Gilmore J H, Pine B J
Strategic Horizons, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 1997 Jan-Feb;75(1):91-101.
Virtually all executives today recognize the need to provide outstanding service to customers. Focusing on the customer, however, is both an imperative and a potential curse. In their desire to become customer driven, many companies have resorted to inventing new programs and procedures to meet every customer's request. But as customers and their needs grow increasingly diverse, such an approach has become a surefire way to add unnecessary cost and complexity to operations. Companies around the world have embraced mass customization in an attempt to avoid those pitfalls. Readily available information technology and flexible work processes permit them to customize goods or services for individual customers in high volumes at low cost. But many managers have discovered that mass customization itself can produce unnecessary cost and complexity. They are realizing that they did not examine thoroughly enough what kind of customization their customers would value before they plunged ahead. That is understandable. Until now, no framework has existed to help managers determine the type of customization they should pursue. James Gilmore and Joseph Pine provide managers with just such a framework. They have identified four distinct approaches to customization. When designing or redesigning a product, process, or business unit, managers should examine each approach for possible insights into how to serve their customers best. In some cases, a single approach will dominate the design. More often, however, managers will need a mix of some or all of the four approaches to serve their own particular set of customers.
如今，几乎所有高管都认识到有必要为客户提供卓越的服务。然而，专注于客户既是一种必要之举，也可能是一种潜在的祸根。在渴望成为以客户为导向的过程中，许多公司采取了发明新计划和程序的方式来满足每一位客户的要求。但随着客户及其需求日益多样化，这种方法已成为一种必然会给运营增加不必要成本和复杂性的方式。世界各地的公司都采用了大规模定制，试图避免这些陷阱。现成的信息技术和灵活的工作流程使它们能够以低成本为大量个人客户定制商品或服务。但许多经理发现，大规模定制本身也会产生不必要的成本和复杂性。他们意识到，在贸然行动之前，他们没有充分审视客户会看重哪种类型的定制。这是可以理解的。到目前为止，还没有一个框架可以帮助经理们确定他们应该追求的定制类型。詹姆斯·吉尔摩和约瑟夫·派恩为经理们提供了这样一个框架。他们确定了四种不同的定制方法。在设计或重新设计产品、流程或业务部门时，经理们应该审视每种方法，以获得关于如何最好地服务客户的可能见解。在某些情况下，单一方法将主导设计。然而，更常见的情况是，经理们需要结合使用这四种方法中的一些或全部来服务他们自己特定的客户群体。
