Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization [Hardcover]

James H. Gilmore (Editor), B. Joseph Pine (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Harvard Business Review Book | Publication Date: February 2000

What does it mean "to dell?" This newly coined business verb means to mass-customize, making products only in response to actual demand. This allows a product to "go direct" to a customer, and it's what Dell Computer does instead of forcing mass-produced computers on its customers. And Dell's not alone. As Editors Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine point out in their introduction to "Markets of One", mass customization is a trend that has caught on among consumer and business-to-business companies alike - think of Levi's jeans, Aramark's hospital services, Select Comfort mattresses, and Peapod or Streamline grocery delivery, to name a few.Companies customize their offerings to meet the unique needs of individual customers so that nearly everyone can obtain exactly what they want at a reasonable price. It's a paradigm shift away from the one-size-fits-all way managers have thought about markets over the past century- today, every individual customer is a market of one. This collection of ten "Harvard Business Review" articles chronicles the evolution of business competition from mass markets to markets of one - in other words, from creating standardized value through mass production to creating customer-unique value through mass customization.The book examines many of the resulting changes in approach to strategy and operations - for example, moving from pushing products to fulfilling individual needs, from focusing solely on market share to measuring customer share, and from marketing to the masses to cultivating learning relationships with each customer. "Markets of One" offers the best of the leading thinkers on the topic, exploring both the promise and pitfalls of mass customization. Practical applications are presented with examples of leading companies who successfully mass customize for markets of one. This is a Harvard Business Review book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Gilmore and Joe Pine are co-founders of Strategic Horizons LLP of Aurora, Ohio, and authors of The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage (HBS Press, 1999).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578512387
• ISBN-13: 978-1578512386
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #767,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mass Customization: A Paradigm of Paradox, November 4, 2000

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization (Hardcover)

Gilmore and Pine co-authored The Experience Economy, a book I consider one of the most important business books written in recent years. In this volume, they anthologize ten essays which -- together -- answer questions such as these:

1. What is "the emerging theory of manufacturing"? (Peter Drucker)

2. How to market in "the age of diversity"? (Regis McKenna)

3. How to manage in "an age of modularity"?

4. Do you want to keep your customers forever? (Pine, Don Peppers, and Martha Rogers)

5. Is your company ready for one-to-one marketing? (Peppers, Rogers, and Bob Dorf)

6. What are the correlations between "breaking compromises" and "breakaway growth"? (George Stalk, Jr., David K. Pecault, and Benjamin Burnett)

7. What are the "four faces" of mass customization"? (Gilmore and Pine)

8. What is "versioning"? Why is it the smart way to sell information? (Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian)

9. How to make mass customization work? (Pine, Bart Victor, and Andrew C. Boynton)

10. What does "managing by wire" involve? (Stephan H. Haeckel and Richard L. Nolan)

At the conclusion of their book, the authors also provide immensely helpful "Executive Summaries" of key points made in each of the various essays, and, brief but informative comments about those who wrote them. If you are looking for the single best source of information and about mass customization, look no further.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From mass customization to versioning..., February 29, 2000

By 

John W. Jones (Arlington Heights, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization (Hardcover)

This book is a winner! I've relied on mass customization strategies in my consulting practice for the past 5 years. These strategies allow consultants to win the speed-to-market wars while still providing high quality deliverables. Also, the chapter on "versioning" is a mind blower, and is definitely relevant to e-publishers everywhere. You can't go wrong with this contemporary business text.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless yet generally fresh, worth the re-read, June 10, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization (Hardcover)

Have read most of the authors in this volume, but still refer back to my yellow hi-liting and post-it tabs. Tempting to read only executive summaries, but these fail to capture the needed depth provided in the chapters. One of the better compilations I've come across in some time. Probably only thing that's missing is "how to." I suspect that requires more than just deep thinking, but a cross-disciplinary team.