Question

What is “mass customization,” exactly? (Refer to Chapter 10)

Does the company at which you are now employed use “mass customization”? If not, what opportunities exist for leveraging this concept? (If you are not currently employed, you can make any hypothetical company that might have opportunities for mass customization) (10 points)

How can mass customization be applied to products? Services? Communication? (10 points)

Thinking about your own personal experiences as a consumer, what company is a superlative example of “mass customization”? (10 points)

Answer 1

Mass customization is a process where the company produces a distinct product on a large scale with a number of variants in order to meet the demands of the customers and the market. The company will respond the customer needs by making small changes to the same product and release it in different markets.

The company where I am currently working, we have built a business intelligence platform that helps companies in making better business decisions based on the data analysis. The product is currently catering to the manufacturing industry so the need for mass customization is not required. The product covers all the business needs in the manufacturing industry and it a one-stop solution to all the manufacturing business problems. But the product has the ability to be mass customized and enter new industries with minor changes. The product just requires some changes to the performance indicators related to the new industry and it will work perfectly fine. So our company is planning to enter the banking sector as well with the same product and the mass customization will work.

The company that has been doing mass customization successfully is Nike. The company started providing the mass customization of their shoes in 1999 and they have achieved a lot of success in different markets. Mass customization can be applied only after knowing what the customers exactly want and that also shows the company how they can do it. Nike did it by dividing a shoe into 10 different parts and the customers were able to choose the parts they want in their shoes and order it online. The process of mass customization was made simple and the customers had the choice of choosing the color and the design as well. The company provided 30 days return option as well and this attracted the customers. So the process of mass customization mainly depends on the customers and the market demand. The company can make the process happen by knowing what is required and to what extent they need to go to meet the customer needs.