Strategic Capabilities: Antecedents to Mass Customization

Mass customization is a strategy that many firms are adopting to exploit the demand for products that meet a variety of specific customer requirements quickly at a cost that is comparable to mass-produced products. The challenge for manufacturing managers is to find ways to cope with environmental uncertainty and increasing product variety through mass customization without affecting lead-time, cost or quality. Based on data collected from 204 manufacturing firms in PRD, this study investigates Strategic capabilities (speed capability, adaption capability, innovation capability and learning capability) that enable firms to accomplish mass customization. The results show that speed capability, innovation capability and learning capability have a significant positive impact on mass customization while, to our surprise, adaption capability has no relationship with mass customization.