IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/opmare/v10y2017i3d10.1007_s12063-017-0127-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Frank Wiengarten

    (ESADE Business School)

  • Prakash J. Singh

    (University of Melbourne)

  • Brian Fynes

    (UCD Smurfit School of Business)

  • Ali Nazarpour

    (Maynooth University)

Abstract

More than ever, companies have to cope with ever changing market conditions. Some companies have reacted to shortened product life cycles, constant changes in customer preferences and cost pressures by implementing mass customization practices. Mass customization has been hailed as a way to overcome the tradeoff between cost and flexibility performance. However, there is lack of consistent empirical evidence to demonstrate that this really is the case. We advance this debate by proposing that in order for mass customization to be more effective, a company needs to possess and utilize social capital (i.e., cognitive, relational and structured social capital) within their supply networks. This study uses primary survey data from 513 plants from nine countries collected by the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG). We used structural equation modelling analysis to test our hypotheses. Results indicate that mass customization has the ability to improve a company’s cost and flexibility performance. Furthermore, results regarding the moderating role of social capital are mixed. Cognitive capital only moderates the impact of mass customization on cost performance while relational capital increases this impact on both cost and flexibility performance. Structural capital does not moderate the impact of mass customization on performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Frank Wiengarten & Prakash J. Singh & Brian Fynes & Ali Nazarpour, 2017. "Impact of mass customization on cost and flexiblity performances: the role of social capital," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 137-147, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:opmare:v:10:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s12063-017-0127-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12063-017-0127-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12063-017-0127-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12063-017-0127-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fogliatto, Flavio S. & da Silveira, Giovani J.C. & Borenstein, Denis, 2012. "The mass customization decade: An updated review of the literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 14-25.
    2. Min Zhang & Fiona Lettice & Xiande Zhao, 2015. "The impact of social capital on mass customisation and product innovation capabilities," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(17), pages 5251-5264, September.
    3. Westbrook, Roy & Williamson, Peter, 1993. "Mass customization:Japan's new frontier," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 38-45, March.
    4. Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini & Sylvain Lenfle, 2010. "Platform re-use : lessons from the automotive industry," Post-Print hal-00483039, HAL.
    5. Sihem Benmahmoud-Jouini & Sylvain Lenfle, 2010. "Platform re-use lessons from the automotive industry," Post-Print hal-00541292, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emilio Moretti & Elena Tappia & Veronique Limère & Marco Melacini, 2021. "Exploring the application of machine learning to the assembly line feeding problem," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 403-419, December.
    2. Aisling Bonner & George Onofrei & Paul Humphreys & Michael Margey & Trevor Cadden, 2021. "Entrepreneurial versus cooperative social capital: The impact on operational performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3854-3865, December.
    3. Gerald Oeser & Pietro Romano, 2021. "Exploring risk pooling in hospitals to reduce demand and lead time uncertainty," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 78-94, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Linda L., 2015. "A literature review on multitype platforming and framework for future research," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Jesús Lampón & Pablo Cabanelas & Vincent Frigant, 2017. "The new automobile modular platforms: from the product architecture to the manufacturing network approach?," Post-Print hal-03187886, HAL.
    3. Aoki, Katsuki & Staeblein, Thomas, 2018. "Monozukuri capability and dynamic product variety: An analysis of the design-manufacturing interface at Japanese and German automakers," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 70, pages 33-45.
    4. Stadtherr, Frank & Wouters, Marc, 2021. "Extending target costing to include targets for R&D costs and production investments for a modular product portfolio—A case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    5. Dekkers, Rob & Chang, C.M. & Kreutzfeldt, Jochen, 2013. "The interface between “product design and engineering” and manufacturing: A review of the literature and empirical evidence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 316-333.
    6. Bhamra, Ran & Hicks, Christian & Small, Adrian & García-Villarreal, Enrique, 2022. "Value, product delivery strategies and operational performance in the medical technology industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    7. Jesús F. Lampón & Pablo Cabanelas & Javier González Benito, 2015. "The impact of implementation of a modular platform strategy in automobile manufacturing networks," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 1502, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    8. Natalia Szozda & Artur Świerczek, 2022. "Upstream and downstream dyad governance within the network structures: Creating supply chain governance for the customized products," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 873-898, June.
    9. Bindu K. Nambiar & Kartikeya Bolar, 2023. "Factors influencing customer preference of cardless technology over the card for cash withdrawals: an extended technology acceptance model," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 58-73, March.
    10. Na Liu & Pui-Sze Chow & Hongshan Zhao, 2020. "Challenges and critical successful factors for apparel mass customization operations: recent development and case study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 291(1), pages 531-563, August.
    11. Murphree, Michael & Anderson, John (Andy), 2018. "Countering Overseas Power in Global Value Chains: Information Asymmetries and Subcontracting in the Plastics Industry," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 123-136.
    12. Sandrin, Enrico & Trentin, Alessio & Forza, Cipriano, 2018. "Leveraging high-involvement practices to develop mass customization capability: A contingent configurational perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 335-345.
    13. Wen, Xin & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2019. "Fashion retail supply chain management: A review of operational models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 34-55.
    14. Natália Barbosa, 2024. "Artificial Intelligence and exporting performance:Firm-level evidence from Portugal," GEE Papers 183, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Sep 2024.
    15. Brian Squire & Steve Brown & Jeff Readman & John Bessant, 2006. "The Impact of Mass Customisation on Manufacturing Trade‐offs," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 15(1), pages 10-21, March.
    16. A. Arrighetti & F. Landini, 2018. "Eterogeneità delle imprese e stagnazione del capitalismo italiano," Economics Department Working Papers 2018-EP01, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    17. Dandan He & Zhongfu Li & Chunlin Wu & Xin Ning, 2018. "An E-Commerce Platform for Industrialized Construction Procurement Based on BIM and Linked Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, July.
    18. Jha, Ashish K. & Bose, Indranil & Ngai, Eric W.T., 2016. "Platform based innovation: The case of Bosch India," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P2), pages 250-265.
    19. Nisha Paul Kulangara & Markus Biehl & Edmund L. Prater, 2022. "Environmentally sustainable development initiatives in upstream strategic outsourcing relationships: Examining the role of innovative capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3014-3027, November.
    20. Silvestro Vespoli & Guido Guizzi & Elisa Gebennini & Andrea Grassi, 2022. "A novel throughput control algorithm for semi-heterarchical industry 4.0 architecture," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 310(1), pages 201-221, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:opmare:v:10:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s12063-017-0127-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.