“Mass Customization is the ability of a company to meet each customer’s requirements-to prepare on a mass basis individually designed products, services, programs, and communications.â€? (Keller & Kotler 2006) Examples of mass customization include shoes and clothing made to size, custom blended cosmetics, and choose-your-own-topping pizza. This differs from the more traditional practice of providing product features that certain groups of customers seem to be asking for. In the more traditional approach features are included in some portion of a mass production run. In the mass customization approach a menu of potential features is offered and the customer can choose from that menu. The end product is the sum of standard and individually selected features. This might be specially sized clothing, different sized shoes for each foot, or a front door in blue with brushed nickel hardware. (more…)
Archive for March, 2007
Googlethink
Yesterday I downloaded the most recent build of Parallels Desktop for Mac. All went well until I tried to reinstall the new version of Parallels Tool. Then the screen went black. I shut down Parallels and restarted Windows. I heard the spooky XP start up chime but the Windows desktop was still black. I checked the User’s Manual. I went online to Parallels’ website. No luck. Then I decided to “Google” the problem.
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More Bite: More Shifting Paradigms
It used to be, when it came to being old and having dentures, keeping those suckers in your mouth while munching on solid food was pretty much the height of expectations. Well guess what these old folks want to do now! 
So if 30 is the new 50 then, by extension, 40 must be the new 60. I won’t ask where the old 30 and 40 disappeared to except to quote Wordsworth, or Brian Wilson; “The Child is the Father of the Man”.
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ATMs: Money in Transition
Another paradigm shift for our digital economy involves ATM machines.
It seems that ATMs are poised to go the way of the fax machine. Just as fax machines were the height of convenience when it came to transferring paper from one place to another, the ATM machine became the device we couldn’t do without when it came to getting hold of another paper product; money.
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Fax Machines and Land Lines: A Paradigm Shift
The point at which we understood that we could move information quickly and efficiently without the aid of a paper document was the beginning of the end for fax machines. This change in our perception of the information exchange process did not occur at the same time that technology made digital transmission of information a possibility. Instead, it came on the heels of the paradigm shift that altered the way we thought about information.
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