Mass Customization in Flat Organization: The Mediating Role of Supply Chain Planning and Corporation Coordination

Abstract

Based on the information processing theory, this study proposes that organizational flatness is an antecedence to themass customization capability and the supply chain planning and corporation coordination mediates the relationshipbetween organizational flatness and mass customization capability. Data from plants located in multiple countriesacross three different industry groups is analyzed to test the research hypotheses. The results show that the effect oforganizational flatness on MCC is mediated by the coordination practices. It is the supply chain planning andcorporate coordination that directly improve the MCC. Our results emphasize the importance of centralizedmanagement of value chain decisions and sharing of knowledge for MCC.