Research some product failures that have affected companies in the past and have cost them a substantial amount of money and may also have adversely affected their market reputation, tarnishing their brands.
Research the web and pick one such product failure for a Fortune 500 company and describe this failure. NOTE: A product failure, not a “company” failure such as Blockbuster and not a “discontinued” product because of a failed part, such as the Ford Pinto which was in production and sold for ten years but was discontinued because of a faulty fuel system and placement of its gas tank. At a minimum, you are expected to provide information about the company, the product, rationale for the introduction of this product, the costs associated with the product (development and losses). This is a one to two paragraph exercise – do not go overboard, concise description of the company, product and major reasons you believe it failed.
Failure Examples For Review (that you may use or not)
- McDonalds Arch Deluxe Burger
- New Coke
- Pepsi Crystal
- Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water
- HP Touchpad
- Colgate Kitchen Entrees
- Sony Betamax
- Ford Edsel
- Microsoft Zune
Not Considered Failures
- Samsung Galaxy Phone (battery failed)
- WOW Chips (profited from the product)
- Heinz Colored Ketchup (profited from the product)
I recommend the use of several sources (references and citations), in APA format, to support your position.
Remember this is a one to two paragraph exercise – do not go overboard – a few hours research and summation is all that’s required. I am interested in your a concise description of the project and the major reasons you believe (from your research) the product failed. There are a lot of web sites about product failure (not company failure) with brief articles. Please don’t just repeat (word-smith) those types of articles. Do the research.
Synthesize your one-paragraph position on what 3-5 specific factors you believe most likely to contribute to capital project analysis failure.
