Is Mass Customisation Sustainable? A Literature-Based Analysis

Over the last two decades Mass CustomizationMass Customization (MC)” (MC) paradigm rose as the main strategy to provide individually designDesign” product in a cost-efficient way. However, the increasing importance of sustainabilitySustainability” in today’s world leads the companies to question about the environmentalEnvironmental”, economicEconomic” and social impacts of their businessBusiness” model, hence influences and interdependencies between MC and sustainabilitySustainability” need to be analysed to leverage the sustainabilitySustainability” potential of this strategy. A global evaluation about the implementationImplementation” of the MCMass Customization (MC)” strategy on the sustainabilitySustainability” dimensions is currently missing. This paper presents a literature reviewLiterature review” of the main contributions to this debate, identifying the main positive and negative effects of the MC paradigm on sustainabilitySustainability” issues. Despite the presence of some theoretical papers and contributions, the lack of practical case studiesCase Study” prevents researchers to draw a definite trend.