Customization over Standardization

“Customers no longer want standardised product and their expectations determine ‘quality’. Differentiation and customisation should therefore replace standardization as they want to meet those expectation in the hospitality sector.”

The issue whether Customization over Standardization is contention one. While some are in accord with the idea that Standardization is good, there are others who have contrary view. This essay will look into the reason for and against the issue.

Those who endorse the view that Customization should takeover Standardization have the following viewpoints. To begin with According to the Hart (1995).

The Visionary Definition “The ability to provide customers with anything they want profitably, any time they want it, anywhere they want it, any way they want it.” OR

The Practical Formula “The use of flexible processes and organizational structures to produce varied and often individually customized products and services at the low cost of a standardized, mass production system.”

So in the first definition the author is trying to say is the goals are rarely achieved by the organisation because they considered a transcendent, absolute idea that exists solely as an ideal. And in the second definition the goal is not the “anything-at-any-time” that promised in the first definition. But it is to ascertain the customer’s perspective, the range within which a given product or service can be meaningfully customized for the particular customer and then to provide the customer’s choice of options from within the given range. For example if the concept of producing tailor-made or partially tailor-made goods or services according to the marketers desire, with very short cycle times and mass production capabilities, is a more convenient goal than the visionary aspect. Another reason for the belief is that According to the (Gilmore and Pine, 1997 ; Martin, 1997; Schonfeld, 1998) In today’s world all the companies knows the needs to be customer driven by providing best service to pleased customer’s needs, But as we know that human needs are never ending and increasing diverse, unnecessary cost and complexity are inevitably added to operations. Companies all over the world adopted mass Customization in an attempt to overcome the pitfalls of trying to fulfil each and every customer needs. Perhaps the overriding reason for the belief is “Collaborative customizers conduct a sessions with individual customers to help them articulate their needs, to identify minuets offerings that fulfils those needs, and to produce customize products for them”. This type of customization is useful for the mass customization this approach is suitable for the customers cannot easily confuses what they want and grow frustated while selecting the wide range product. For instance, A Japanese eyewear Paris Miki, One of the largest eyewear retailer in the world, is the quintessential collaborative