Operational coordination and mass customization capability: the double-edged sword effect of customer need diversity

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to explore how operational coordination affects mass customization capability (MCC) via organizational agility, the double-edged sword effect of customer need diversity and the moderating effect of competitive intensity based on dynamic capabilities perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the research hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis by collecting data from 277 Chinese firms.FindingsThe results reveal that organizational agility partially mediates the impacts of operational coordination on product-oriented and service-oriented MCC. Customer need diversity is positively related to operational coordination, whereas negatively moderates the relationship between operational coordination and organizational agility. Moreover, competitive intensity negatively moderates the relationship between organizational agility and service-oriented MCC.Research limitations/implicationsThis study mainly used perceptual scales to measure organizational agility. There is a need to measure agility through Agility Index which consists of features' combination that enables agility.Practical implicationsManagers would thus do well to integrate business activities with supply chain partners and strive to foster an agile organization. Additionally, managers should take the leadership to assess the customer need and invest time and resources to respond to it when needed even though the response may be difficult.Originality/valueAlthough the importance of MCC in meeting personalized customer needs has been recognized, whether and how customer need diversity affects MCC remains unclear. This study provides a framework to study the relationships between customer need diversity and MCC, which deepens our understanding of how to enhance MCC to respond to diverse customer needs.

The Impact of ERP Assimilation on Mass Customization Capability: A Dynamic Capabilities View

“…The study's targeted populations were manufacturing firms that have adopted ERP systems in Jiangsu province, China. Jiangsu Province is one of China's most advanced manufacturing provinces [84]. According to an official government report [85], Jiangsu's manufacturing industry achieved a digitalization level of 66.4% in 2022, thereby attaining the highest position in China.…”

Impacts of supply chain integration on product- and service-oriented mass customisation capability: the role of customer need

“…2.4.2 Customer need diversity. First, customer need diversity implies that customers possess an extensive range of preferences for products and services, and one customer's needs could significantly differ from another's (Zhang and Xiao, 2020;Sheng et al, 2021a). This suggests that firms need to identify and collect customer needs in a timely and accurate way to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the needs and provide customised products and services that could meet customer needs.…”

“…Second, diverse customer needs may cause conflicts and disagreements among supply chain partners due to increased difficulty and workload in decision-making and resource allocation (Shou et al, 2017;Sheng et al, 2021a). Information integration helps manufacturers address these conflicts and reach an agreement by providing sufficient and accurate information to support decision-making and conflict resolution (Srinivasan and Swink, 2015).…”

Managing mass customization products with modular design for recycling in a closed‐loop supply chain

“…This means that one integrated product would be designed into many relatively independent modules that can be combined in different ways to offer a various range of final products (Campos Sabioni et al, 2022). A typical business case is Dell, which allows customers to assemble computers through modular options and then produces customized ones according to customer specific requirements (Sheng et al, 2021).…”

“…This means that one integrated product would be designed into many relatively independent modules that can be combined in different ways to offer a various range of final products (Campos Sabioni et al, 2022). A typical business case is Dell, which allows customers to assemble computers through modular options and then produces customized ones according to customer specific requirements (Sheng et al, 2021). Many other major brands from different industries also implement this MC practice with huge success, such as Hewlett‐Packard (HP) and Haier in the electronic and electrical industry (Liu et al, 2019), BMW and Ford in the automobile industry (Choi et al, 2019), and Nike and Adidas in the footwear industry (Zhang & Zheng, 2021).…”