An online community-based dynamic customisation model: the trade-off between customer satisfaction and enterprise profit

Abstract

In recent years, the challenges of mass customisation (MC) have been increasing sales conversion rate and effectively matching supply with demand. Additionally, online customer communities (OCCs) have become increasingly popular and have proven to provide substantial value to both customers and enterprises. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to (1) propose a mathematical online community-based dynamic customisation model, (2) explain its practical mechanism and (3) solve its dynamic trade-off challenge. Accordingly, first, the trade-off challenge was formulated according to a multi-objective optimisation model to optimise the trade-off between customer satisfaction and enterprise profit. Second, based on the mechanism of the model, three different matching modes of production between customised products and manufacturers were delineated and analysed. Finally, genetic algorithm (GA) was developed to solve the proposed mathematical model. To validate the proposed model, a case study of an enterprise that provides customised menswear was selected. The degree of customisation and the weights given to the functions of enterprise profit and customer satisfaction were further analysed. The proposed model assists researchers and practitioners to decide the cooperation mode with manufacturers, pricing strategy and the degree of customisation for an optimal trade-off in the context of online community-based dynamic customisation.