Strategic Capabilities for Mass Customization: Theoretical Synthesis and Empirical Evidence.

As firms increasingly consider the heterogeneity of customers’ needs as a business opportunity rather than a problem, Mass Customization is becoming more and more popular in industry and academia alike. Despite much has been written on the topic, little progress has been made in terms of identifying which strategic capabilities a firm has to develop when pursuing Mass Customization. Starting from this premise, the present paper sets forth a theoretically-motivated re-conceptualization of the requisite strategic capabilities for Mass Customization, namely Solution Space Definition Capability, Robust Process and Supply Chain Design Capability and Choice Simplification Capability. The proposed re-conceptualization is operationalized as a formative indicator of Mass Customization in the context of assembled goods and empirically validated with a multiple indicators-multiple causes (MIMIC) model in a sample of 238 companies from 8 countries operating in the automotive, machinery and electronics industries. Results of the MIMIC model provide empirical support for the proposed re-conceptualization. We conclude by discussing the advantages of the proposed re-conceptualization and, borrowing from the Resource-Based View of the firm, we illustrate how the proposed conceptualization contributes to explain the sustainability of a Mass Customization-based competitive advantage.