Research Paper on:
Nike's Use of Mass Customization

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
facilitation of mass customisation. Initially seen in items such as cars, where different internal and external colour combinations, with fabric and wheel trim choices, the mass customisation market has now  speed, with companies such as Nike seeing the potential mass customisation may offer. This can be seen as the ultimate form of differentiation, with an ability to design the trainer  the customer will buy, however, just as this may be seen to offer Nike many opportunities, it is also an issue over which there is little empirical evidence. Nike  started the idea of mass customisation on the web site for the US. Here there was a limited option to design trainers using set components, choosing the soles, uppers, colours,  trim, and even the ability to place a name on the finished product (Wall Street Journal, 1999). The price of customisation was also low, costing only a $10 premium on  the cost of the standard trainers, but taking four weeks to deliver (Wall Street Journal, 1999). This gave Nike an advantage over their rivals Reebok. The model appear to be  popular, as this spread not only to Nike in Europe, including the UK, but also other types of goods and their manufacturers (Evans, 2001). However the model was not new,  and had helped companies such as Timbuk2 increase sales on average 51% per annum every since 1989, in this case it was customised bags (Pont, 2001). If we look at  Nike in the UK the system has now been made available though the Nike internet site. Here the site started with a choice of two main styles under the brand  of Nike iD. These could then be customised with different soles and uppers. However, this range has now been increased to seven (Nike, 2002). The range is within the same