Mass production and the standardized products that it implies are as outmoded as the Model T. The new operating strategy sweeping through the business world today is "mass customization."

IBD: Are factories the "information networks" management guru Peter Drucker predicted they would become, and how does that fit into mass customization?

[B. Joseph] Pine: Drucker long ago predicted that factories of today would have low costs and high flexibility via "flotillas" of capabilities. That's a very apt description of the modularity necessary for mass customization — the Lego approach of snapping building-blocks together.

The internationalization of taste, modified by local culture and values, supports the practice of mass customization and segmentation, but always from the perspective of the global brand, product offering, or business franchise.