Customization Strategies in Electronic Retailing: Implications of Customer Purchase Behavior*

In this article, we assess the implications of customer purchase behavior on customization in electronic retailing. We develop a classification scheme for customization strategies in electronic retailing. The classification scheme comprises three customization strategies: (i) transaction customization, (ii) decision customization, and (iii) product customization. We develop scales to measure each of the three customization strategies using a systematic four‐stage scale development process. Building on the extant literature on customer purchase behavior, we design an experiment to examine the alignment of the customization strategies with three well‐established product types: (i) convenience goods, (ii) shopping goods, and (iii) specialty goods, and its implications for customer value. The findings of the experiment indicate that there are significant differences in the customer value for the three customization strategies across the three product types. The contributions of the study, the managerial implications of the study findings, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

From Resources to Value and Back: Competition Between and Within Organizations

Examining the relationship between the competitive processes between and within organizations, we use selection system theory to link resource value to product value. We identify three dimensions (in‐selection, before‐selection and after‐selection) that facilitate determining the value of resources based on the functions they serve in the competitive process between organizations in the product market, i.e. the external selection system. Subsequently, we use these dimensions to explore the competitive process among resource providers within organizations, i.e. the internal selection system. This leads us to formulate three propositions that link the competitive process within organizations to the competitive process between organizations. First, we posit that if resources that individually score highly along only one of the three dimensions are bundled, it is more likely that organizational performance can be sustained. Second, we argue that providers of resources scoring highly along multiple dimensions will enjoy stronger means of appropriation in comparison with providers of resources scoring highly along only one of the three dimensions. Third, we contend that the extent to which an organization endeavours to remunerate its resource providers based on their perceived contribution to the organization's competitive position has a curvilinear (inverted U‐shaped) relationship with organizational performance.     

大学生感知价值实际维度的扎根理论研究

运用扎根理论的研究方法,通过对36名在校大学生的非结构性/半结构性访谈,研究大学生对移动服务消费的感知价值实际维度。研究结果表明,大学生对移动服务消费的感知实际维度有亲和价值、信任价值、价格价值、质量价值、便利价值、社会价值和认知价值;锁定对提高大学生使用移动服务的忠诚度具有重要决定作用。     

Linking Work Design to Mass Customization: A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective*

Mass customization has gained increasing importance in recent years due to its ability to provide customized products efficiently and effectively, and manufacturing companies are continuously searching for ways to develop their mass‐customization ability. Despite extensive literature focusing on mass customization, few studies have systematically examined the impact of work‐design practices on a company's mass‐customization ability. Using the Sociotechnical Systems theory as a foundation, we link work‐design practices with mass‐customization ability, specifically identifying ten work‐design practices and examining their impact on mass‐customization ability using survey data and empirical research methods. The results support our hypothesized links and suggest that work‐design practices that manage both the technical and the social dimensions for achieving organization success have significant impact on a company's ability to achieve mass customization.     

网络环境下消费者感知价值的理论剖析

在回顾和总结已有的消费者感知价值研究的基础上,汲取心理学的态度模型、信息系统领域的TAM模型和消费者行为学中的手段-目的链思想,将网络环境下消费者感知价值划分为3类:结果性感知价值、程序性感知价值和情感性感知价值,并给出了相应的定义,为进一步研究感知价值在网络环境下消费者行为中的地位和作用提供了概念基础。     

Order Management in the Customization‐Responsiveness Squeeze*

Make‐to‐order (MTO) products may be either customized or standard, and customization can occur either at the configuration or component level. Consequently, MTO production processes can be divided into three customization gestalts: non‐customizers, custom assemblers, and custom producers. In this article, we examine how the multilevel nature of customization affects order management in processes that produce complex MTO products. We first empirically validate the existence of the three customization gestalts and subsequently, analyze the order management challenges and solutions in each gestalt in a sample of 163 MTO production processes embedded in seven different supply chains. In the analyses, we follow a mixed‐methods approach, combining a quantitative survey with qualitative interview data. The results show that important contingencies make different order management practices effective in different gestalts. Further qualitative inquiry reveals that some seemingly old‐fashioned practices, such as available‐to‐promise verifications, are effective but commonly neglected in many organizations. The results also challenge some of the conventional wisdom about custom assembly (and indirectly, mass customization). For example, the systematic configuration management methods—conventionally associated with project business environments—appear to be equally important in custom assembly.     

基于感知视角的非营利组织服务质量、捐赠效用对个人捐赠意愿影响研究

采用实证的方法验证非营利组织服务质量感知及捐赠效用感知2个构念的子维度结构,并对非营利组织服务质量感知、捐赠效用感知及其子维度与个人捐赠意愿的关系进行了分析。研究发现:非营利组织沟通质量、组织响应是个人捐赠者对非营利组织服务质量感知的2个子维度;显性效用、情绪性效用、家庭性效用是个人捐赠者对非营利组织捐赠效用感知的3个子维度;非营利组织的服务质量感知及其2个子维度包括沟通质量和组织响应正向显著影响个人捐赠意愿;捐赠效用感知负向显著影响个人捐赠意愿,其3个子维度中显性效用对个人捐赠意愿有显著的负向影响,情绪性效用和家庭性效用对个人捐赠意愿没有显著影响。     

MANAGING PRODUCT VARIETY: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Variety management has emerged as a crucial dimension of successful business practice. In this paper, I first provide a framework for managerial decisions about variety. Variety‐creation decisions determine the amount, type, and timing of end‐product variety, while variety‐implementation decisions focus on the design and operation of internal processes and a supply chain to support a firm's variety‐creation strategy. I organize variety‐related decisions into four key decision themes in variety creation: 1) dimensions of variety, 2) product architecture, 3) degree of customization, and 4) timing; and three key decision themes in variety implementation: 1) process capabilities, 2) points of variegation, and 3) day‐to‐day decisions. I describe each theme and review the relevant literature on each theme, with a focus on research that provides insight to problems faced in practice. Finally, I identify untapped avenues for future research that would be of value to the practicing manager, paying special attention to interdependencies among decision themes.     

Mass Customization in the Automotive Industry: Comparing Interdealer Trading and Reconfiguration Flexibilities in Order Fulfillment

Mass customization has been viewed as desirable but difficult to achieve in the volume automotive sector. Here we consider flexibility in automotive order fulfillment systems to enhance the ability to satisfy customers with their desired vehicle variants within acceptable delivery lead times. Two types of flexibility are compared in a Virtual‐Build‐to‐Order system—reconfiguration in the planning pipeline and interdealer trading. A representative simulation model is used to investigate the impact of the two types of flexibility across a wide spectrum of product variety levels. The impacts on major stakeholders in the system—the producer, dealers, and customers—are considered. The study shows that both types of flexibilities can bring significant benefits in terms of reductions in lead time and inventory holding. The level of product variety strongly influences the observed effects—an important finding in the mass customization context. Upstream reconfiguration flexibility brings greater benefits than downstream trading flexibility. Reconfiguration tends to dominate trading as a fulfillment mechanism when both are in operation. The findings have implications for the design and management of automotive order fulfillment systems in improving their ability to offer mass customization. The study has relevance for companies in other sectors with high levels of variety that seek to combine efficiency, speed, and flexibility in order fulfillment.     

Customization: Impact on Product and Process Performance

Manufacturing capability has often been viewed to be a major obstacle in achieving higher levels of customization. Companies follow various strategies ranging from equipment selection to order process management to cope with the challenges of increased customization. We examined how the customization process affects product performance and conformance in the context of a design‐to‐order (DTO) manufacturer of industrial components. Our competing risk hazard function model incorporates two thresholds, which we define as mismatch and manufacturing thresholds. Product performance was adversely affected when the degree of customization exceeded the mismatch threshold. Likewise, product conformance eroded when the degree of customization exceeded the manufacturing threshold. Relative sizes of the two thresholds have management implications for the subsequent investments to improve customization capabilities. Our research developed a rigorous framework to address two key questions relevant to the implementation of product customization: (1) what degrees of customization to offer, and (2) how to customize the product design process.     

Psychological Mediators of the Sport Injury—Perceived Risk Relationship

Drawing upon both heuristic‐ and threat‐based approaches, we sought to examine whether perceived similarity with injury‐prone people and perceived control over injury occurrence would directly contribute to perceived risk and whether these variables would mediate the previous injury–perceived risk relationship. Judokas (n = 207) reported the number of injuries experienced in the past year and then completed measures of perceived similarity, perceived control, and injury risk perception. Analyses revealed that perceived similarity and perceived control directly contributed to perceived risk of injury; only perceived similarity acted as a partial mediator of the injury–perceived risk relationship. These findings are discussed in relation to the potential influence of the sport context, which universally involves the acceptance of a high risk of injury.     

感知价值和个人特质对用户移动购物采纳意图的影响研究

从消费者感知价值和自我效能感的角度,以基于价值的采纳模型和技术接受模型为理论基础,通过调研问卷方法研究影响消费者移动购物意图的若干关键因素.结果表明,用户对于移动购物的感知有用性和自我效能感影响了感知价值,并与感知价值一起影响采纳意图.所提出的移动购物采纳模型解释度较高,对用户采纳意图给出了技术特性视角和个人特质视角的比较全面的解释,并结合研究结果对移动购物的发展提出了具体的建议.     

我国家用汽车顾客感知价值及提升策略研究

本文通过构建顾客感知价值五要素模型,探索家用汽车消费过程中主要驱动要素与感知价值之间的关系。归纳了顾客感知价值及其驱动要素相关理论,从家用汽车产品质量感知、服务质量感知、品牌价值感知、绿色价值感知和价格感知五个方面构建顾客感知价值构成要素模型。通过SPSS18.0对2013年1月-2月收集的223份有效问卷进行信度、效度检验,运用AMOS17.0构建结构方程模型,并进行拟合度检验。结果显示产品质量感知、服务质量感知、品牌价值感知和绿色价值感知与顾客感知价值呈正相关关系,顾客对品牌价值、服务质量和绿色价值的感知对感知价值的影响略高于对产品质量的感知;价格感知方面:价格与汽车基本性能的匹配度、价格与同类其他品牌汽车比较的满意度、价格整体的合理性与顾客家用汽车感知价值呈正相关关系,且前两者对顾客感知价值的影响明显高于价格整体的合理性。最后,结合实证研究结果,提出提升家用汽车顾客感知价值的策略。     

Spatially Representing Vulnerability to Extreme Rain Events Using Midwestern Farmers’ Objective and Perceived Attributes of Adaptive Capacity

Potential climate‐change‐related impacts to agriculture in the upper Midwest pose serious economic and ecological risks to the U.S. and the global economy. On a local level, farmers are at the forefront of responding to the impacts of climate change. Hence, it is important to understand how farmers and their farm operations may be more or less vulnerable to changes in the climate. A vulnerability index is a tool commonly used by researchers and practitioners to represent the geographical distribution of vulnerability in response to global change. Most vulnerability assessments measure objective adaptive capacity using secondary data collected by governmental agencies. However, other scholarship on human behavior has noted that sociocultural and cognitive factors, such as risk perceptions and perceived capacity, are consequential for modulating people's actual vulnerability. Thus, traditional assessments can potentially overlook people's subjective perceptions of changes in climate and extreme weather events and the extent to which people feel prepared to take necessary steps to cope with and respond to the negative effects of climate change. This article addresses this knowledge gap by: (1) incorporating perceived adaptive capacity into a vulnerability assessment; (2) using spatial smoothing to aggregate individual‐level vulnerabilities to the county level; and (3) evaluating the relationships among different dimensions of adaptive capacity to examine whether perceived capacity should be integrated into vulnerability assessments. The result suggests that vulnerability assessments that rely only on objective measures might miss important sociocognitive dimensions of capacity. Vulnerability indices and maps presented in this article can inform engagement strategies for improving environmental sustainability in the region.     

Lowest Cost May Not Lower Total Cost: Using “Spackling” to Smooth Mass‐Customized Production

Consider a manufacturer who mass customizes variants of a product in make‐to‐order fashion, and also produces standard variants as make‐to‐stock. A traditional manufacturing strategy would be to employ two separate manufacturing facilities: a flexible plant for mass‐customized items and an efficient plant for standard items. We contrast this traditional focus strategy with an alternative that better utilizes capacity by combining production of mass‐customized and standard items in one of two alternate spackling strategies: (1) a pure‐spackling strategy, where the manufacturer produces everything in a (single) flexible plant, first manufacturing custom products as demanded each period, and then filling in the production schedule with make‐to‐stock output of standard products; or (2) a layered‐spackling strategy, which uses an efficient plant to make a portion of its standard items and a separate flexible plant where it spackles. We identify the optimal production strategy considering the tradeoff between the cost premium for flexible (versus efficient) production capacity and the opportunity costs of idle capacity. Spackling amortizes fixed costs of capacity more effectively and thus can increase profits from mass customization vis‐à‐vis a focus strategy, even with higher cost production for the standard goods. We illustrate our framework with data from a messenger bag manufacturer.     

商品房市场顾客感知价值研究

结合商品房市场消费的实际特点,构造了以顾客感知价值为内生潜变量,以价格、感知质量为外生潜变量的商品房市场顾客感知价值模型.在此基础上,根据抽样调查结果,运用基于偏最小二乘的结构方程基本原理,采用递归迭代方法对模型进行了系统全面的拟合分析与统计检验.最后,结合通径系数与因子负荷系数的具体数值,分析了影响顾客感知价值的主要因素及其特征.     

不充分就业感知对员工兼职创业投入的影响机制研究

基于情感-认知评价的理论视角,在控制了工作满意度路径之后,通过对311名兼职创业者的实证数据进行分析,探究了员工不充分就业感知的两个维度——资质过剩感和成长缺乏感对员工兼职创业投入的作用机理。研究结果表明:资质过剩感、成长缺乏感以及两者的交互作用会强化员工与本职工作的疏离感;工作疏离感正向影响员工兼职创业投入;工作疏离感在资质过剩感、成长缺乏感及其交互作用对兼职创业投入的影响中发挥了中介作用。     

The Impact of Organizational Structure on Mass Customization Capability: A Contingency View

This study investigates the role of organizational structure in facilitating the development of mass customization (MC) capability in various manufacturing settings. Specifically, three dimensions of organizational structure are considered—flatness, centralization, and employee multifunctionality. We model organizational structure as a second‐order factor whose value is captured on a mechanistic‐organic continuum, where the organic form is characterized by a flat, decentralized structure with a wide use of multifunctional employees. We propose that a positive relationship exists between the organic organizational structure and MC capability. Additionally, building upon contingency theory, we argue that this positive relationship is moderated by mass customizer type—full mass customizers, which customize products at the design or fabrication stage of the production cycle, versus partial customizers, which customize products only at the assembly or delivery stages. Based on a study of 167 manufacturing plants from three industries and eight countries, we find that, for the overall sample, organic structure plays a significant role in enabling firms to pursue MC capability. However, an analysis of full versus partial mass customizers shows that the positive impact of organic structure on MC capability is statistically significant only for full mass customizers, not for partial mass customizers.     

移动电子商务下交易成本影响消费者感知价值的实证研究

在分析了移动电子商务下交易成本的主要构成后,论文提出了搜寻成本、评价成本、支付成本、风险成本对消费者感知价值影响的假设,构建了移动电子商务下交易成本对消费者感知价值影响的假设模型,采用结构方程模型方法利用样本数据对假设模型进行了拟合检验。研究结果表明,风险成本、支付成本、评价成本是移动电子商务下消费者网上购买商品的主要成本,均与消费者感知价值显著负相关,其中,风险成本与消费者感知价值相关程度最高,而搜寻成本对消费者感知价值的影响并不显著。此外,购物者的风险态度与其风险成本、评价成本显著正相关,通过对评价成本、风险成本的作用间接影响消费者感知价值。最后,依据研究结果,论文提出了促进我国移动电子商务发展的建议。     

Mass Customization and Guardrails: “You Can Not Be All Things to All People”

A mass customization strategy enables a firm to match its product designs to unique consumer tastes. In a classic horizontal product‐differentiation framework, a consumer's utility is a decreasing function of the distance between their ideal taste and the taste defined by the most closely aligned product the firm offers. A consumer thus considers the taste mismatch associated with their purchased product, but otherwise the positioning of the firm's product portfolio (or, “brand image”) is immaterial. In contrast, self‐congruency theory suggests that consumers assess how well both the purchased product and its overall brand image match with their ideal taste. Therefore, we incorporate within the consumer utility function both product‐specific and brand‐level components. Mass customization has the potential to improve taste alignment with regard to a specific purchased product, but at the risk of increasing brand dilution. Absent brand dilution concerns, a firm will optimally serve all consumers’ ideal tastes at a single price. In contrast, by endogenizing dilution costs within the consumer utility model, we prove that a mass‐customizing firm optimally uses differential pricing. Moreover, we show that the firm offers reduced prices to consumers with extreme tastes (to stimulate consumer “travel”), with a higher and fixed price being offered to those consumers having more central (mainstream) tastes. Given that a continuous spectrum of prices will likely not be practical in application, we also consider the more pragmatic approach of augmenting the uniformly priced mass customization range with preset (non‐customized) outlying designs, which serve customers at the taste extremes. We prove this practical approach performs close to optimal.