Vehicle manufacturers build the majority of vehicles to a sales forecast and links between production and final customer orders are tenuous. A greater percentage of build to order (BTO) vehicle production may offer the European automotive industry a competitive edge. The EU and industry funded...

In this paper we present a model of spatial competition that highlights firms' customization strategies in an imperfect competitive environment. The nature of competition in markets with products designed according to consumer preferences is discussed both in a framework of exogenous and...

We analyze self- and joint procurement of countries with heterogeneous demand for a good offered by a price discriminating monopolist. We find that not only countries with low but also with high demand can benefit from committing to jointly procure equal quantities at a uniform price, even if...

Ein "Mehr" an Automatisierung bedeutet in der Regel ein "Weniger" an Flexibilität und umgekehrt. Standardisierte Prozesse wie sie bei der Massenproduktion vorkommen, lassen sich am einfachsten automatisieren und erfordern zudem eine geringe Flexibilität. Ganz im Gegensatz dazu steht die...

Purpose: The actual market characteristic oriented toward customers' requirements compels decision-makers to foresee customization abilities. Mass customization represents a valuable approach to combine customizable offers with mass production processes. From a supply chain standpoint, this...