Product and Service Variety vs. Internal Performance – Towards New Balances
Abstract
Increasing customer demands for individualized solutions has a major impact on the
manufacturing sector. Companies are confronted with producing high volumes in order to meet
market demand while customizing their offering to meet specifc customers’ requirements. One
of the subsequent major challenges of this situation is to cope with the high offering variety
while ensuring higher performance within the production system and supply chain of the solution
provider. This paper deals with the impact of integrating products and services on the varietyinduced
complexity. Based on a consistent literature review, a model is proposed to conceptualize
the main drivers of variety management of product and service offering. The ultimate objective
of the model is to support decision makers in the identifcation of balances between customer
satisfaction and supply chain performance.