Mass Customization of Wood Furniture as a Competitive Strategy
Abstract
The existence of some segments of the US furniture industry is threatened by imports from offshore countries. Mass Customization (MC) is discussed as a competitive strategy for US furniture manufacturers to offset their intrinsic production cost disadvantage. Examples from four domestic furniture industry sub sectors are used to propose a possible correlation between the level of product customization (MC) offered and their success in the market. The US kitchen cabinet industry was found to offer the highest level of MC of all sub sectors analyzed. Interestingly, at the present time, the kitchen cabinet industry is not heavily affected by offshore imports. The wood household furniture industry, on the other hand, was ranked last in regard to MC and was also the one most heavily affected by offshore imported furniture. The study indicates that MC can be used as a successful business strategy for domestic producers competing with low-cost offshore manufacturers.