Abstract: Product quality decisions are influenced by market demand. Postponement production can clarify market demand. This paper studies the influence of demand uncertainty and customer churn rate on the production timing and quality selection decisions of short life cycle products. Results show that: when the customer churn rate is less than a certain threshold, if demand uncertainty is low, the enterprise immediately produces standard products; if demand uncertainty is medium, the enterprise delays the production of differentiation products; if demand uncertainty is high, the enterprise delays the production of standard products. When the customer churn rate is greater than the other threshold, if demand uncertainty is low, the enterprise immediately produces differentiation products; if demand uncertainty is medium, the enterprise delays the production of standard products; if demand uncertainty is high, the enterprise delays the production of differentiation products. When the customer churn rate is between two thresholds, the decision of the enterprise is related to the relative values of the two thresholds.

Key words: production timing, quality selection, short-life-cycle, demand uncertainty, customer churn rate