Bombardier operates out of Montreal, Quebec, a province known for receiving sweetheart taxation leniency from the federal government, and subsidies galore. For this reason, Quebec is home to many manufacturing companies, from fashion to, well, airplanes. This advantage has no doubt given Bombardier a leg up on competing in the world scene, but even this advantage is not enough to fend off an increasingly competitive, dog eat dog market.
It has come out that Bombardier is low on cash, and it's last ditch project, a larger than usual(by Bombardier standards)plane, is way over budget, and has had serious technical issues in development. This has led to a deficiency in orders, where their current book of orders is just over 200, but they need to hit 300. Bombardier is almost out of time, and should they fail to make this project a success, the company will be in big trouble indeed, likely needing to radically downsize, quickly.
Bombardier isn't the only one, Quebec's other industry, clothing and fashion, is struggling too, with manufacturer after manufacturer declaring bankruptcy or downsizing. lululemon outlet locations Chains like Reitmans, which own Smart Set and Le Chateau, among others, are closing stores and ramping down operations, trying to find the "right size" to remain profitable.
In Vancouver, one of its darling companies, Lululemon, has certainly seen its brand take a beating lately, due to serious quality control issues and public displays of arrogance by its owners. As much as Vancouverites loved their Lulu, this didn't play well, and has cost Lululemon market share, forcing the owners to sell the company and step aside. lululemon outlet online My wife was a die hard Lululemon customer, but no more. Her experience is similar to many women, low quality clothing sold at a premium, then when she took it back, Lululemon made excuse after excuse, never admitting fault. She was given replacements, but all had the same defects, and the sales people tried to upsell her as a "solution."
It's the handling of customers like this which can quickly turn a strong brand into a dead brand. My wife has now discovered there are many competing brands to Lululemon, some of which offer higher quality products for far less money. She'll never go back to Lululemon, and she's representative of thousands of former Lulu customers.
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