Impact of mass customization on cost and flexiblity performances: the role of social capital

The relationship between mass customization and sustainable performance: The role of firm size and global E-commerce

The formation of mass customization competencies is crucial for the increasing number of manufacturing companies in modern times. This study assessed the relationship between mass customization capability and its determinants on sustainable performance. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of mass customization capability and sustainable performance, while also examining the moderating effects of firm size and cross-border eCommerce in these associations. The study used online survey data from 339 manufacturing small-to-medium-sized enterprises in China to test the hypothesized relationships. The collected data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling and necessary condition analysis. The results indicated that flexible manufacturing competencies, modular product architecture, and customer relationship management are significantly and positively connected to mass customization capability. Moreover, the study observed that mass customization capability and competitive pressure have a significant positive influence on the sustainable performance of Chinese manufacturing SMEs. The findings also revealed that firm size and cross-border e-commerce engagement have a negative and positive moderating effect, respectively, between mass customization capability on sustainable performance, which confirms a relatively higher effect of customization capability on sustainable performance among smaller firms and firms engaged in cross-border eCommerce. Fundamentally, these findings can lead to the development of a comprehensive framework to promote mass customization capability, cross-border e-commerce, and sustainable development of manufacturing small-to-medium-sized enterprises China.

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

Purpose

This 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/approach

This study examines the research hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis by collecting data from 277 Chinese firms.

Findings

The 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/implications

This 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 implications

Managers 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/value

Although 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.

Exploring the application of machine learning to the assembly line feeding problem

As a large number of companies are resorting to increased product variety and customization, a growing attention is being put on the design and management of part feeding systems. Recent works have proved the effectiveness of hybrid feeding policies, which consist in using multiple feeding policies in the same assembly system. In this context, the assembly line feeding problem (ALFP) refers to the selection of a suitable feeding policy for each part. In literature, the ALFP is addressed either by developing optimization models or by categorizing the parts and assigning these categories to policies based on some characteristics of both the parts and the assembly system. This paper presents a new approach for selecting a suitable feeding policy for each part, based on supervised machine learning. The developed approach is applied to an industrial case and its performance is compared with the one resulting from an optimization approach. The application to the industrial case allows deepening the existing trade-off between efficiency (i.e., amount of data to be collected and dedicated resources) and quality of the ALFP solution (i.e., closeness to the optimal solution), discussing the managerial implications of different ALFP solution approaches and showing the potential value stemming from machine learning application.

Exploring risk pooling in hospitals to reduce demand and lead time uncertainty

Nearly every eighth German hospital faces an elevated risk of bankruptcy. An inappropriate use of inventory management practices is among the causes. Hospitals suffer from demand and lead time uncertainty, and the current COVID-19 pandemic worsened the plight. The popular business logistics concept of risk pooling has been shown to reduce these uncertainties in industry and trade, but has been neglected as a variability reduction method in healthcare operations research and practice. Based on a survey with 223 German hospitals, this study explores how ten risk pooling methods can be adapted and applied in the healthcare context to reduce economic losses while maintaining a given service level. The results suggest that in general risk pooling may improve the economic situation of hospitals and, in particular, inventory pooling, transshipments, and product substitution for medications and consumer goods are the most effective methods in the healthcare context, while form postponement may be unsuitable for hospitals due to the required efforts, delay in treatments, and liability issues. The application of risk pooling in healthcare requires willingness to exchange information and to cooperate, adequate IT infrastructure, compatibility, adherence to healthcare laws and regulations, and securing the immediate treatment of emergencies. Compared to manufacturing and trading companies, hospitals seem to currently neglect the variability reducing effect of risk pooling.

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

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of flexible manufacturing competence (FMC) and workforce management practices (WMP) in facilitating the development of mass customization capability (MCC). More specifically, this research analyzes not only the direct effects of FMC and WMP on MCC but also the moderating effect of WMP on the relationship between FMC and MCC.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on the resource-based view, a research framework depicting the linkages among the variables of interest has been proposed. The examination of the proposed research model and hypotheses are conducted by applying partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) on a dataset of Indian manufacturing organizations.

Findings

The findings suggest that both FMC and WMP significantly and positively affect the development of MCC. Also, the results show that the relationship between FMC and MCC is strengthened by the implementation of WMP.

Practical implications

The study identifies several crucial practices for enhancement of flexible manufacturing competence and effective management of the workforce and also highlights the complementarities among them to develop superior MCC.

Originality/value

While the research on the antecedent of MCC has increased substantially, the understanding of the interactions among FMC, WMP, and MCC is still limited. This is the first study that sheds light on the interconnectedness among the variables of interest.

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

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to identify the crucial barriers to the implementation of mass customization (MC) in Indian SMEs and to investigate the interactions among them so that important managerial implications could be formulated to facilitate the implementation of MC in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

The contextual relationships and hierarchies of the barriers are established through the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach, and MICMAC analysis has been used to classify the barriers into different groups. Further, structural equation modelling based on partial least squares (PLS-SEM) has been applied to statistically validate the ISM model using the data collected through a questionnaire-based survey of Indian organizations.

Findings

A portfolio of barriers, containing 16 items, has been identified from the literature review and a series of semi-structured interviews of practitioners. The study develops a structural model by establishing relationships and imposing directions among the barriers and classifies the barriers according to their driving and dependence power to serve as a roadmap for SMEs willing to implement MC into practice.

Practical implications

The study highlights the critical barriers which have a significant impact on other barriers and need to be handled at priority. Also, the present research renders insights to SMEs to better prioritize their efforts and resources to overcome these barriers.

Originality/value

This research happens to be first in the MC literature that investigates the key barriers responsible for hindering the implementation of MC in SMEs and develops a statistically validated contextual model showing hierarchies and relationships of the barriers.

Operations managers’ individual competencies for mass customization

Purpose

The development of mass-customization capability (MCC) is crucial for a growing number of manufacturing firms nowadays and presents great challenges, especially in the area of operations management. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into which individual competencies (ICs) of an operations manager (OM) are important to the MCC of the manufacturing organization the OM works for.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple-case study was designed, involving eight machinery manufacturers in one European country, to collect data on their MCC and on the ICs of their OMs. Empirical case data were triangulated with analytical conceptual arguments grounded in the existing literature.

Findings

The study provides empirical evidence of, and logical explanations for, the fact that OMs working in high-MCC manufacturing organizations use the ICs of negotiation, information seeking, efficiency orientation, analytical thinking and pattern recognition significantly more often than OMs employed by low-MCC organizations.

Research limitations/implications

Future research could replicate this study in other industries and countries, as well as for other managerial roles.

Practical implications

The study provides indications for OM selection and training in companies that are pursuing a mass-customization strategy.

Originality/value

While the literature on technological and organization-level enablers of MCC has grown considerably, the understanding of its individual-level enablers is still limited and concerns mostly the workforce. This is the first study that relies not on practitioners’ opinions, but on data regarding manufacturers’ MCC and their managers’ ICs to shed light on which managerial competencies are important to a manufacturer’s MCC.

The relationship between investments in lean practices and operational performance

Purpose

Prior research has shown that operational intellectual capital (OIC) and investments in lean practices (ILP) lead to better operational performance. However, there have been no empirical studies on the synergetic effects between OIC components and ILP. More specifically, the question – can the efficacy of ILP be increased through OIC? – has not been studied. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to report the empirical results of potential synergetic effects between OIC, as a knowledge-based resource, and ILP.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical data used for this study were drawn from the fifth round of the Global Manufacturing Research Group survey project (with data collected from 528 manufacturing plants). The hypotheses are empirically tested using three ordinary least square (OLS) models.

Findings

The authors’ findings highlight the importance of leveraging a system of complementary knowledge-based resources (OIC dimensions) and addresses the need for the reformulation of lean theory in terms of the emergent knowledge-based view of the firm. The results facilitate greater understanding of the complex relationship between ILP and operational performance. Building on the contribution of Menoret al.(2007), the authors argue that OIC represents a strategic knowledge-based resource that is valuable, hard to imitate or substitute and, when leveraged effectively, generates superior operational and competitive advantage.

Practical implications

From a managerial standpoint, this study provides guidelines for managers on how to leverage OIC to enhance the efficacy of ILP. The authors argue that firms consider investing in OIC to increase the return from ILP, which, in turn, will enhance their operational performance and provide competitive advantage. The authors findings provide strong evidence of the importance of human, social and structural capital to enhance the efficacy of ILP.

Originality/value

This is the first research paper that extends the application of the intellectual capital theory in lean literature, and argues that the OIC contributes to the efficacy of ILP. The analysis facilitates greater understanding of the complex relationship between OIC dimensions, ILP and operational performance.