Customer Co-design Research Articles

Constructing Product Usage Context Knowledge Graph Using User-Generated Content for User-Driven Customization

Abstract User-driven customization is a particular design paradigm where customers act as co-designers to configure products based on their needs. However, due to insufficient product usage experience, customers may design a product incompatible with their environment and needs. Such incompatibility can negatively affect the performance of some customized features or even cause product failure. As a result, customers may hesitate to customize products because additional complexities and uncertainties are perceived. Product usage context (PUC), as all the environment and application factors that affect customer needs and product performance, can be used to facilitate customer co-design in user-driven customization. Identifying individual customer’s PUC can help customers foresee potential design failures, make more holistic design decisions, and be confident with their designs. Against the background, this paper proposes a PUC knowledge graph (PUCKG) construction method using user-generated content (UGC). The proposed method can convert crowdsourced corner cases into structured PUCKG to support personal PUC prediction, summarization, and reasoning. A case study of robot vacuum cleaners is conducted to validate the efficacy of the proposed method.

제품복잡성 및 시스템 투자를 고려한 고객 협동디자인 시스템 분석

We study a firm that provides a customer co-design system to potential customers, with the customers then using this system to design their own products, resulting in customized products. Within the context of co-design businesses, one of the important factors is the scope of the system, meaning the choice variety customers can exercise their creativity during the design process. We build an analytical model that analyzes the impact of the scope on the demand and profits. Our model describes a situation in which potential customers attempt to use a co-design system, with some of them successfully purchasing their own products, and others abandoning the co-design tasks midway through, with these outcomes dependent on the scope and the heterogeneous customers. Our model also analyzes how product complexity and system investment influence the demand and profits, along with the scope of the system. The result represents the firm is better off providing as a wide scope as possible, regardless of both product complexity and system investment. However, the firm might experience a decrease in profits during widening the co-design scope. After making further efforts to widen the scope, the profit will then continue to increase. We also find the firm may gain higher profits as it offers a product with higher complexity, where higher levels of system investment may accelerate the profit increase.

Sustainability nudges in the context of customer co-design for consumer electronics

In this study, we shed light on the unexplored potential of customer co-design in a mass customization (MC) setting to contribute to the promotion of sustainable consumption. We theoretically derive and empirically test several opportunities for companies to improve sustainable consumption and production in a joint effort with consumers. Our research bridges between the MC and the sustainability literature and shows that MC enables consumers to cohere attitude and action, based on individual sustainability preferences. We empirically assess whether MC companies can nudge their customers successfully towards more sustainable choices by designing sustainability-based starting solutions (Study 1) and by providing transparent sustainability information (Study 2) in MC configuration systems. We do so by portraying a simulated online buying process of a customizable TV with a realistic web-based product configurator. We find that sustainable defaults can play a significant role in promoting sustainable consumption, while providing detailed sustainability information does not show an effect. To get more insights into our results, we discuss the results on a supplementary qualitative analysis based on think-aloud consumer tests (Study 3), revealing several suggestions for further research. Using these findings, we revisit sustainability information in Study 4 and find that intuitive labels significantly influence consumers to choose more sustainably.

A Review of E-mass Customization as a Branding Strategy

E-mass customization has received much attention as it aims to increase brand performance and preserve customer loyalty towards a brand by means of customer co-design and mass production, so that individual customer needs are met by affordable prices within the online shopping experience. However, little is known about e-mass customization strategy. This paper identifies two typologies of e-mass customization based on the degrees of customer co-design in the process: collaboration-based customization which involves customers in the early stage and promises major revisions in the product, and adoption-based customization which brings customers into the post-design stage and offers segmented revisions in the product. This paper also proposes plausible implementation of e-mass customization involving the design of a web interface, modularity-based manufacturing, and enabling technologies. Subsequently, theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed at length. Finally, future research directions are outlined.

An Economic Analysis of Customer Co-design

A key barrier to companies successfully engaging customers in the design of new products is customers fearing that they will be forced to pay much more for the custom products they help design. This fear is justified by the fact that once the customer has invested significant time and effort in co-designing a product, the firm can extract the entire consumer surplus through higher prices. At the same time, the firm allowing its customers to co-design products would be unlikely to commit to a price up front before knowing the complete design of the custom product, since it would then face a significant risk of losing money. In this paper, we develop analytical models for this problem, and show how a firm can motivate its customers to engage in co-design. We also show how offering co-design can impact the firm’s product (line) strategies and the quality of its products, including motivating the firm to increase the quality of its standard product, sometimes even beyond the efficient quality level. The effect of market and firm characteristics on the value of engaging customers in the co-design process is also examined. In addition, we analyze the effects of (a) information asymmetry about the firm’s co-design capability, and (b) competition, on the firm’s decisions regarding co-design. These results provide valuable insights for managers considering investment in technology to support customer co-design. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0729 .

Development model of web design element for clothing e-commerce based on the concept of mass customization

The purpose of this research was to study the elements of electronic commerce (e-commerce) web designs that led to customer co-design based on the concept of mass customization. The study collected information from 438 e-commerce customers in Bangkok and used a questionnaire as the research instrument. Statistics for the data analysis were the Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The results showed that: 1) customization, an element of web designs, had a statistical significance (R2 = .112), affecting customers' needs to design clothing types; 2) customization, context, and commerce, which were elements of web designs, together had a statistical significance (R2 = .198), affecting customers' needs to design clothing parts; 3) customization and context, which were elements of web designs, together had a statistical significance (R2 = .259), affecting customers' needs to design clothing details; and 4) context and customization, which were elements of web designs, together had a statistical significance (R2 = .279), affecting customers' needs to create co-design tools. After analysis, the research results were used to design a website model that allowed its customers to participate in the design process.

Understanding the customer value of co-designing individualised products

Mass customisation (MC) is a business strategy that seeks to gain a competitive edge through enhancing product-centred offers with individualisation services. In its core process of customer co-design, toolkits enable customers to translate their needs into product specifications. The present study investigates how customer value is created within the co-design process. Data from 211 customers of a luxury shoe individualiser were retrieved and subsequently analysed using SEM-PLS. We find creative achievement and perceived fun to be significant components of co-design value. Both have significant impact on product perception. Product perception fully mediates the relationship between co-design value and the intention to purchase as well as the intention to recommend the MC offer to others. Furthermore, in contrast to previous works, our study suggests that creative achievement is the primary value component of co-design. We recommend further studies that take into account multiple customer segments or product categories as well as studies which depart from conceptualising MC as technology-based self-service, e.g., by including peer assistance and professional assistance.

Development of Customer Co-design Support System

Development of Customer Co-design Support System

The Co-design Process in Mass Customization of Complete Garment Knitted Fashion Products

Complete garment knitting technology is a method of producing products, generally fashion garments, readymade directly in the knitting machine without operations such as cutting and sewing. This makes it possible to manufacture a fashion garment with fewer processes then with conventional methods. Mass customisation is a customer co-design process of products and that tries to meets the needs of an individual customer's demand. The customer can order a garment with a customised style, colour, size, and other personal preferences. Co-design is a collaborative process between the customer, the retailer, and the manufacturer by which a product is customised to fulfil the customer's requirements. This paper is based on the results of a doctoral thesis. The process of codesign and manufacture of a customised complete fashion product is examined. Research was conducted by a retail concept simulation and three case studies. A cross-case analysis was done to analyse the data. The main findings are a description of two kinds of retail concepts for knitted customized fashion products. A knitted garment can be customized, produced, and delivered to the customer in three to five hours. In the Co-design process two kinds of interactions are feasible between the company and the customer: manual or digital co-design. A manual process has advantages such as: high service level for customers, no requirement of advanced technical equipment. However, manual co-design is labour intensive, a shop assistant can only serve one client at a time. It is also only pplicable to brick-and-mortar stores and not transferable to the Internet. Digital codesign, on the other hand, encourages customers to do the customisation on their own, without the aid of sales personnel and little risk of queues. Moreover, this technique is ideal for the Internet. Disadvantages to date have included limited design options and problem of taking body measurements.

製品設計空間の機械学習技術の開発

In design of make-to-order products, fast estimate of design parameters corresponding to customer requests through interactive communication between customer and designers is required. To realize fast estimate design, we are constructing analysis led customer co-design system, which can evaluate the product performance and specification in short time, utilizing a machine learning technology. As a vehicle product of customer co-design system, we try to apply for estimate design of centrifugal compressor. Engineer considers estimate design of product specification corresponding to customer demands. We developed a specification predicting technology to provide a design specification faster time for engineers. The design specification predicting program shows the result of rotation speed and number of impeller in 32 seconds.

Overcoming Barriers to Customer Co-Design: The Role of Product Lines

A key barrier to companies successfully engaging customers in the design of new products is customers fearing that they will be forced to pay much more for the custom products they help design. This fear is justified by the fact that once the customer has invested significant time and effort in co-designing a product, the firm can extract all the resulting consumer surplus through higher prices. At the same time, the firm allowing its customers to co-design products would be unlikely to commit to a price up front before knowing the complete design of the custom product, since it would then face significant risk of losing money. In this paper, we develop analytical models for this problem, and show how a firm can motivate its customers to engage in co-design. We also show how offering co-design can impact the firm's product (line) strategies and the quality of its products, including motivating the firm to increase the quality of its standard product, sometimes even beyond the efficient quality level. The effect of market and firm characteristics on the value of engaging customers in the co-design process is also examined. In addition, we show that the presence of information asymmetry about the firm's co-design capability may lead to even higher levels of co-design effort by the customer. These results provide valuable insights for managers regarding the potential value of supporting customer co-design.

Our own translation box: exploring proximity antecedents and performance implications of customer co-design in manufacturing

Customer involvement with design activity is one of the principal components of mass customisation. Whereas many studies proposed methods to enable customer co-design, more research needs to determine co-design predictors and its associations with operations improvements. This study tests relationships between proximity, co-design, and performance, and whether co-design mediates proximity-performance relationships. Following on recent technology and collaborative trends, the study uses a three-dimensional operationalisation of customer proximity that includes physical, virtual, and affinity proximity measures. Regression analyses of data from 698 manufacturers from metal-mechanic industries suggest that virtual and affinity proximity related positively with customer co-design, that co-design explained quality and delivery improvements, and that co-design mediated the relationship between virtual proximity and quality improvements.

Development of a Design Probe to Reveal Customer Touch Points in the Sale of Mass Customised Products

As mass customisation (MC) increases in both popularity and accessibility, it raises questions as to the nature and notion of the customer co-design experience; what is a ‘co-design experience’, and how can this be best designed for? This paper posits that by its very nature, a co-design experience consists of activities that relate to the co-design of the product via the product configurator (physical store, online store etc), but also that a co-design experience is broader than that, comprising both tangible and intangible elements, and encompassing the entire purchasing experience from the beginning of co-design activity through to the receipt of the customised product and beyond. Traditional research methods will often fail to capture the entirety of this experience. This paper highlights the need for empathic research methods which go beyond current research within the field of MC, and discusses the development of a design probe used to gain insight into co-design experiences.

Overcoming Mass Confusion: Collaborative Customer Co-Design in Online Communities

The idea of integrating users into a co-design process as part of a mass customization strategy is a promising approach for companies being forced to react to the growing individualization of demand. Compared to the rather huge amount of literature on manufacturing and information systems for mass customization, only little research discusses the role of the customer within the co-design process. Customers face new uncertainties and risks, coined “mass confusion” in this paper, when acting as co-designers. Building on a construction strategy of empirical management research in the form of six case studies, we propose the use of online communities for collaborative customer co-design in order to reduce the mass confusion phenomenon. In doing so, the paper challenges the assumption made by most mass customization researchers that offering customized products requires an individual (one-to-one) relationship between customer and supplier. The objective of the paper is to build and explore the idea of communities for customer co-design and transfer established knowledge on community support to this new area of application.

Co-designing modes of cooperation at the customer interface: learning from exploratory research

The objective of this paper is to explore new modes of cooperation among customers, retailers and manufacturers resulting from co-design – a customer-centric business strategy. Co-design activities are performed at dedicated interfaces and allow for the joint development of products and solutions between individual customers and manufacturers. Our research on co-design is based on a deep interaction with case companies, making the research itself a further collaborative effort. In this paper, we first explore collaboration challenges with a case company introducing customer co-design (Adidas-Salomon AG ,a sport goods manufacturer). In a second step of exploration, we use findings from a larger database of case studies on customer co-design or mass customization to identify four basic modes of cooperation between customers, retailers and manufacturers. In a final step, the understanding gained from this differentiation is refined using the Adidas case. From the perspective of management practice, our research contributes to a better understanding of the collaboration challenges following a customer-centric business strategy. From the perspective of management research, the paper provides both a conceptual model of cooperation demands at the customer interface and a methodological framework for collaborative management research between academics and companies.

Mass Customization: Metrics and Modularity

Mass customization as a competitive strategy is getting progressively increasing attention in business and academic arenas due to its high potential to provide sustained strategic advantage in a unique fashion. It is well documented that a manufacturing company competes with others in its industry on five dimensions: Price, quality, flexibility, delivery, and service. According to the existing literature, mass customization provides significant strategic advantage in two of these dimensions—price and customization. We, however, argue that when properly implemented, the cellular manufacturing structure associated with the appropriate implementation of mass customization strategy, provides additional competitive value in quality and delivery. Furthermore by virtue of the customer co-design as an integral aspect of mass customization, customer satisfaction also improves under this strategy. Mass customization strategy, therefore, provides competitive advantage in all five competitive dimensions simultaneously—a truly unique strategic accomplishment. We also propose, in this paper, new metrics for mass customization strategy that measure the “mass” as well as the “customization” aspects of this strategy. Finally, we describe in the clearest terms the modus operandi of modularity in product design and the role it plays in bringing about high levels of customization on one hand and economies of scale at component level, on the other. We conclude with remarks that underscore the need for conducting research in the areas at the interface of mass customization and supply chain management.