Product Development and Customization
Product Development and Customization is a research topic within Management of Technology and Innovation. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1953. 25.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers explores the concepts of mass customization, product modularity, and their impact on complex product development, supply chain management, and customer integration. It delves into topics such as design structure matrix, platform-based product development, variety management, and change propagation in the context of modular product architecture. The literature also discusses the economic evaluation of mass customization, customer preferences for tailored products, and the implications of postponement for supply chains.
- Mass Customization
- Product Modularity
- Design Structure Matrix
- Complex Product Development
- Supply Chain Management
- Platform-Based Product Development
- Customer Integration
- Variety Management
- Change Propagation
- Modular Product Architecture
- Research works
- 17k fractional, since 1953
- In the world top 10%
- 4.4k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 25.3% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- -18% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Product Development and Customization research?
By volume, China and Germany publish the most (363 and 285 works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 China 363 works
- 2 Germany 285 works
- 3 United States 245 works
- 4 United Kingdom 78 works
- 5 France 76 works
- 6 India 64 works
- 7 Italy 63 works
- 8 Sweden 59 works
- 9 Japan 51 works
- 10 Canada 38 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Product Development and Customization research?
By volume in 2022–2025, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology publishes the most Product Development and Customization research, followed by RWTH Aachen University and Technical University of Munich.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany 26 works
- 2 RWTH Aachen University Germany 23 works
- 3 Technical University of Munich Germany 15 works
- 4 Technical University of Denmark Denmark 12 works
- 5 Jönköping University Sweden 12 works
- 6 Hamburg University of Technology Germany 11 works
- 7 Politecnico di Torino Italy 10 works
- 8 Delft University of Technology Netherlands 9 works
- 9 Zhejiang University China 9 works
- 10 Leibniz University Hannover Germany 9 works
Who are the leading researchers in Product Development and Customization?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Product Development and Customization include MengChu Zhou and Wei Chen.
- 1 MengChu Zhou 4.4k citations
- 2 Wei Chen 3.5k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Product Development and Customization research done?
The largest centres of Product Development and Customization research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Aachen (Germany) and Karlsruhe (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Karlsruhe, Aachen and Stuttgart.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- KarlsruheDE · 28.1 works20×
- AachenDE · 29.1 works18×
- StuttgartDE · 22.0 works14×
- HamburgDE · 26.9 works9.4×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Product Development and Customization than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Product Development and Customization?
Among universities, judged by research, Politecnico di Torino, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Technical University of Denmark score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Politecnico di Torino Italy | 67.6 | 34.9% | 12.1× | 10 | +45.9% |
| 2 | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Germany | 66.2 | 16.6% | 26.7× | 26 | +68.4% |
| 3 | Technical University of Denmark Denmark | 57.1 | 18.1% | 13.1× | 12 | +47.5% |
| 4 | Jönköping University Sweden | 57.1 | 12.5% | 125.2× | 12 | +144.5% |
| 5 | Aalborg University Denmark | 55.3 | 30.6% | 8.6× | 8 | +19.7% |
| 6 | RWTH Aachen University Germany | 54.6 | 12.7% | 17.7× | 23 | +22.3% |
| 7 | Hamburg University of Technology Germany | 53.2 | 16.4% | 89.6× | 11 | +105.3% |
| 8 | Technical University of Munich Germany | 49.9 | 14.0% | 10.5× | 15 | -12.4% |
| 9 | Chalmers University of Technology Sweden | 49.8 | 20.8% | 18.9× | 9 | -18.9% |
| 10 | Politecnico di Milano Italy | 47.2 | 31.5% | 6.6× | 8 | +22.5% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Product Development and Customization research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 18% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2011. The fastest-growing topics are Product Development and Customization.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.