A solution space perspective on customization

Sammanfattning: Customization is an important feature in today’s manufacturing industry. Although this sector is typically associated with standardization and mass production, the increase in global competition, technological development and demand for product variety has driven many manufacturers, starting from the end of the last century, to offer customized products and services. There are various approaches to customization, ranging from situations where standard components are assembled according to customers specifications to situations where one-off solutions are developed from first principles to customer specific needs.The point of departure of this doctoral thesis is an inquiry into the concept of solution spaces and how it can be used to explain different practical applications of customization. The thesis comprises a total of four papers, two of which are conceptual and address the broad spectrum of customization approaches, providing a comparative outlook on customization. The empirical body of the thesis specifically focuses on what is commonly known as engineer-to-order (ETO) environments, comprising two papers in which the managerial challenges associated with customization, such as learning in organizations, evaluation of tendering invitations and the elicitation of customer needs, are empirically investigated.This work makes several notable contributions to the literature. Three types of solution spaces are proposed, representing distinct customization approaches. By synthesizing the solution spaces according to a comprehensive and multidisciplinary frame of reference, this thesis attempts to advance customization research and render it a coherent research field, consolidating key customization concepts within, for instance, operations and supply chain management, product development management, organizational learning and marketing and service management literature. In particular, this thesis links customization to learning, thereby providing managers in customization contexts with valuable support to facilitate learning within their organizations.