When acting as co-designers, customers face new
uncertainties and risks, coined "mass confusion" in this
article. Building on a construction strategy of
empirical management research in the form of six case
studies, we propose the use of online communities for
collaborative customer co-design in order to reduce the
mass confusion phenomenon. In so doing so, we challenge
the assumption made by most mass customization
researchers that offering customized products requires
an individual (one-to-one) relationship between customer
and supplier. 2006
