This paper focuses on four interrelated strategies: postponement, mass customization, modularization and customer order decoupling point. The goal of the postponement is to delay the customization as late as possible in the supply chain. It is also known as delayed differentiation. Mass customization is a relatively new term, which began to gain attention in the industry a decade ago. It was an obligatory invention as a response to the global market which becomes more turbulent day by day for the last two decades. Its goal is to produce customized products at low costs. Modularization is a common term that is used in many areas. In this study, we will focus on product architecture modularity and process modularity. Customer order decoupling point, which is also known as order penetration point, is used to distinguish the point in the supply chain where a particular product is associated to a specific order. Our target is building a model that explains how these four concepts are related. In order to achieve this, we will, first, research every concept individually; we will state the definitions, levels, benefits, enablers, success factors, drivers, etc. of the concepts. Then we will study the pair-wise relationships of these strategies. We will build our model according to the findings we have found in the literature. After building our model, we will explore it in Autoliv Electronics to see how it works in practice. Briefly, our model states the following: Modularization is an enabler of customization and it is necessary for the success of mass customization where set-up costs are critical. Product architecture modularity provides rapid assembly and cost efficiency that is required for postponement and mass customization. In addition, it is used to measure the mass customization degree according to some others. Postponement requires process modularity, and it moves the customer order decoupling point downstream in the value added material flow. It contributes the mass customization by increasing both the leanness and agility. Customer order decoupling point uses the customer requirements and existing capabilities of the mass customization for optimizing the flexibility-productivity balance.

Increased product proliferation and global competition are forcing companies within the supply chain to adopt new strategies. Postponement is an effective strategy that allows companies to be agile and cost effective in dealing with the dynamics of global supply chains. Postponement centres around delaying activities in the supply chain until real information about the market is available, which reduces the complexity and uncertainty of dealing with a proliferation of products. A two-echelon divergent supply chain entailing a central production facility and N retailers facing stochastic demand is studied within the inventory-distribution system. A periodic review order-up-to strategy is incorporated at all echelons. Unique to the study, five different systems are created and the effectiveness of several postponement strategies (form and transshipment) under various operational settings are compared. The importance of postponement under an integrated supply chain context and its contribution to various sector implementations are also discussed. Simulation is used to analyze the performance of the systems especially with respect to cost, order lead time and the effectiveness of transshipment policies. The study is unique in determining factors that favour one system implementation over another and distinguishing sector requirements that support postponement. In the study, postponement is found to be an effective strategy in dealing with managing item variety, demand uncertainty and differences in review periods in the two echelon supply chain for different experimental settings.

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>In fashion industry, customer demand is constantly changing. One of the main reasons is due to the time of delicate fashion awareness among the consumers, which has come into larger variety and frequent assortment changes. The changing trends in fashion industry allow researchers to get into the postponement strategy as a customized operation in order to focus on quality and flexibility. In today’s fashion market the key for success is to keep an eye on and react to the customer demand. H&M is Europe’s second largest fashion retailer in terms of sales and our work will reflect on H&M supply chain particularly. We try to figure out business strategies such as mass customization and standardization, which H&M is using in their entire supplier chain and in his different processes. Keeping this view in mind, we design our research question, which is about mass customization and standardization and we try to relate these business strategies to the postponement. We try to find out the structure and implementation of these strategies in H&M supply chain with the help of our respondent answers in our proposed questionnaire.</p><p>For this purpose, an electronic interview with the H&M senior merchandiser in Pakistan liaison office was carried out. The questionnaire contains different questions related to postponement strategy, customization, and standardization and other processes which are used in the supply chain of any fashion industry. The questionnaire consists of 22 major questions. Our research is purely qualitative. We include both types of the data; namely secondary and primary. Secondary data was collected from earlier studies of the literature and related theories of postponement, customization, and standardization and certain areas of fashion retailing, whereas primary data was collected through the electronic interview with Mr. Syed Naqeeb who is working in H&M liaison office as a senior merchandiser in Pakistan.</p><p>After receiving the questionnaire, we have tried to highlight our research questions with the help of our proposed Frame of Reference in Chapter 2. The Frame of Reference consists of theories which will help the reader to get the clear picture of fashion retailing and the related theories.</p><p>In the Analysis section, we talk about the activities of H&M and its background followed by its business concept. We define H&M SCM model and draw a figure of H&M complementarities, which we developed by the help of electronic interview. In the Conclusion part, we come to the point that customization and postponement affect fashion retailing by choosing raw material, components, and apparel accessories plus logistic management. The other aspect of our research area is standardization. After the analysis we come to know that Standardization and postponement are also used together in the supply chain of H&M, in raw material, cotton and yarn, dying, packaging and in the care instruction of labels (washing instructions).</p>

<p><strong>Master’s Thesis in Logistics and Supply Chain Management</strong></p><p><strong>_____________________________________________________</strong></p><p><strong>Title:                 Postponement in Retailing Industry- A case study of SIBA</strong></p><p><strong>Authors:         Ahmed Kemal & Naqvi Syed Mohammad</strong></p><p><strong>Tutor:               Helgi Valur Fredriksson, Dr.</strong></p><p><strong>Date:               May, 2010</strong></p><p><strong>Key Words:   Speculation, Postponement, Customer Order Decoupling point,</strong></p><p><strong> Retailing, Supply Chain Flexibility, Agility</strong></p><p><strong>______________________________________________________________</strong></p><p><strong>Abstract</strong><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>Today's business environment is characterized by changing customer demands, increasing cost pressures on retailers, shorter product life cycles and products becoming obsolete shortly after their introduction. The above factors make it difficult for electronics retailers to balance the costs of dealing with excessive inventory and not be out of stock. To be competitive, retailers should delay some of their activities until customer demand becomes visible. This brings us to the phenomenon of postponement. Electronics market in Sweden faces continuous growth, although at a declining rate. This is indicative of a saturation that this sector, as a whole, is approaching to. The above problems are due to the speculative approaches and standardized products policies that are in practice. Loss of sales and customers result from these practices. The current study analyses the importance of postponement strategy and the benefits it offers. This study also tries to explore the potential solutions for retailers that postponement may relate to.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The scope of this study is to identify possible postponement strategies needed for SIBA.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A case study approach has been taken. The choice of the method is qualitative with an inductive approach. This involved personal communications during interviews with the managers of SIBA, using semi structured questions to collect data.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The concepts of postponement, supply chain flexibility, agility and customer order decoupling points (CODP) are closely related to one another and it has been shown that as the depth of postponement increase from right to left in the CODP continuum, the CODP changes its position, moving along the CODP continuum from right to left and towards the upstream. With this movement, the flexibility and agility in the chain increases. Our finds suggest that postponement is rather underutilized and that wastes (by way of lost sales and customers, obsolete inventory costs and storage costs) in the retailing process occur due to speculative approaches in application at the retail level. We have suggested logistics postponement for two out of three product categories and enumerated the ensuing benefits that the retailer can derive by way of enhanced flexibility, agility and reductions in wastages and satisfied customers.</p>

<p>The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether legal rights are upheld when wording and applying the postponement of payment of tax regulations of chapter 17 section 2 p. 2-3 of the payment of Tax Act. We also investigate how the wording of the regulations relate to the requirement of legal security.</p><p>It has been questioned if the regulations concerning postponement of payment of tax are compatible with the requirement of legal security. Of course does not a taxpayer want to pay tax that he or she consider incorrect, and that has not been under trial by an impartial authority. If the request for postponement of payment of tax is rejected, the consequences for the taxpayer can lead to huge financial losses. The worse scenario for the taxpayer is if he or she goes bankrupt due to the rejected request.</p><p>The tax assessment regulations forming the basis for the postponement of payment of tax regulations are considered disputable, which has brought the matter to the fore. When ap-plying for reassessment or making an appeal, the question arises whether the tax in process should be submitted before the matter has been settled. The regulations of chapter 23 sec-tion 7 of the payment of Tax Act stipulate that the obligation to submit taxes remains re-gardless of its disputability. The only way the taxpayer can avoid having to submit taxes be-forehand is to apply for postponement of payment of the tax. When the application for postponement of payment of tax has reached the Tax Authority it is treated separately from the underlying tax assessment matter. However, the outcome of the postponement of payment of tax matter depends on the prerequisites on which the tax assessment is based.</p><p>This thesis is based on the regulations of chapter 17 section 2 p. 2-3 of the payment of Tax Act. The section stipulates that postponement of payment of tax may be granted in matters where the outcome of an ongoing tax assessment process may be uncertain, or where it may lead to considerable damage or else appear unreasonable to submit taxes. The founda-tions for judgment are very vaguely worded, which creates room for subjective interpreta-tions, and moreover, it means that judicial authorities must fill up the prerequisites with their judgments. Unclear bases for judgment limit taxpayers’ demands for predictable taxa-tion, and the risk both local tax offices and the Tax Authority and administrative courts make different assessments is great.</p><p>When the Tax Authority and the administrative courts treat claims for postponement of payment of tax, legal rights must always be considered. There are often deficiencies in the handling of the matters, which impair the taxpayers’ legal rights. The matters should be suf-ficiently investigated and the decisions motivated in a satisfactory manner. Moreover, the handling of claims for postponement of payment of tax should be objective, and decisions made with consideration to the consequences of the ruling.</p><p>As things are at present, it takes a considerable amount of time for the courts to investigate the underlying tax assessment, which means the consequences of not being granted a post-ponement of payment of tax are so much the graver. This also means that the taxpayer is forced to live a long time in financial and psychological uncertainty. One suggestion of how to come to terms with this problem is to increase specialization in the administrative courts.</p><p>The lack of clearly worded legal texts, preparatory work and practice leads to predictability being impaired for the individual and create difficulties for the Tax Authority and the ad-ministrative courts. From a legal rights perspective, more generous regulations regarding postponement of payment of tax should be introduced. One suggestion is to turn the main regulation of chapter 23 section 7 of the payment of Tax Act around. Postponement of payment of tax would then be granted unless particular reasons for its denial exist. An al-ternative to this suggestion may be to leave the main regulation in its current wording and have the exception regulations of chapter 17 section 2 of the payment of Tax Act grant postponement of payment of tax, unless particular reasons hindering this exist. In such a case of denying postponement of payment of tax the reasons for denial should be speci-fied.</p> / <p>I uppsatsen undersöks om rättssäkerheten upprätthålls vid tillämpningen av anståndsbe-stämmelserna i 17 kap. 2 § p. 2-3 SBL. Samt hur utformningen av bestämmelserna förhåller sig till kraven på rättssäkerhet.</p><p>Det har ifrågasatts om anståndsbestämmelserna är förenliga med rättssäkerhetens krav. Detta följer av att en skattskyldig naturligtvis inte vill betala skatt som denne anser är felak-tig och som inte ännu har hunnits prövats av en oberoende instans. Avslås en anståndsbe-gäran kan detta få stora ekonomiska konsekvenser för den skattskyldige. I värsta fall riske-rar den skattskyldige att försättas i konkurs.</p><p>Anledningen till att anståndsbestämmelserna uppkommer är att det underliggande taxe-ringsbeslutet som ligger till grund för dessa är tvistigt. Vid en begäran avseende ompröv-ning eller överklagan uppstår frågan huruvida den berörda skatten som är under process skall betalas innan ärendet är avgjort. Enligt huvudregeln i 23 kap. 7 § SBL stadgas det att skyldigheten att erlägga skatt består oavsett om den är tvistig. Den utväg som återstår för den skattskyldige att slippa att betala skatten innan beslutet vunnit laga kraft är att begära anstånd med betalningen av skatten. När begäran om anstånd inkommit till Skatteverket blir detta ett ärende som hanteras separat från den underliggande taxeringsfrågan, dock är utgången av anståndsärendet beroende av de rekvisit som ligger till grund för taxering.</p><p>Uppsatsens inriktning syftar till reglerna i 17 kap. 2 § p. 2-3 SBL. I paragrafen stadgas att anstånd kan ges i fall, där utgången i en pågående skatteprocess är tveksam eller där det kan medföra betydande skadeverkningar eller annars framstå som oskäligt att betala skatten. Dessa bedömningsgrunder är som synes mycket vagt utformade, vilket skapar utrymme för subjektiva tolkningar och dessutom innebär detta att de rättstillämpande instanserna måste fylla ut rekvisiten med sina bedömningar. Oklara grunder för bedömning medför att de skattskyldigas krav på en förutsebar beskattning inskränks, dessutom är risken för olikfor-mig bedömning mellan både lokala Skatteverkskontor samt mellan Skatteverket och för-valtningsdomstolarna stor.</p><p>I behandlingen av anståndsärendet hos Skatteverket och förvaltningsdomstolarna finns det flera rättssäkerhetsaspekter som bör uppfyllas. I flera av dess finns brister i handläggningen som gör att den skattskyldiges rättssäkerhet kan komma att begränsas. Ärendet skall utre-das tillräcklig och när beslut lämnas skall detta motiveras för den skattskyldige på ett till-fredsställande sätt. Dessutom bör hanteringen av anståndsärendet skötas objektivt och hän-syn till konsekvenserna av beslutet bör beaktas.</p><p>I nuläget är handläggningstiderna för att få den underliggande taxeringsfrågan utredd av domstolarna mycket lång, vilket innebär att konsekvenserna av att inte få anstånd med be-talning av skatten blir ännu större. Det innebär att den skattskyldige under lång tid tvingas leva i både ekonomisk och psykologisk ovisshet. Ett förslag för att komma till rätta med problemet är att en ökad specialisering inom förvaltningsdomstolarna sker.</p><p>Bristen på klar lagtext, förarbeten och praxis leder till att förutsebarheten inskränks för den enskilde samt svårigheter för Skatteverket och domstolarna vid lagtillämpning. Ur rättssä-kerhetssynpunkt bör generösare bestämmelser angående anstånd med betalning av skatt in-föras. Ett förslag är att vända på huvudregeln i 23 kap. 7 § SBL. Anstånd skulle då som hu-vudregel medges. Om det däremot föreligger särskilda skäl skall den skattskyldige nekas an-stånd. Ett alternativ till detta förslag skulle vara att huvudregeln står kvar i nuvarande ut-formning, men att undantagsreglerna i 17 kap. 2 § SBL regelmässigt medger anstånd om inte särskilda skäl talar emot detta. I ett sådant anståndsavslag skall skälen som ligger till grund för beslutet preciseras.</p>

<p>This paper focuses on four interrelated strategies: postponement, mass customization, modularization and customer order decoupling point. The goal of the postponement is to delay the customization as late as possible in the supply chain. It is also known as delayed differentiation. Mass customization is a relatively new term, which began to gain attention in the industry a decade ago. It was an obligatory invention as a response to the global market which becomes more turbulent day by day for the last two decades. Its goal is to produce customized products at low costs. Modularization is a common term that is used in many areas. In this study, we will focus on product architecture modularity and process modularity. Customer order decoupling point, which is also known as order penetration point, is used to distinguish the point in the supply chain where a particular product is associated to a specific order.</p><p>Our target is building a model that explains how these four concepts are related. In order to achieve this, we will, first, research every concept individually; we will state the definitions, levels, benefits, enablers, success factors, drivers, etc. of the concepts. Then we will study the pair-wise relationships of these strategies. We will build our model according to the findings we have found in the literature. After building our model, we will explore it in Autoliv Electronics to see how it works in practice.</p><p>Briefly, our model states the following:</p><p>Modularization is an enabler of customization and it is necessary for the success of mass customization where set-up costs are critical. Product architecture modularity provides rapid assembly and cost efficiency that is required for postponement and mass customization. In addition, it is used to measure the mass customization degree according to some others.</p><p>Postponement requires process modularity, and it moves the customer order decoupling point downstream in the value added material flow. It contributes the mass customization by increasing both the leanness and agility.</p><p>Customer order decoupling point uses the customer requirements and existing capabilities of the mass customization for optimizing the flexibility-productivity balance.</p>

Abstract In fashion industry, customer demand is constantly changing. One of the main reasons is due to the time of delicate fashion awareness among the consumers, which has come into larger variety and frequent assortment changes. The changing trends in fashion industry allow researchers to get into the postponement strategy as a customized operation in order to focus on quality and flexibility. In today’s fashion market the key for success is to keep an eye on and react to the customer demand. H&amp;M is Europe’s second largest fashion retailer in terms of sales and our work will reflect on H&amp;M supply chain particularly. We try to figure out business strategies such as mass customization and standardization, which H&amp;M is using in their entire supplier chain and in his different processes. Keeping this view in mind, we design our research question, which is about mass customization and standardization and we try to relate these business strategies to the postponement. We try to find out the structure and implementation of these strategies in H&amp;M supply chain with the help of our respondent answers in our proposed questionnaire. For this purpose, an electronic interview with the H&amp;M senior merchandiser in Pakistan liaison office was carried out. The questionnaire contains different questions related to postponement strategy, customization, and standardization and other processes which are used in the supply chain of any fashion industry. The questionnaire consists of 22 major questions. Our research is purely qualitative. We include both types of the data; namely secondary and primary. Secondary data was collected from earlier studies of the literature and related theories of postponement, customization, and standardization and certain areas of fashion retailing, whereas primary data was collected through the electronic interview with Mr. Syed Naqeeb who is working in H&amp;M liaison office as a senior merchandiser in Pakistan. After receiving the questionnaire, we have tried to highlight our research questions with the help of our proposed Frame of Reference in Chapter 2. The Frame of Reference consists of theories which will help the reader to get the clear picture of fashion retailing and the related theories. In the Analysis section, we talk about the activities of H&amp;M and its background followed by its business concept. We define H&amp;M SCM model and draw a figure of H&amp;M complementarities, which we developed by the help of electronic interview. In the Conclusion part, we come to the point that customization and postponement affect fashion retailing by choosing raw material, components, and apparel accessories plus logistic management. The other aspect of our research area is standardization. After the analysis we come to know that Standardization and postponement are also used together in the supply chain of H&amp;M, in raw material, cotton and yarn, dying, packaging and in the care instruction of labels (washing instructions).

[pt] Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar o adiamento do projeto parental. Levando-se em conta o aumento do número de casais que adiam o projeto de ter filhos, ou optam por não tê-los, e a escassez de estudos acerca da configuração de casais sem filhos por opção, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa da qual participaram cinco homens e cinco mulheres de classe média, membros de casais distintos, com idades entre 33 e 37 anos. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevistas com roteiro semi-estruturado. Os resultados foram analisados de acordo com o método de análise de conteúdo. Verificou-se que existe uma influência de ordem social para que o casal conjugal se torne casal parental. Entretanto, o projeto de ter filhos é cada vez mais um projeto que está sendo repensado. Observou-se que a decisão de ter filhos é uma experiência complexa, que envolve inúmeros fatores, o que contribui para o seu adiamento. Nesse contexto, coloca-se a necessidade de os cônjuges negociarem a opção de quando ter filhos. Os dados sugerem que a negociação da parentalidade ocorre geralmente de modo implícito e não verbalizado, sendo favorecida quando estabelecida explicitamente antes do casamento. Constatou-se, contudo, que a decisão acerca deste projeto é marcada por ambivalência e contradição. Observou-se ainda que, na atualidade, os casais que não têm filhos acreditam ter um nível mais elevado de satisfação no relacionamento conjugal. Conclui-se que, apesar de a sociedade atual aceitar com mais naturalidade a opção daqueles que optam por não ter filhos, ainda assim, há uma cobrança muito grande acerca deste projeto, visto que a escolha de não ter filhos interrompe a continuidade geracional. / [en] This work aims to investigate the postponement of the parental project. Considering the increase in the number of couples who delay the project of having children, or choose not to have them, and the scarcity of studies on the configuration of couples who do not have children by choice, a qualitative research was carried out, in which five middle-class men and five middle-class women, members of distinct couples, aged between 33 and 37 years old, took part. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The results were analyzed according to the content analysis method. It was verified that there is a social influence for the conjugal couple to become a parental one. However, the project of having children is increasingly being reconsidered by the couples. It was observed that the decision to have children is a complex experience and involves many factors, which contributes to its putting off. In this context, the negotiation of having children proves necessary for the couple. The data suggest this is an implicit and non-verbal negotiation, yet, it is favored when pre-established before marriage. It was noted, however, that this decision is marked by ambivalence and contradiction. It was also observed that nowadays, couples who do not have children believe they have a higher level of satisfaction in their marital relationship. Therefore, although today s society accepts more naturally the option of those who choose not to have children, there is still a lot of pressure regarding this project, especially because the choice for not to have children interrupts the generational continuity.

Postponement is widely recognised as an approach that can lead to superior supply chains, and its application is widely observed as a growing trend in manufacturing. Form postponement (FPp) involves the delay of final manufacturing until a customer order is received and is commonly regarded as an approach to mass customisation. However, while much is written in the literature on the benefits and strategic impact of FPp, little is still known about its application. Thus this research project aims to address how FPp is applied in terms of the operational implications within the manufacturing facility. Here the ‘postponed’ manufacturing processes are performed in the factory where the preceding processes are carried out. An in-depth case study research design was developed and involved case studies at three manufacturing facilities, which provided diverse contexts in which to study FPp applications. Each case study incorporated multiple units of analysis which were based around product groups subject to different inventory management policies – FPp, make to order (MTO) and make to stock (MTS). The same research design was used in each study and involved both qualitative and quantitative evidence. Qualitative evidence was gathered via structured interviews and included the operational changes required to apply FPp in a previously MTO and MTS environment. Eleven quantitative variables, providing a broad based measurement instrument, were compared across the three units of analysis to test the hypotheses. This combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence in the case studies helped to triangulate the research findings. Comparison between the three case studies provided further conclusions regarding operational implications that were context specific and those which were not. The research concludes that the manufacturing planning system presents a major obstacle to the application of FPp in a MTO and MTS environment. In spite of this, and even when the FPp application is flawed, the benefits of FPp still justify its application. The research also contributes two frameworks: one which determines when FPp is a viable alternative to MTO or MTS; and another that illustrates the major operational implications of applying FPp to a product exhibiting component swapping modularity.

Hajj is very important to all Muslims across the globe. Because of its religious significance, the Hajj pilgrimage experiences a massive number of visitors each year, most of whom are foreign and require consumer goods during the six-day pilgrimage. The large number of pilgrims often results in a sharp increase in demand for consumer goods. Suppliers must ensure that they have adequate amounts of these products so that they can meet the needs of the pilgrims as well as their different tastes for these goods. It is however usually difficult to determine exactly how much is required. This complexity creates demand uncertainty that the firms in the industry must be able to cope with for them to succeed. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (commonly referred to as SMEs) play an important role in the food chain throughout the Hajj season in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). However, SMEs are recognised to experience severe obstacles that have the potential to threaten their continuity, and the industry succumbs to the crisis of demand uncertainty throughout the short period of the peak season of Hajj each year. This problem is complex due to the constant increase in the number of pilgrims and the continuous changes in their needs and preferences. Demand uncertainty can ultimately result in an increase in production costs, long lead times, substandard service levels, and quality problems, especially in terms of food obsolescence. There is a gap in the literature regarding aligning sources of uncertainty with supply chain strategies in an effort to improve supply chain performance. More specifically, the impact of supply chain integration strategies (SCI) on manufacturing strategies, such as postponement practice (PP) and mass customisation capability (MCC) to mitigate demand uncertainty (DUM), has not been fully explored. This study investigates three fundamental issues: 1 - how effective supply chain integration (internal integration and external integration) can be applied in Saudi’s SMEs food industry, and how the interaction between them mutually manipulates the improvement of postponement practice and mass customisation capability in food productions in Hajj; 2 - how the volume of cooperation leads to the mitigation of demand uncertainty in maintaining the survival of small and medium enterprises that operate in food production in Hajj; and 3 - how the environmental condition (i.e. competitive intensity) moderates the influence of supply chain integration (SCI) on this interaction in Saudi’s food SMEs that operate in Hajj. iii Based on the extended resource-based view (ERBV) of the firm, the strategic resources and knowledge come not only from within the organisation’s boundaries, but also from outside. Thus, a firm’s overall strategic capability may be embedded in a wider network of inter-firm exchange relationship. Contingency theory furthermore argues that an organisation should align their practices, processes and strategies with their business environment. In consideration to the extant literature, a number of hypotheses were defined, demonstrating the correlation between supply chain integration, postponement practice, mass customisation capability and demand uncertainty mitigation. Subsequently, a conceptual framework was developed with the objective to verify the relationship amongst the constructs. Mixed methodologies were employed; qualitatively, with 12 CEOs working in different SMEs in the food industry across KSA were initially interviewed to validate the conceptual framework. Content and face validity was accomplished with a group of academics and experts. A pilot study was carried out on a sample of 50 subcontractors, Hajj campaigns, pilgrimage institutions and food suppliers. Consequently, an online survey was conducted amongst SMEs to test the hypotheses. As a result, 239 responses were received from the SMEs in the food sector in the KSA. Partial Least Square (PLS) was used for the analysis. The interviewees were identified through snowball sampling (Detailed in the next sections). Quantitative data were collected using the convenience sampling technique, given the non-availability of the sampling frame. Based upon the extended resource-based view (ERBV) of the firm, alongside contingency theory, the initial and final results of the pilot test and survey were seen to be steady with these theories, where supply chain integration was viewed not only as having a significant direct and indirect effect on the postponement practice and mass customisation capability by SMEs of food during Hajj, but also as playing a critical role throughout the employment of postponement practice as an important strategy, empowering mass customisation capability to mitigate demand uncertainty. Likewise, both results were seen to be consistent with contingency theory; that is, a firm should coordinate their supply chain integration activities, postponement practice and mass customisation capability to their business environment, particularly with high competitive intensity to enhance demand uncertainty mitigation. In order to achieve competitive intensity, organisations are mainly focused on emerging markets and expanding their product lines. In the event that organisations begin targeting similar set opportunities, they risk bringing upcompetitive intensity for themselves, which increases the cost of growth. The cost of business will be noticeable when considering marketing speed, media inflation, the rate of innovation and trade spend in marketing, all of which are indicators of completion intensity. Improvements in supply chain efficiency, optimising strategies in marketing and extracting the best of return on investments from promotions by organisations also indicates competition intensity. Costs, competition and the ability to differentiate are some of the main determining factors of competition. Importantly, these are all tied up within uncertainty mitigation. However, despite the fact that internal integration has a positive direct and indirect effect on the postponement practice, mass customisation capability is created by SMEs of food industry, in addition to its direct effect upon both supplier integration and customer integration. Customer integration has also been found to improve postponement practice as well as mass customisation capability in a direct fashion. Supplier integration has a significant impact on postponement practice; however, it seems not significantly associated positively with mass customisation capability. Moreover, postponement practice also has an effect in mitigating demand uncertainty, both directly and indirectly, through mass customisation capability. Finally, mass customisation capability similarly has been found to enhance demand uncertainty mitigation. Research indicates that the direct and indirect effects of all constructs increase when there is intense competition in Hajj.