Managing Complexity: Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Mass Customization, Personalization, and Co-Creation (MCPC 2015), Montreal, Canada, . Proceedings in Business and Economics)

This proceedings volume presents the latest research from the worldwide mass customization, personalization and co-creation (MCPC) community bringing together new thoughts and results from various disciplines within the field. The chapters are based on papers from The MCPC 2015 Conference where the emphasis was placed on “managing complexity.” MCPC is now beginning to emerge in many industries as a profitable business model. But customization and personalization go far beyond the sheer individualization of products and become an extension of current business models and production styles. This book covers topics such as complexity management of knowledge-based systems in manufacturing design and production, sustainable mass customization, choice navigation, and product modeling. The chapters are contributed by a wide range of specialists, offering cutting-edge research, as well as insightful advances in industrial practice in key areas.

The MCPC 2015 Conference had a strong focus on real life MCPC applications, and this proceedings volume reflects this. MCPC strategies aim to profit from the fact that people are different. Their objective is to turn customer heterogeneities into profit opportunities, hence addressing the current trend of long tail business models. Mass customization means to provide goods and services that best serve individual customers’ personal needs with near mass production efficiency. This book brings together the latest from MCPC thought leaders, entrepreneurs, technology developers, and researchers that use these strategies in practice.

Jocelyn Bellemare received his Ph.D in Industrial Engineering at École Polytechnique de Montréal. He is currently a professor in the marketing department at University of Quebec at Montréal. His areas of expertise include fashion product development, production management, mass customization, and fashion marketing.

Serge Carrier received his Ph.D in Administration at the University of Quebec at Montreal. He is currently a professor in the Department of Management and Technology at University of Quebec at Montréal. His areas of expertise include IT in fashion/clothing, standardization of sizes, and fashion marketing.

Frank T. Piller has headed the Technology and Innovation Management Group at RWTH Aachen University since 2007. Earlier, he worked at the MIT Sloan School of Management and was an assistant professor of management at the TUM Business School (1999-2004). Frank Piller graduated with a Ph.D. in operations management from the University of Würzburg in 1999. His post-doctoral Habilitation degree is from the TUM Business School. Frank Piller has worked as a consultant and delivered executive workshops for many international companies, including several DAX30 and Fortune 500 corporations. As a member of their board of directors or board of scientific advisors, he works with a number of innovative technology companies to bring his research into practice.