Mass Customization Strategy in Global Supply Chain Management

Mass production became a new phenomenon that led to a drastic change in America's economy. This lead to specialization of labor causing a decrease in skill among the workers who would consistently produce one aspect of a product until “there is no more of that kind of work to do” and are then helpless (Doc C). This approach to manufacturing caused unstable jobs due to the fact that they were easily replaceable being that their jobs required minimal skill or knowledge. As mass production boomed, it led to a decrease

Reorders are placed at the time of review (T), and the safety stock that must be reordered is:

new products and or a service. Marketers explore ways to distinguish themselves, in the eyes of

Mass production used machines to help performed tasks that someone who would have the specific skills could at a quicker pace. This helped since now factory owners can hire non skilled workers to do a skilled workers job which in result caused more products to be made.

I chose a multi-regional, focused differentiation strategy tailored to match the differing competitive conditions and actions of rivals in the North America, Europe-Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America regions. In years 11 through 16, my strategy focused on “upscale buyers wanting products…with world class attributes.” (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, & Strickland, 2012) I chose this strategy because the cultures represented in my demographic are radically different, thus I believed we needed a strategy that catered to those differences. This focused strategy concentrates on

Specialization and division of labour has changed the production process into what it is today.

A Following a different generic business strategy within the same industry can lead to a competitive

A niche product is made and marketed for use in a small capacity and specialized, but very profitable. Niche strategy targeting the most intensely involved super-premium consumers who look for superior skin care products.

There is a famous saying that ‘cosmetics are not selling product but beauty.’ Therefore, it is important to keep planning and developing product to meet the needs of customers who pursue beauty. In line

Mass productions had begun along with capitalism. Capitalists were the people who had their own materials, money, and space. They purchased these new machines and stored them in factories where they would hire workers to tend over the machines all day while creating goods. The factory industry had soon replaced the cotton industry.

While mass customization is a viable option in manufacturing with digital factories and employing lean manufacturing designs, service firms have to employ a more productive environment to make mass customization profitable. Mass customization refers to using mass production technologies to quickly and cost-effectively assemble goods that are uniquely designed to fit the demands of individual customers (Daft, 2016, p. 271). The key challenge for service mass customization is to translate information about consumer preferences gained through market research into a format that can be easily used for service modularization decisions and customer-contact personnel training (Haas & Kunz, n.d., p. 603). In the service arena, mass customization becomes an ongoing configuration process with direct involvement of the customer coupled with professional advice by service personnel who understand the configuration rules and know them by heart. A clear understanding of the customer’s needs is required, as well as a requirement by service personnel to provide the customer clear and concise configuration options that strike the perfect balance between flexibility and complexity. Also, a continuous interaction between frontline contact personnel and the customer is a consequence that must be

Similarly, both companies had a product differentiation strategy, with the aim of being distinctly set apart from their competitors by the viewing market. However, different elements of this strategy were focused on by the firms. For instance,

A company named Goodbite has made a decision on launching a new product in the oral care market. They are interested in selling a teeth whitening strip with an advance scheme. The teeth whitening strips are small, elastic and can be adjusted to the surface of your teeth, being left in the mouth for several minutes helps on facilitating a whitening effect. The Goodbite’s product focuses on uniqueness by trying to select some attributes that might be considered as important. Its main competitive advantage focuses on product differentiation, which “deals with making changes in the marketing mix of a product so as to differentiate it from whatever the competition is offering” (“Product Differentiation”). The company differentiates from the

4. In a service supply chain, the (explicit) cost of information is higher than in a product

Another generic competitive strategy is broad differentiation strategies. According to Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble, in “Crafting and Executing Strategy”, broad differentiation strategy is seeking to differentiate the company’s product offering from rivals in ways that will appear to a brad spectrum of buyers. A company attempting to succeed through differentiation must study buyers’ needs and behavior carefully to learn what buyers consider important, what they think has value, and what they are willing to pay for. Then the company has to incorporate buyer-desired attributes into its product or service offering