“Do consumers want to design unique products on the internet? A ...

The proposed benefit of MC is that <strong>consumers</strong> are incorporated in<strong>to</strong> the <strong>design</strong> process,
<strong>design</strong>ing the exact product or service they require. This will allow a business <strong>to</strong> develop
a 1:1 relationship with their cus<strong>to</strong>mers, understanding their exact requirements, helping
<strong>to</strong> build a relationship with them which is impervious <strong>to</strong> competi<strong>to</strong>rs (Pine et al 1993).
1.4 Justification of Topic Area
Why should we care about Mass Cus<strong>to</strong>misation? Mass Cus<strong>to</strong>misation is an important
<strong>to</strong>pic worthy of discussion for a number of reasons. It is the focus of a large quantity of
academic interest and research in the past few years (Tseng & Piller 2003). Future
businesses adopting this business approach may be influenced after reading that they are
faced with an “uninterrupted trend <strong>to</strong>wards individualization” (Piller & Muller 2004:1).
Mass Cus<strong>to</strong>misation has been described as the “business opportunity of the next
millennium” (Hart 1995;1) for businesses willing <strong>to</strong> recognise that “the traditional system
is becoming obsolete” (Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004:9), with “homogeneous markets
increasingly a thing of the past (Hart 1995:38). This thesis looks <strong>to</strong> address these
assertions head on and critically analyse and re-evaluate MC.
Growth of technologies in manufacturing such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) as well
as the Internet have led <strong>to</strong> a resurgence in interest in MC, it is estimated that of the 2700
plus English language articles on MC 60% have been published since 2001 (Tseng &
Piller 2003). It is suggested that now more than ever, is the time that we should reassess
MC. Unlike at the ideas conception, <strong>to</strong>day the <strong>to</strong>ols needed <strong>to</strong> make it a successful
proposition with the advent of e-commerce and internet are available (Lee et al 1999).
Adam Fletcher – Do <strong>consumers</strong> <strong>want</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>design</strong> <strong>unique</strong> product on the internet.
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