data in 2007. When compensated for missing months, the publication level seems to return to the 2005 level, or even higher. Based on the factual data, we beg to differ strongly from business strategists who are beginning to write off 2006 as the death-knell for MC; quite the contrary, as the data show, the MC as a field is strong and vibrant. 4.2 Is MC beginning to devolve? We have already addressed this question in Sect. 4.1, and the answer is in the negative. Notwithstanding our observation earlier that MC has yet to pick up on rigorous, quantitative modeling and decision support in a significant way, we note that a small number of recent publications devoted to MC have employed mathematical modeling and quantitative analyses in their work. This is seen, for instance, in the new outlet totally devoted to the field, namely the International Journal of Mass Customisation. To some MC experts, this ignites the old debate that Corbett and Van Wassenhove (1993) initiated when they noticed a declining number of articles with OR/MS content from 1956 to 1991 in journals such as the Harvard Business Review. The authors concluded that OR/MS in general was in a ‘‘natural drift’’ away from what Miser (1987) referred to as the ‘‘swamps of relevance.’’ One approach to measuring the diffusion of the MC literature from the ‘‘swamps of relevance’’ to academic respectability is to look at the publishing patterns and outlets of choice of authors dealing with MC. Does this represent a symptom of the hegemony of the field’s authors who try to bridge the field and anchor it with the prestigious mathematical modeling of all fields that can be subject of the MC strategy? Can this be understood as an attempt to create a more sophisticated body of knowledge for the field? Does it reflect a restlessness experienced by some authors in the community, unhappy with the simplicity, though highly appreciated, of the original concept? Or it just reflects the continuous struggle of researcher frightened by the ‘‘publish or perish’’ rule? It is difficult to say. In any case, we believe that much more needs to be done by way of quantitative modeling and analyses before this question really becomes relevant, in our view.
5 Content analyses of the MC literature: taxonomic frameworks A full-fledged, number-based analysis of the contents of MC research is out of scope of this paper. We, however, propose at least three taxonomic frameworks that, in our view, constitute a useful basis for providing a systematic way to review and classify the MC literature. Two of the three frameworks (Reisman and Kirschnik 1994, 1995) have been developed and presented as generic taxonomies to classify research. These taxonomies and corresponding analyses have already been employed and published in
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the past in the context of OR/MS modules: data envelopment analysis (Gattoufi et al. 2004a, b, c); flowshop manufacturing (Reisman et al. 1997a), cellular manufacturing (Reisman et al. 1997b), and health care (Kumar and Motwani 1999) and in game theory (Reisman et al. 2001). These taxonomies have been viewed and received well as is evident in the rigor and prestige of the journals in which they have been published: Operations Research, IEEE Transactions in Technology Management, Journal of Operational Research Society, Socio Economic Planning Sciences, Management Decision, etc. Yet, it is important to note that others may find different classification categories to be more relevant, find different uses for such analyses, and/or find different ways of statistically analyzing the data. Irrespective of the categories used, or the methods of massaging the data, Ormerod (1997) suggested that such work is useful in OR/MS for several reasons. He states: ‘‘An analysis could serve four purposes, which might be welcomed by many: (1) (2)
(3) (4)
it could inform the debate about what constitutes good quality research it could inform (along with citation and peer review evidence) funding bodies who would form their own conclusions about the nature of the research they wish to promote it could encourage researchers to consider the nature of their research and how it might contribute to the knowledge base of the subject it could help to characterize the research approaches of different institutions in a factual way to inform recruitment and student choices’’
5.1 Taxonomy for classifying research content of a publication based on the application content One of the key reasons behind publishing research is to provide visibility to methodologies or decision-support mechanisms that can be usefully employed in the real world to accomplish certain goals, whatever those may be, if the assumptions and settings of the research are consistent with the real world scenario under consideration. The literature of OR/MS uses the word application to imply anything from a bona fide solution of a real-world problem to an interesting model that is but a figment of the modeler(s)’ imagination (Reisman 1989, 1992; Reisman and Kirschnick 1994). Moreover, the word data is often used in referring either to facts gathered in the field or to numbers extracted from a random number generator. Consequently, the MC articles are classified using a multilevel scale (Reisman and Kirschnick 1995 and Ormerod and Kiossis 1997) that distinguishes those articles that are theoretical from those that are applied. The chart in Fig. 5 shows the taxonomy of classification based on the degree to which an article is application-worthy, which is originally presented in Reisman and Kirschnik (1995). Any publication is initially classified as a theory or application publication. The second level classification further fine tunes the degree of theory or application embodied in the publication. The details are provided below: Articles falling into the theory group are formal constructs that are theoretical in nature. They may have been motivated by or even based on real-world problems and
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A Publication
Theory
T1
T2
Application
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Fig. 5 A taxonomy based on application content of a publication
offer a wide range of potential applications. Nevertheless, they were judged to be strictly a contribution to theory. Each theory article is sub-classified to distinguish those that used synthetic numbers for various tests or illustrative examples (labeled T2) from those that are purely logico-deductive (labeled T1). On the other hand, if the article was judged to fall in the applications area, it was classified using the following five-point scale: A1. A2. A3. A4. A5.
A figment of the modeler’ s imagination, a result of logico-deductive reasoning; A figment of the modeler’s imagination that uses synthetic data; A grounding in the real-world; A grounding in real-world data and a demonstrated application that made a difference; Either category three or four above with the additional use of synthetic data to test sensitivity, conduct an error analysis, and/or explore behavior boundaries.
An initial effort to classify the MC articles showed that the MC literature has a uniquely high frequency of articles dedicated to theoretical developments while simultaneously showing an application of these developments to real-world problems. Therefore, in line with Gattoufi et al. (2004a, b, c), we suggest that it was necessary to add a third class (labeled TxAx) integrating these two classifications. 5.2 A taxonomy to classify research content of a publication based on research strategy used Research strategy used in a publication is an indicator of the value of research embodied in a publication. A seven-point taxonomy suggested in Reisman (1988, 1992) and Reisman and Kirschnik (1995) would be useful in developing a taxonomic classification of MC articles. This has been used before in many works previously with good results (Gattoufi et al. 2004a, b, c; Resiman et al. 1997a, b, 2001, etc.). The taxonomy categories are as follows (Reisman and Kirschnik 1995): Some papers addressing a previously unstructured (in the OR/MS sense) domain of knowledge in addition to the structuring process often invoke other strategies as well. This taxonomy can be further modified to assign primary, secondary, and in some cases, even tertiary strategy categories (Table 5).
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Table 5 Definitions of research strategies (Reisman and Kirschnick 1995) Research strategy
Definition
Ripple
An extension of previous theoretical or applied type of research in a given discipline or sub-discipline
Embedding
The development of a more generalized formulation or a more global theory by embedding several known models or theories
Bridging
The bridging of known models or of known theories resulting in the growth of the contributing and/or some initially unrelated field of knowledge
Transfer of technology
The use of what is known in one discipline to model problem domains falling in some other, perhaps even in a disparate, discipline
Creative application
The application directly, not by analogy, of a known methodology to a problem or a research questions that were not previously so addressed
Structuring
The process of organization and documentation of the organizational phenomena in the form of models
Statistical modeling
Models that arise from analyses performed on empirically obtained data. These models arise from statistical manipulations such as regression or cluster analysis rather than from logical derivations based on various assumptions
1. The ripple process
2. The embedding process
4. The transfer of technology process
3. The bridging process
5. The creative application process
LEGEND Available knowledge based on past research New knowledge encompassed by new research
6. The structuring process
The statistical modeling process
Fig. 6 The seven categories of research strategies
A Vane diagram of these strategies is reproduced below to provide a greater understanding of the interactions within these categories in Fig. 6. Please see Reisman and Kirschniik (1995) for detailed explanation and rationale of this taxonomy.
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5.3 Discipline/module based taxonomy This simple taxonomy would simply place each publication in a container based on the area and its modules of investigation. A sample version of this has been developed before (Kumar et al. 2006b). The following categories are suggested, which can be updated as new publications in new categories surface. Classification based on operational and marketing effectiveness •
Mass customization intensity • MC-2: closely related • MC-3: remotely related • MC[01]-1: directly related
•
Manufacturing or service • Manufacturing • Service • Both
•
Classifications related to operations modules: • • • • •
•
Product design Process configuration ERP/inventory management Supply chain management Postponement or delayed assembly
Classifications related to marketing, strategy, and organizational behavior • Organizational characteristics based on papers that dealt with mass customization • Mass customization versus mass production analysis • Operations strategy/business strategy • Marketing strategy • Information technology
•
Classification based on methodology used • Case studies—pertaining to specific business or surveys • Modeling based—these papers developed operations or supply chain models and carried out some sort of optimality analysis • Conceptual/theoretical papers
6 Concluding remarks From its very launch and over its entire lifespan, MC has enjoyed practitioner acceptance. Its vitality is demonstrated by the high rate of literature growth and by the large number of journals engaging in MC publications. During the 2 decades of
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its existence to date, there have been 1,124 publications in the MC area. About 80% of these appeared in the last decade. These publications have appeared in 365 distinct outlets. The diversity of journals having MC content speaks to its diffusion and to its relevance. An increasing number of companies adopting this strategy are reported around the world. An increasing volume of literature, more elaborated and more sophisticated in terms of modeling, is produced by researchers in different disciplines. The state of the art and growth of MC over the last 20 years can be described thus: During the incubation period (1987–1992) the discipline grew somewhat slowly, accounting for only 3.5% of the total publications. This period is followed by a period of steep, exponential growth reflected in rapid multiplication of publication outlets and research volume (1993–2002). From 2002 through 2005, MC publications registered a sustained level of high research productivity. A sharp decline is noticed in number of publications in 2006, which has alarmed some experts who feel that this may be the harbinger of out-of-fashion news for MC. We, however, argue that the publication data in 2007 belies this fear and that all is well and spirited with MC. Based on publication data and the number of journals publishing MC-related material, we have shown that MC is a highly ‘‘diffusive’’ field. Indeed, it is shown to have a greater degree of diffusion than DEA, another field that is known to have very high levels of diffusion. For some, this may be seen as a symptom of an ‘‘identity’’ problem. People from different fields are considering MC as a subdiscipline of theirs: there are claims that MC is nothing but one-to-one marketing; others argue that MC is an elaborated form of build-to-order strategy. However, there is a growing community of researchers promoting MC as an independent field, as we believe to be the case. In addition to the statistical analyses of trends and directions, we proposed three taxonomies that should be used to classify the entire MC literature. The first taxonomy explores the application content of each publication on a five-point scale. The second taxonomy seeks to classify each publication in one of the seven research strategies. The research strategy classification is expected to provide important information as to he research value of publications. The third taxonomy suggested is based on operations management, marketing, strategy, finance, and other modules of traditional disciplines of business. This will help identify the areas and gaps in research in MC that are needed for businesses to perform well in a MC setting. In summary, MC as a field is healthy, robust, and vibrant. New applications of MC strategy in business world are surfacing with rapid frequency underscoring it is application value. We hope that the taxonomic frameworks suggested here will unearth useful trends and information that will be used for course correction, if so warranted, to make the field even more useful and vibrant.
References Abbott A (1988) The system of professions: an essay on the expert division of labor. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Ackoff R (1987) OR: a post mortem. Oper Res 35:471–474
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