Special Series of Articles on Mass Customization from Frank Piller

The idea that consumers can customize their own products on a massive scale is having a tremendous impact on customer experience and expectations as well as the way organizations approach R&D. Following an extensive study of mass customization in the domain of consumer goods, this upcoming series of articles provides an overview on mass customization, its strategic capabilities, and the success factors that drive its implementation in business.

Mass customization aims to profit from people’s differences by enabling the creation of goods and services that best serve individual customers’ personal needs with near mass production efficiency. While the basic idea of mass customization has been described for quite some time, it is only now that we can observe a larger scale and scope of implementations in business. Forrester Research recently concluded that finally, after a number of attempts, the time has come for a large scale implementation mass customization.

Mass customization is closely related to customer co-creation, one of the core strategies that today shape a modern corporate innovation management system. In a series of articles, we want to provide an overview on mass customization, its strategic capabilities, and the success factors that drive its implementation in business. The articles build on the results of the Customization 500, the largest study of mass customization in the domain of consumer goods. Its objective was to map the current market of mass customization and to understand its drivers of success.
Mass customization series at Innovation Management

Introduction: A special series of articles on mass customization and customer co-design

Part 1: Competing in the Age of Mass Customization

Part 2: The market for mass customization today

Part 3: Solution Space Development: Understanding where customers are different

Part 4: Robust Process Design: Fulfilling individual customer needs without compromising performance

Part 5: Choice Navigation: Turning burden of choice into an experience

Part 6: Choice Navigation in Reality: A closer look into the Customization500

Part 7: Overcoming the Challenges of Implementing Mass Customization

Part 8: A Balanced View: Conclusions and Key Learnings

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