Even great products can fail when the image of the product is slandered.
Supply chain is a extremely key part to a business and can make or break products. Zara, thanks to its efficient supply chain turns all of it’s products into valuable, rare items that need to be picked up fast. However most company’s supply chain does the opposite.
As Konrad explained, Chevrolet really needs to revamp the logistics for their Volt. The product is doing very well in bringing new customers but if the car is out of stock, it gives a bad first impression to buyers. Currently “over two thousand dealerships” do not have it in stock; this is causing a huge opportunity cost and lowering customer opinion on the brand.
Chevrolet is making an effort to improve their Supply Chain. One way is with “The General Motors/Wayne State University Supply Chain Case Competition”. This might be too little too late though, their goal of 10,000 sales this year has a very slim chance of being met and their future hopes of 60,000 might be affected by the customer dissatisfaction already created. The inefficiency of their supply chain was probably not factored into their prediction of sales.