Competitive advantage, customisation and a new taxonomy for non make-to-stock companies

Presents a new taxonomy for the non make-to-stock sector to enable a like-with-like comparison, arguing that existing taxonomies within the literature are inadequate for strategic research purposes. Presents empirical evidence which has been collected from 22 companies in three European countries - the UK, Denmark and The Netherlands.

The data support the structure of the proposed new taxonomy and provide insights into competitive advantage and customisation issues in the non make-to-stock sector. Finally, two new labels for this sector of industry are proposed. "Versatile manufacturing company" is used to describe those manufacturers which are involved in a competitive bidding situation for every order which they receive, customisation by individual order.

In contrast, the "Repeat business customiser" may only be in this position for the first of a series of similar orders from a particular customer, customisation by contract.