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Strategy & LeadershipEmerald Article: Mass customizing products and services

B. Joseph Pine II

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To cite this document: B. Joseph Pine II, (1993),"Mass customizing products and services", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 21 Iss: 4

pp. 6 - 55

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STRATEGIC INNOVATIONM ass CustomizingPro ducts a n d ServicesB yB .Joseph P ine II

Many innovative companiesareexperimenting witha strategy o f mass customization the low-cost production ofhigh variety, even individually customized goods and services. Basedon his experiences at IBM and research into mass customizationconducted at MIT and at the IBM C onsulting Group, theauthor has identified five basic methods or masscustomizing products and services.


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Today, many innovative companies are experimenting with a strategy of mass customizationthelow-cost production of high variety, even individually customized goods and services. Some firms haveplunged right in, adopting flexible process reengineeringand new technologies for information management to provide economies of scope that drive down the cost of thisstrategic approach.Other firms have taken the gradual immersion coursecontinually improving the processes by which their standardized goods and services are produced and delivered.Most of these companies have discovered that theincreased flexibility and responsiveness in their processeshave enabled them to provide customized goods and services with great efficiency. However, today, mass customization is no longer an option but an imperative forcompanies in an increasing number of industries.

Why are so many industries facing the need to switchfrom mass production to mass customization? Becauseeven niche markets are fragmenting. In the Nineties, customers are demanding that both products and services bepersonalized to meet their individual wants and needs,even though these desires are constantly changing anddifficult to ascertain. However, the increasing intensity ofcompetition, particularly in the global arena, dictates thatcosts must keep decreasing. Yet, at the same time, technological change is accelerating and product life cycles arediminishing.These factors increase market turbulence, which can bedefined as the degree ofinstability,uncertainty, and lack ofcontrol present in a firm's market environment. Companiesthat can no longer count on the stability of dem and nor continue to control their m arkets are not able to realize the efficiencies and economies of scale ofmassproduction. Whenthis happens, mass customization becomes the clear alternative.

Five Methods for ImplementingMass CustomizationBased on my experiences at IBM and research into masscustomizat ion conducted at MIT and at the IBMConsulting G roup, I have identified five basic m ethods formass customizing products and services (see Exhibit 1).None of these methods are mutually exclusive, and in practice they often overlap. Together, they provide a progression of stages that allow a firm immersed in producingstandardized goods and services to shift to mass customization throughout its key value-added activities. Thisvalue chain, in any firm, includes development, production, marketing, and delivery.The order of my five approaches to implementing mass

customization starts with the easiest methods and progress-

JoePine, author ofMassCustomization:The NewFrontierinBusiness Competition(Boston,M A:The Harvard BusinessSchool Press, 19 93), is aprogrammanagerin managementresearch with the IBM Consulting Group in WhitePlains,NewYork.Thetheory ofmass customizationw as developedby Stan Davis (who also coined theterm).H is seminalbookuturePerfect,published byAddison-Wesley,ReadingMassachusetts,1987 was excerptedintheMarch/April 1989issueo Planning Review.

Generating Ideas forCustomizationHaving difficulty thinking ofhow yourproductsorservices might be customized? Or just want morebreadth of ideas?Trythinkingabout yourmarketsandcustomers and ask yourself six simple questions: Who?What Where?When Why How?Each o fthese canprovide a dimension along whichyou can personalize your products and services.Some sample questions you might wanttoask yourself are:

Who needs my product/serviceandwhy? HowcanI provide ittowhoeverwantsit?What do customers do differently with m yproduct/service? H ow can I provide whatever theywantandneed?Where do customers need m y product/service?What doIneed to dotoprovide it wherever theywantit?

When do customers needtoshape my product/service to their needs? Whatcan Idotoprovideit whenever they wantit Can Iprovide it instantly?Twenty-fourhours aday?Why do customers need my product/service?Howcan I addmore value to meet their desiredends?How do customers need my product/service?WhatcanI dotoprovide it however theywantit?You can instantly tell that someone isamass-customizer when they use words like whatever,wherever, whenever,oranyone, anywhere, anytimeand then follow through by creating flexibleandresponsive processes. This ensures that thecompany gains the advantages of mass productionwhile its customers gain the advantages ofcustomization.

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es through more pervasive and fundamental techniques. Ofcourse, it's more difficult to implement the steps thatrequire more drastic change and improvement throughout afirm's processes and organization. This is particularly truefor the activities of development and production.This order lists the stages in terms of their increasedvalue to the customer, and also by the ease with which thiscompetitive advantage can be created and sustained. In anindustry with increasing market turbulence, it is critical toimplement each successive stage of this process.Stage 1: Customize services around existing standardized products orservices. Standardized products canstill be tailored by people in marketing and delivery beforethey reach customers. This tailoring can change the product, add features, combine it with other products (includingthose from other companies), and provide a host of services that allows each customer to receive individual attention. Because this method can be implemented in these lasttwo links ofanorganization's value chain without affectingdevelopment and production, it is the easiest place to start.The IBM System/360the first computer to be mass-producedprovides a classic example. Introduced in1964,it revolutionized the computer industry by providingan extremely broad range of computing power under onecommon architecture. To the customer's purchasing manager, each of these computers was a standardized p roduct.However, each System/360 was also a completely customized product. IBM's field force investigated the wantsand needs of each customer and ensured that they weremet. The field force took the basic building blocks of theSystem/360processing speed, main memory, disk storage, and so onand configured them to meet each cus

tomer's needs. But they didn't stop there. They integratedolder equipment into the system, sometimes created newperipherals, and usually w rote custom software that wouldsolve the user's specific problems.Obviously, it was very expensive for IBM to lavish suchextensive resources on every customer, a cost that wasreflected in the price ofthecomputer. However, it was generally cheaper for the customers to have IBM provide thetailoring than to do it themselves. IBM's field force wasmuch more experienced and could reuse at least some ofthe innovations they had created for previous customers.In an effort to save costs in its marketing and serviceoperations, IBM eventually developed standard peripheralsand application software. Over time, it gave up customizing systems for pure mass productiontrying to sell whatits development g roup had determined that a homogeneousmass market for computers would need. However, IBM'ssubsequent market-driven quality thrust to provide complete offerings for individual customers, initiated in 1987,has moved the firm back in the direction of mass customization. Once again, customized services are playing apre-eminent role.The IBM business unit in Rochester, Minnesotawinner oftheMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Awardhasbeen at the forefront of this activity. After years of addingincremental variety to its standardized system packages,IBM Rochester created a Customer Solution Center in1991 and added a fee-based service to customize any system. This center has reengineered distribution processesand invented a few new onesto provide a quick andconstant flow of customized solutions.The tailoring includes the installation of the operatingsystem with the very latest revisions. Everything is pre-installed and thoroughly tested so that an IBM customerengineer is rarely needed at the customersite.The processes are also able to handle changes in customer requirements up to the very last minute. IBM makes a profitcharging less than one percent of the total system price forthese services.This method of mass customizationmass-producedproducts and customized servicesobviously involveshigher costs than mass production alone. However, as inthe IBM Rochester example, the value added is usuallyhigh enoughtojustify a premium price. Most importantly,starting off at Stage 1 can give a firm's development andmanufacturing operations the time they need to developtheir own techniques of mass customization.Not only w ill the organization change as a result of whatmarketing and delivery learn about the customer's needsbut the customer's view of the product also changes.Customers perceive that now they 're receiving bothaproduct and a customized service.

Mass Customization ViaProcess ReengineeringThese days virtually every company seems to be

reengineering, redesigning, or reinventing their processes. But to what end? Is it enough to reducepeople, layers, and costs? Or should there be someloftier goal than simply fixing yesterday's problems? Is there an approach that positions your firmto take advantage of tomorrow's opportunities?For many companies, mass customization canand shouldbe that goal. By developing a visionthat anticipates and fulfills your custom ers' individual wants and needsanything, anytime, anywhereyou can guide your reengineering efforts toprovide the m ost value to you as well as to yourcustomers.

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Service companies are also using this approach to customize services around standardized offerings. Here, thegoal is to provide more than a servicethey're offeringcustomers an individual experience. Northwest Airlines,for example, is readying such a mass-customized servicefor first-class and business-class p assengers. Travelers w illsoon be able to access an interactive passenger entertainment center built into the armrest or seat in front of them .

Their new offeringWorldlinkis primarily intended

in which each customer would most like to make a choice.Customers aren't merely purchasing customization,they're looking for service value as well. The customizedaspect of a service can provide an important marketingopportunity. Two points to remember: If customizationdoes not add significant value, customers wo n't pay for it;but ifitdoes add value, they will generally pay a premium .If what you sell is part ofasystem or network of otherproducts or services, one of the first places to look for a

for long flights over the Pacific Ocean. U sing headphone s,a touch-sensitive screen, and a joystick, passengers can notonly choose their own movies but also news, entertainment, and sporting events as well. They can make telephone calls from their seat, shop interactively, getconnecting gate information, process passports, and ofcourse play video games. Some of these services are free,and some require a fee. Payment can be made through abuilt-in credit-card reader.There are a few key considerations when implementingthis method of mass customization:Realize that customers aren't buying technologythey're buying a service. Find the aspects of the standardized product or service that are inherently personalareas

customizing service is the integration of the entire package.Be willing to do anything your customers want done totheir systemincluding purchasing, subcontracting, andusing competitive products and services.Success with this method can show the entire organization the tremendous potential inherent in customization,making it easier to progress through the other techniques.On the one hand, m ost customizing services can be done inthe delivery link of the value chain. On the other hand,however, changing the product to match the exact application the customer needsas with the IBM System/360can become a source not only of service revenue but ofideas for extending the product and embedding customization further back into the organization.July/August 1993 9


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Involving the development and production functions atthis initial stage can be a great way to start them thinkingabout how to innovate mass-customized products (Stage4).While planning Stage 1 customization, it's crucial toremember that the competitive advantage gained is notvery sustainableany competitor can do it. This meansthat it's important to be ready to move on to o ther methods,especially if you anticipate that market turbulence willmount.Stage 2 :Massproduce customized services or products that customers can easily adapt to individualneeds.Users can easily customize their own IBM "systemenvironments" because virtually every hardware and software product developed by IBM is designed to be put todifferent uses by many different compan ies and peop le.Customized products are playing an increasing role inthe design of computers as well. While standard memorychips have become pure commodities, the fastest growingsegment of the semiconductor industry has been application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). These provideengineers with a wealth ofoptionsthat they can program toperform almost any function.Producing customized services can be just as effectiveas customized products. Here, "customized" really means"self-service." It allows a standard service available to anyone to be customized by everyone. For example, automatic

teller machines (ATMs), pioneered by Citicorp, allow customers to choose where, when, and what banking servicesthey want. Prodigy,ajoint venture of IBM and Sears, usesinformation and telecommunications technology to offercustomers a menu of services. Electronic data bases areanother customized information service.Creating mass-produced customized products and services that customers can adapt doesn't generally requiredrastic changes in a firm's value-creating activities. Itchanges the focus of development and marketing whileleaving production and delivery virtually undisturbed. Butit does begin to change people's thinking about the conceptof customization. Given this changed mind set, the continuous search for competitive advantage will likely push theorganization further into mass customization as a way ofdoing business.Stage 3 :Move production to the customer to providepoint-of-delivery customization.The best way to knowexactly what customers want istoget them to tell you at thepoint of sale. To provide exactly what they want, you canproduce it instantly, right at the point of delivery. Or youcan perform the final custom izing production step there.This technique has been used for decades on numerouslow-tech products that have one inherently personal characteristic that could be produced or serviced locally. Men 'ssuits,for example, have long been purchased off the rack,fitted to the individual, and tailored within a few days. T-shirts are standard, untailored products. Yet you can go intoalmost any shopping mall and purchase one that can beinstantly personalized with a choice of hundreds (if notthousands) of heat-applied transfer designs.The organizational changes required to move the finalproduction step out to the customer are not all that drastic.Marketing can focus on personalization, convenience, andinstantaneous fulfillment while delivery performs the lastpiece of production. The development and productionfunctions are still creating and manufacturing standardizedproducts.However, in the last decade or so, more and more companies have adopted this technique for the complete manufacture of customized products. They have shifted fromcentralized batch production to localized, one-at-a-time,

The Case for CustomisationCustomers view customized products as offeringthem a personal advantage. Add services to that andyou have the added bonus of great convenience.Both can be adjusted "on the fly" to provide exactlywhat the customer needs at any particular moment.When embarking on creating products or services that are customized, the key consideration isfindin g the characteristics that are the most personaland the most individual about the product o r service.Then, expend the research and developmenteffort required to embed the personal aspects ofthose characteristics within the product or service.Customized products are fundamentally based onembedded technology whose functions can easily beseen. Consequently, customizing alone rarely provides a competitive advantage that is sustainable forlong. Now, that's good news if your competitor wasthe first to market. But this also means that it is critical not to rest on your laurels whenever you add acustomized feature.

Creating mass-producedcustomized products and servicesthat customers can adaptdoesn't generally require drasticchanges in a firm's value-creating activities.

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point-of-sale production with all the organizationalchanges that implies. Take eyeglasses, for example. These ,of course, have to be individualized. They used to be produced exclusively in central factories that batched ordersfrom hundreds of optometrists and delivered them in"only " week s. Today, Lenscrafters, E yelab, Eyewo rks, andother operations mass-customize eyeglasses in about anhour.This same p rinciple has been applied to a number ofservice industries. Developing photographic film, printingand copying, dry cleaningall used to provide cen tralized,standardized, mass-produced services that took a few daysto a few weeks or more. Today, by moving the entire process to retail outlets, these inherently individualized services can be accomplished in a few minutes to an hour ortwo at locations most convenient to consumers.The potential advantage in moving non-retail services tothe customer is even greater. Insurance claims processing,for examp le, has traditionally been a rather im personal process, with assembly-line techniques operating on batchedpaperwork in a back office. Progressive Insurance hastransformed and personalized the process by moving it outto the customernot to a retail outlet, but to the very siteof an auto accident.In the late Eighties, Progressive Insurance realized thatits customers were dissatisfied with the length of time ittook to process claims, and also that settlement costs wentdown as processing time decreased. In 1988, the firmbegan operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days aweek. In 1989, it implemented a new claims system,dubbed Pacman for Progressive Automated ClaimsManagement, which relied on a workstation-based expertsystem. By 1990, 90 percent ofallcustomers were contacted within twenty-four hours, and 31 percent of the claimswere settled in seven days or less.In 1991,Progressive Insurance completed its implem entation of point-of-delivery customization by taking claimssettlement to the customer. Adjusters board hi-tech vansoutfitted with personal computer and telecommunicationsequipment. When a policyholder calls in, central dispatchmakes an appointment within the next two hours at thelocation most convenient to the customerthe accidentsite, a garage, hom e, or officeand sends the appro priatepaperwork right to the mobile van. The adjuster processesthe paperwork right there with the customer, who usuallyhas a check within three hours of the accident. ForProgressive Insurance, providing on-the-spot, customizedclaims settlement has proved less expensive than the oldcentralized batch method. That is the power of mass customization.Moving production, or at least the final step ofit,to thecustomer is a fast-growing technique for mass customiza-

Information Technologyin Mass CustomizationThere are a number ofwaysto use informationtechnology to foster mass customization. The mostimportant oftheseis to develop a way to provideinformation about wh at customers need at exactlythe right time in the process. Personal computersand laser printers, for exam ple, allow C reate-A-Book, Inc., to instantly produce a personalized children's book by inserting personal informationthroughout thetext.Information and telecomm unications technologies together m ake it possible for

many servicesbanking, shopping, travel arrangementsto be conducted from virtually anywhere,with both low costs and individual customization.Other uses of information technology in the process include:Value Chain Integration.Electronically con necting your entire value chainwhether inside oroutside of your firm instantly lets you know theamount and nature of individual demand at the consumer end ofthechain.Experience W arehouse.This builds a data

base of the collective company experiences in theform of knowledge, processes, tools, techniques,and products for re-use throughout the corporation.It allows people to easily and quickly select whateverisavailable in the data base and tailor it to thecurrent task at hand.Embedded Customization.Em beddingmicroprocessors in virtually any product allows itto be customized. A n artificial intelligence technique called "fuzzy logic" can b e used to allow themicroprocessor to choose between hundreds orthousands ofoptionswithout direct customerinput.Segment-of-One Marketing.Data bases canbe used to track all purchases and all custome rs.Then desktop publishing or more sophisticateddirect marketing techniques can be used to markettoand learn fromindividuals.Precision Pricing.On ce you can market tosingle customers, you can also use the data baseinformation to price your products and services atthe right spots for eachindividualsegment.

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tion. It is most appropriate for products and services thathave one inherently individual characteristic on an otherwise relatively standard commodity. In this case, the standard portion can be produced centrally, and the customizedcharacteristic can be produced at the point of delivery (and ,if it is quick, even at the point ofsale).Generally, it is easier to move the production of process- or service-orientedcharacteristics to the customer than to move discrete manufacturing steps.The sustainability of a competitive advantage built onpoint-of-delivery custom ization is often related to the degreeof successful organizational transformation involved. Moving the entire production process to the point of deliveryaffects the entire organization, but it can transform a business and its profit potential.Production and delivery have to be integrated, anddevelopment must consider that its new products or services will be customized at the point of delivery. Thisrequires significant innovation and often some invention.The focus should be on miniaturizing, processing lot sizesofone,eliminating all non-value added time, and applyinginformation technology to speed the response and makeindividualization economical.

Stage 4: Provide quick response. Providing quick,even instant, response to customer desires is an even betterway to push an entire organization onto the path of masscustomizing products and services. Reducing t imethroughout a firm's value chain is known as time-basedcompetition, and has become increasingly popular over thelast few years. What is now clear is that time-based

approaches do not stand alone, but rather merge into astrategy of mass customization.Time-based competition goes hand in hand with marketfragmentation, proliferating variety, and individual customization. Accelerating the new product developmentprocess, for example, can directly increase variety andallow the firm to more closely satisfy rapidly chang ing customer desires. Reducing set-up time in manufacturingdrastically lowers the cost of variety. Shortening the order-to-delivery cycle in marketing again lowers the cost ofvariety by reducing final goods inventory. In fact, near-zero set-up time accompanied by reductions in final goodsinventory can actually yield lower unit costs than the massproduction of large lots.Motorola demonstrated this with its now-famous Bravopager. Through its "Bandit" project, Motorola reduced thetime from order taking to delivery from over a month tounder three hours. By simultaneously producing a pagerthat can be individually custom ized, the company was ab leto greatly reduce costs.To some degree, it doesn't matter where in the valuechain time reduction begins. If success in one part of theprocess is supported and followed through by the rest, itwill begin to move the organization away from mass producing and toward mass customizing both products andservices.Stage 5: Modularize components to customize endproducts andservices. The best method for achieving fullmass customizationfor minimizing costs while maximizing individual customizationis by creating modularcomponents that can be configured into a wide variety ofend products and services:Economies of scale are gained through the components rather than the products.Economies of scope are gained by using the modularcomponents over and over again in different products.Customization is provided, since the customer canconfigure hundreds of products from using the system.For example, Bally Engineered Structures of Bally,Pennsylvania, offers its customers an almost infinite vari-

Triple Play:Toffler to Davisto PineAlvin Toffler anticipated mass customization as atechnological capability in his 1970 classic,Future

Shock. In 1987, mass customization was delineated(as well as named) by Stan D avis inFuturePerfect.However, what has emerged in this rapidly growingfield is vastly more than Toffler envisioned twenty-two years ago, and even more than Davis describedbarely five years ago. Mass customization is a newmodel for viewing business competition, one thatmakes the identification and fulfillment ofthewantsand needs of individual customers paramount without sacrificing efficiency, effectiveness, or low cost.

Providing quick even instant,response to customer desires isan even better way to push anentire organization onto thepath of mass customizingproducts and services.

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ety of structureswalk-in coolers, refrigerated warehouses , environmental rooms. But the company actually produces only one basic modular component: thepre-engineered panel. Economies of scale are achieved bythe single process that creates a panel by foaming urethanebetween two metal skins. That same process easily produces seven kinds of panels (side, corner, ceiling, and soforth) in a number of different lengths and widths. Thesepanels can then be customized by options, attachments, finishes, and most im portantly, by how they are fitted into thedesign of the customized structure.Bally's strongest concept is the "component." However,this method works just as well in process industries. Paints,for example, were historically mass produced throughbatch-process operations in centralized factories. For manyyears, paint stores have been providing mass customizedpaints by simply m ixing standardized paints according to aformula provided by the manufacturer.This combines the method of component modularitywith moving the final production step out to the customer.More recently, Behr, Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams,Home Depot, and a host of other retailers also provide theservice of mixing exactly the right paint to match any customer sample by using a computer that measures the lightfrequencies of the sample.The modular component method applies equally effectively to service industries. IBM 's service development anddelivery process, for example, has defined modules foreach step in the process. Field representatives can chooseonly those m odules that apply to the particular service theyare providing to their customers.On a more personal level, TWA Getaway Vacations,Inc., of Mount Kisco, New York, provides customizedtours at the prices of standard vacation packages (andsometimesbetter).According to David Thomas, vice president, "There are very few niches left in this business . Masscustomizing the tours is one ofthefew places left to builda competitive advantage." To accomplish it, GetawayVacations purchases the various components of the tourairline seats, hotel rooms, buses, and entertainmentoptionsin bulk, which provides economies of scale.Then customers and agents together design each individualized tour package. Getaway Vacations' information system mixes and matches the components and providesprices within six minutes.These examples, which span manufacturing, process,and service industries, show that there are many ways totake advantage of modularized components that can becustomized into personalized end products. In each case,customers can receive the exact products or services thatmeet their need s, but only through the concerted efforts ofevery functional group in the organization.

The development team must figure out how to separatethe product or service into components that can be easilyre-integrated to fulfill the needs of each customer.Production has to create the low-cost processes for com ponent manufacture and product design. Marketing must target individuals and figure out how to sell variety andcustomization without overwhelming customers withchoices. And delivery often has to quickly integrate thecompon ents into that one perfect combination for each customer.Potential Drawbacks: While the opportunity is great,there are four potential problems with using modularity asa method of mass customization.First, the performance of a product can always be optimized and its manufacturing costs lowered by reducing or

Continued on page55.

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F I V E S T A G E S ,frompage13.eliminating modularity. Thismaybother many engineers;however,itis true only for a single product (or a close-knitproduct family),or for astandard service experience process. Mass customization through modularitywith itsdual focus on lowcostsand variety/customization willyield better performance and lower costs wheneverthetaskistocreateanumberofsimilarbut clearly differentiatedproductsorservices. The greater the number of productsparticularly as that number approaches the numberofindividual customersthe greaterthecostandperformanceadvantagesofm odularity.A second drawback is that customers mayperceivesome setsofmodularized products as b eing overly similar.Inthe1970s, General Motorswasheavily criticizedforsharing too many components among models, makingthem look too much alike.Itis important that design takesinto account what customers find most personal aboutaproductorservicelike body stylingin acar. Those areasmust retainthemost variability, preferably offering individual customization. Today, American automakers provide many more "peripheral" options than their Japanesecompetitors,but still share basic styling across makesofcars,something that Toyota, Nissan, Honda,and theotherJapanese producers almost never do.Thereare twoother drawbacks to using modularity.First, that competitors can reverse engineer modulardesigns m ore easily than unique designs. And, finally, thatoff-the-shelf solutionscanalso leadtoless innovativeproducts over time.

Focusing on SustainedCompetitive Advantage

The answer tobothof these potential problemsis toreconsider whereafirm's sustained comp etitive advantagecomes from.It is notderived fromthecreationofa mass-customized productorservice. Rather, compe titive advantage comes from continuously p roviding the most valueforeach individual customer throughout the value chain.In a turbulent w orld, one can never rest on either presentor past achievements.Nomatter what techniqueofmasscustomizationisused, sustained advantage comes throughconstant innovation and increasing value creation. It comesfrom investmentintechnology. Anditcomes from investing in top-quality experts in development, production, m arketing,and delivery whose experience and flexibilitycannot easilybeimitated. Theseare thepeoplewho cancontinuetoinnovate mass-customized productsandservices over timeandhelp their firm s achieveandmaintainthe leading edge.

Q u i c k Q u o t e s F r o m T P F ' s1993St ra t eg ic M anagem en t Confe renc eBy Bernard C Reimann and Michael K Allio

Customer satisfaction is embedded in thechromosomes at Dell Computer...We have anobsession with pleasing, not just satisfying,the customer. Michael Dell, CEO

Most managers hate planning because, traditionally, it has been about control, or budgets.So often it's little more than a rain dance in anegotiations framework....The real purpose ofstrategic planning is to alter the mental modelsof managers...so they can perceive change andrespond. Peter Senge, consultant

Job descriptions tell people what theycan't do. We want our employees to doeverything they can do, and want to do, tomake our company successful. F .Kenneth Iverson, CEO, Nucor Corp.

People use networks because they hatehierarchies...So scrap your Hay point hierarchy and build a new reward system aroundreviews from professional peers and customers. Professor James Brian Quinn

Our policy should be to give no foreignaid to a country that is not providing familyplanning or that is spending heavily on offensive armaments. Helmut Schmidt, formerchancellor of Germany

Most experiments in innovation occur onthe periphery of organizations....After reinventing Xerox, over half of management rankscame from outside or from the periphery. John Seely Brown, Xerox's chief scientist

It's top management's responsibility tounderstand opportunity, not merely to be efficient. Professor C.K. Prahalad, prize-winning author

ClevelandStateU niversity professor BernardC.Reimannand consultant MichaelK.Allio,of RobertJ.Allio Associates,Planning Review'scorrespond ents attheconference,are writingreports or the November/December issue. These quotes areromtheirroughnotes.July/August 1993 5 5

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Tema 25 i Cam Ass Customization Tema