Abstract
An empirical examination of the product variety management in Brazilian bus body manufacturer
Highlights
Today, the increasing variety of products offered to customers has emerged as a major trend (Wang et al, 2008; Stäblein et al, 2011), and great academic interest has developed in the effects and consequences of product variety on production systems
Balakrishnan e Chakravarty (2008), Vaagen e Wallace (2008), Murthy et al (2009), and Zhang e Huang (2010) reported that product variety refers to variations in product attributes and/or characteristics that allow for different product configurations
The automotive sector was selected due to its economic importance (e.g. the automotive industry represented more than 22% of industrial GDP in Brazil and its total revenue is estimated at US$ 46.9 billion in 2006 (Anfavea, 2016)), its operation in a high product variety volume environment its complex and expensive products (Aoki et al, 2013) and due to the fact it has been at the forefront of many managerial and industrial developments throughout the world (Pires, 1998; Thun & Hoenig, 2011)
Summary
The increasing variety of products offered to customers has emerged as a major trend (Wang et al, 2008; Stäblein et al, 2011), and great academic interest has developed in the effects and consequences of product variety on production systems. Product variety is an effective strategy to increase market share because it enables a firm to serve heterogeneous market segments and to satisfy consumer’s variety seeking behavior (Tang & Yam, 1996). These can involve differences in product features, packaging, or channels of distribution. These marketing strategies should result in sales growth or higher prices, and presumed profit, gained by meeting more specialized demands (Berry & Cooper, 1999). It is generally accepted that a proliferation of products results in deterioration in manufacturing / logistics performance (Kim et al, 2005), what can result in higher forecast errors, excessive inventory for some products, shortages for others and higher costs (Thonemann, 2002)
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