Mass Customization in SMEs: Literature Review and Research Directions

Abstract

Twenty years ago mass customization was acknowledged as the "New Frontier in Business Competition." The fi rst MCPC conference was hosted by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2001. Since then the MCPC conference has grown to become the primary conference for presenting and discussing current issues and recent developments within the fi elds of mass customization, personalization, and customer co-creation. The 2015 MCPC conference, the eighth in the series, for which the contributions are presented in this book, was hosted by the School of Management at the University du Québec in Montréal, Canada. For this edition, the emphasis was placed on "managing complexity."Research on management in general, and on mass customization more specifically, has evolved tremendously over the last few years. Often more focused on the link between theory and practice, it has allowed researchers and practitioners to present new viable business models. Yet, relying on the most recent technological advances, these new business models often increase the level of complexity in management. The creation of added value and market differentiation are a direct result of one's ability to manage this complexity. Hence, since operational excellence is strongly correlated to the ability to simplify complex entities, good managers must have an intuitive feel for this characteristic, understand it, and work hard to reduce it where possible. Unfortunately, the literature more often obscures the subject more than it reveals it.The MCPC 2015 was a multitrack conference featuring a combination of high profi le keynotes with expert talks, panel discussions, paper sessions, workshops, receptions, and much more. While it was devoted to sharing and discussing the latest research in the fi eld, MCPC 2015 strongly emphasized real-life applications. The MCPC conference is truly unique among conferences in that, since its beginning, it has attracted an equal share of practitioners and academics/researchers. This year, more than 200 academics, entrepreneurs, and management experts presented the most recent developments in mass customization and co-creation. A total of 60 conferences (academic, projects, case studies, etc.) were offered to the participants.Recognized for the quality of its practice-oriented education, the excellence of its applied research, and its international presence, the School of Management (ESG

Achieving mass customization capability: the roles of flexible manufacturing competence and workforce management practices

“…Further, Salvador et al (2009) extended the research on MCC by classifying it into three categories, namely, solution space development, robust process design and choice navigation. Taps et al (2017) advocated the development of these three key capabilities for the pursuance of MC and stated them as the basic capabilities that a firm irrespective of its size must have; however, the way of achieving and managing these capabilities might be different for the firms of different sizes. In literature, the impact of various technologies, operational strategies and practices on MCC has been investigated by several authors.…”

Linking supplier selection and management strategies with mass customization capability

“…The authors defined MCC in terms of three key capabilities, including solution space development, robust process design and choice navigation. These three capabilities can be conceded rudimentary for the firms of all sizes, whether small, medium or large (Taps et al , 2017). The significant literature reported on the classification of MCC is summarized in Table 1.…”

Analyzing the barriers to implementation of mass customization in Indian SMEs using integrated ISM-MICMAC and SEM

“…Initially, MC was adopted mostly by large firms involved in the mass production business. With the evolution of technology, the maturity of implementation approaches, worldwide recognition and accelerated use of Internet and e-commerce, it has now become accessible to SMEs (Taps et al , 2017). However, in comparison to large firms, implementation of MC in SMEs is very low and also, a dearth of literature focussing on the implementation of MC in SMEs is observed (Boer et al , 2018; Taps et al , 2017; Nielsen et al , 2017; Brunoe and Nielsen, 2016).…”