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This study aims to explore how operational coordination affects mass customization capability (MCC) via organizational agility, the double-edged sword effect of customer need diversity and the moderating effect of competitive intensity based on dynamic capabilities perspective.

This study examines the research hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis by collecting data from 277 Chinese firms.

The results reveal that organizational agility partially mediates the impacts of operational coordination on product-oriented and service-oriented MCC. Customer need diversity is positively related to operational coordination, whereas negatively moderates the relationship between operational coordination and organizational agility. Moreover, competitive intensity negatively moderates the relationship between organizational agility and service-oriented MCC.

This study mainly used perceptual scales to measure organizational agility. There is a need to measure agility through Agility Index which consists of features' combination that enables agility.

Managers would thus do well to integrate business activities with supply chain partners and strive to foster an agile organization. Additionally, managers should take the leadership to assess the customer need and invest time and resources to respond to it when needed even though the response may be difficult.

Although the importance of MCC in meeting personalized customer needs has been recognized, whether and how customer need diversity affects MCC remains unclear. This study provides a framework to study the relationships between customer need diversity and MCC, which deepens our understanding of how to enhance MCC to respond to diverse customer needs.

This study aimed to investigate how different supply chain integrations (SCIs) (i.e. information integration and organisational integration) would impact product- and service-oriented mass customisation capability (MCC) differently and the moderating role of characteristics of customer needs (i.e. customer need tacitness and diversity).

From the perspective of information processing theory (IPT), the authors tested the hypotheses using survey data from 277 Chinese manufacturers.

The findings indicate that both information and operational integration contribute to product- and service-oriented MCCs. Operational integration promotes product-oriented MCC more, whereas information integration has a greater impact on service-oriented MCC. In addition, customer need tacitness negatively moderates the impact of operational integration on both product- and service-oriented MCC. Customer need diversity negatively moderates only the impact of operational integration on service-oriented MCC.

Managers should focus on not only the position (internal or external) but also the function of SCI when making decisions towards enhancing MCC. Diverse abilities to integrate with different functions are associated with different MCCs.

This study distinguishes between product- and service-oriented MCCs and provides novel insights for understanding how to enhance MCC from a SCI perspective.

According to sociotechnical systems theory, this study examines the configurational effects of modularity (product and process modularity), supply chain integration (information, operational and relational integration) and the characteristics of customer need (customer need tacitness and diversity) on MCC and the impact of high MCC generated by different configurations on economic performance.

This study tests the model by combining fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with propensity score matching methods based on data from 277 Chinese manufacturers.

The authors identify four equifinal configurations sufficient for high MCC and categorize them into three types: modularity + integration oriented, integration + customer need oriented, modularity + integration + customer need balance. The results further indicate that the high MCC triggered by three types of configuration affects economic performance in different ways.

The results deliver an important message to manufacturing enterprises that high MCC can be achieved through multiple equally-effective combinations. Moreover, managers should focus on the fit between multiple conditions and choose the appropriate pathway to enhance economic performance.

From a configurational perspective, these findings enrich the literature on enablers and performance outcomes of MCC by introducing an integrated model.

The literature shows a paradox in the understanding of the relationship between structural complexity (defined as the diversity of services offered by an organization) and customer satisfaction. Structural complexity tends to be a popular strategy designed to satisfy different customer needs. However, a negative relationship between structural complexity and customer satisfaction has also been argued. Based on the research on the public versus private distinction, this paper proposes that type of ownership is associated with the paradox mentioned, moderating the relationship between structural complexity and customer satisfaction. The authors tested this hypothesis using a sample of 60 managers and 897 customers of service organizations. The results indicated that as structural complexity increases, public organizations are less able to maintain customer satisfaction than private organizations. Ownership appeared to be an important contingency factor in understanding the paradoxical relationship between service structural complexity and customer satisfaction.

The article begins by pointing out how Canada has undergone a huge demographic change in the last 30 years, forcing companies to rethink their training strategies. This means diversity training will assume an ever larger role. Different clichés about diversity training are discussed and demystified. The goal of all diversity training is to make participants aware of their perceptions and assumptions, so as to ensure correct understanding of different values. The characteristics of an effective diversity program are: it must be linked to a business objective, it cannot result in preferential treatment for some groups and it must have the 100 percent support from top management. The benefits will yield better communication with outsides as well as insiders, enlarge the customer base and will transpose one's mindset so that a person can engage successfully in any interracial or intercultural relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory of the organizational changes related to the production‐planning process that facilitate application of form postponement (FP), an increasingly popular operations‐design principle meant to alleviate the negative impact of product variety and customization on operational performance.

To achieve the theory‐building objective, a multiple‐case study involving four cases in the machinery industry was designed. In the inductive theory‐building process, the authors borrowed from the information‐processing theory to further corroborate the internal validity and generalizability of the findings.

The theory proposed by the author indicates that greater utilization of lateral relations in the production‐planning process, higher production‐planning frequency, greater degree of self‐containment of the production‐planning task, and simplification of the production planning‐related environment favor application of FP.

The level of analysis of the theory is the production‐planning process of a product family within a company. Future research could extend inquiry of the organizational antecedents of FP at both higher and lower levels of analysis, such as the organization as a whole or the individuals participating in the production‐planning process.

The theory supports managerial decision making by suggesting how to redesign the organization part involved in the production‐planning process of a product family in order to apply FP. The difficulty and cost of this organizational redesign effort should be taken into account when companies consider FP implementation.

Past research has focused on changes to product design and to the manufacturing and supply chain process that enable FP. This paper augments the understanding of FP enablers by developing the first model of organizational antecedents of FP. It also responds to calls for more research integrating insights from organization theory and operations/supply chain management.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the development of key supply chain capabilities in the Indian public sector-run liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply chain. This case study has relevance to emerging markets grappling with problems caused by monopolies and subsidies. Furthermore, this case study not only aims to improve operations of the LPG supply chain, but also re-designs its supply network to meet customers’ expectations. It illustrates value creation through growth in non-domestic sales, a reduction in consumption of subsidized LPG as a consequence of better understanding of customer needs and customer diversity, process re-engineering and deployment of ICT systems, and change management and capability building across various LPG stakeholders.

An interpretive research methodology is applied, using an illustrative single case study of the Indian public sector-run LPG supply chain. The research methodology is iterative and exploratory in nature, consisting of a back and forth process between extant literature and the field, as well as in-depth discussions/interviews with senior management, distributors, and consumers.

Key supply chain capabilities of an integrated and seamless ICT system, detection and blocking of duplicate/ghost connections, the capping of entitlements, and coordination and collaboration across various stakeholders result in value creation for all stakeholders. When such collaboration across stakeholders’ spans both vertically and horizontally through the supply chain, change management and capability building drive value creation through policy interventions and initiatives.

This study provides an illustrative example of meeting customers’ expectations, increasing consumer convenience, and improving service levels, amidst the complex subsidy challenges in LPG distribution in India. The economic and environmental benefits, as well as increased customer satisfaction, from policy interventions regarding value creation in supply chains, have implications for similar public sector-run schemes.

As a result of the various policy changes, the LPG subsidy was restricted to legitimate customers, reducing the fiscal burden on the Indian Government. Furthermore, seamless ICT-introduced efficiencies for government, distributers, and customers were attained.

This research articulates the capture, creation, and appropriation of value through the deployment of new supply chain initiatives in a large, complex environment, in particular the public sector-run LPG supply chain.

The Council of Logistics Management has commissioned a study to determine the potential of applying logistics principles in service organisations. The authors suggest that logistics principles are even more important in service organisations than in production firms. To realise this potential, however, the definition of logistics must be expanded. Service logistics is defined as the management of activities which respond to customers on an individual basis. The services′ historical underpinnings are examined and some guiding concepts central to service response logistics are provided. These concepts include the benefit delivery, delivery processes, delivery orientation, responsive planning, and a customer service model that focuses on individual customer needs.

This study aims to explore how to respond to market turbulence by big data analytics (BDA) capability and mass customization capability (MCC) from the perspective of organizational information processing theory (OIPT).

This study examines the research hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis by collecting data from 277 Chinese firms.

The results reveal that supply chain agility (SCA) completely mediates the impacts of technical skills on product-oriented and service-oriented MCC and the impact of data-driven decision-making culture (DDC) on service-oriented MCC. SCA also partially mediates the impacts of managerial skills on two dimensions of MCC and the impact of DDC on product-oriented MCC. In addition, market turbulence strengthens the impact of managerial skills on SCA.

This study provides insightful contributions and implications for enhancing MCC to cope with market turbulence.

States that theoretical constructs of organizational technology in pervasive use in contingency research in management accounting and control can be criticized for failing to capture the open systems character of service processes. Attempts to reassess the conceptualization of service technology and applies an approach to responsibility accounting in professional services . Explores implications for two core elements of responsibility accounting: its character as a hierarchical control arrangement and the degree of controllability of performance measures, at a conceptual level and in the context of a public sector dental practice. Based on this empirical confrontation and previous research, develops a contingency framework linking responsibility accounting to modified service technology constructs through a number of research propositions.