Form postponement effects on operational performances typological theory

Form postponement postulates that changes in product form occur at the latest possible point along a production and distribution process. The potential benefits of form postponement have been widely investigated in the literature on the subject. However, conflicting or hard-to-relate findings are quite frequent in this literature. In this paper, we demonstrate that past research findings can be reconciled by distinguishing among three mutually exclusive types of form postponement. We build this thesis by developing a typological theory that formalizes how, why and under which assumptions each type of form postponement affects inventory holding costs, delivery lead times, processing costs...Delayed product differentiation, Form postponement, Mass customization, Typology