Postponement

General Description:

Postponement is a strategic approach to delay activities (such as decisions or investment intentionally to the last possible moment) in order to benefit from a better information base. The approach originates from the marketing literature to reduce the risk and uncertainty costs tied to differentiation (such as in form, place, and time) of goods. Over time, the scope has expanded to other areas of interest such as logistics, manufacturing, product development, purchasing and promotion processes (Yang et al. 2005).

In the context of Mass Customization, the approach describes the delay of customization of standardized products in different varianties until the incoming order.

References:

Yang, B., Burns, N. D. & Backhouse, C. J. 2005. The application of postponement in industry. Engineering Management, IEEE Transactions on, 52, 238-248.