The conditions a product is sold under will change over time. The Product Life Cycle refers to the succession of stages a product goes through. Product Life Cycle Management is the succession of strategies used by management as a product goes through its life cycle. Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. ...

The product lifecycle goes through many phases and involves many professional disciplines and requires many skills, tools and processes. Product life cycle (PLC) is to do with the life of a product in the market with respect to business/commercial costs and sales measures; whereas Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is more to do with managing descriptions and properties of a product through its development and useful life, mainly from a business/engineering point of view. The product lifecycle goes though many phases and involves many professional disciplines and requires many skills, tools and processes. ... Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. ...

The stages

A Typical Product Life Cycle

Products tend to go through five stages: Download high resolution version (1139x595, 101 KB)product life cycle File links The following pages link to this file: Product life cycle management User:Chill Pill Bill/Chill Pill Bill photo stash Categories: GFDL images ... Download high resolution version (1139x595, 101 KB)product life cycle File links The following pages link to this file: Product life cycle management User:Chill Pill Bill/Chill Pill Bill photo stash Categories: GFDL images ...

1. New product development stage
   • very expensive
   • no sales revenue
   • losses
2. Market introduction stage
   • cost high
   • sales volume low
   • no/little competition - competitive manufacturers watch for acceptance/segment growth
   • losses
   • demand has to be created
   • customers have to be prompted to try the product
3. Growth stage
   • costs reduced due to economies of scale
   • sales volume increases significantly
   • profitability
   • public awareness
   • competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market
   • prices to maximize market share
4. Mature stage
   • costs are very low as you are well established in market & no need for publicity.
   • sales volume peaks
   • increase in competitive offerings
   • prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products
   • brand differentiation, feature diversification, as each player seeks to differentiate from competition with "how much product" is offered
   • very profitable
5. Decline or Stability stage
   • costs become counter-optimal
   • sales volume decline or stabilize
   • prices, profitability diminish
   • profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales
   • consumer demand for spare parts, maintenance and or product servicing

In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. ... Look up revenue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... World GDP/capita changed very little for most of human history before the industrial revolution. ... The increase in output from Q to Q2 causes a decrease in the average cost of each unit from C to C1. ... Profitability is a technical analysis term used to compare performances of different trading systems or different investments within one system. ... Competition is the act of striving against others for the purpose of achieving gain, such as income, pride, amusement, or dominance. ...

Market evolution

Market Evolution is a process that parallels the product life cycle. As a product category matures, the industry goes through stages that mirror the five stages of a product life cycle:

1. Market Crystallization - latent demand for a product category is awakened with the introduction of the new product
2. Market Expansion - additional companies enter the market and more consumers become aware of the product category
3. Market Fragmentation - the industry is subdivided into numerous well populated competitive groupings as too many firms enter
4. Market Consolidation - firms start to leave the industry due to stiff competition, falling prices, and falling profits
5. Market Termination - consumers no longer demand the product and companies stop producing it

Market Identification

A "micro-market" can be used to describe a Walkman, more portable, as well as individually and privately recordable; and then Compact Discs ("CDs") brought increased capacity and CD-R offered individual private recording...and so the process goes. The below section on the "technology lifecycle" is a most appropriate concept in this context. Sony Walkman Official Logo (2000 — present) Various products of the Walkman line Walkman is a popular Sony brand used to market its portable audio and video players. ...

In short, termination is not always the end of the cycle; it can be the end of a micro-entrant within the grander scope of a macro-environment. The auto industry, fast-food industry, petro-chemical industry, are just a few that demonstrate a macro-environment that overall has not terminated even while micro-entrants over time have come and gone.

Technology Life Cycle

The Technology Life Cycle is closely associated with the economic potential of obtaining gain through the exploitation of a process or manufacturing system, taking into consideration such attributes of the product or process as its patents, knowhow, trademarks, and/or trade-secrets, the reputation of the proprietor of the technology and other associated intangibles. See The Technology Life Cycle. It is very important in the business For other uses, see Patent (disambiguation). ... In these times of globalization, individual enterprises and countries as a whole look beyond their boundaries and interact on a global level. ... Technology life cycle The Technology Life Cycle (TLC) is an important tool for both the developers and the acquirers of technology in the context of licensing technology. ...

Lessons of the Product Life Cycle (PLC)

It is claimed that every product has a life cycle. It is launched, it grows, at some point, may die. A fair comment is that - at least in the short term - not all products/services die. Jeans may die, but clothes probably won't. Legal services, medical services, may die, but depending on a social political climate, probably won't. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The product lifecycle goes though many phases and involves many professional disciplines and requires many skills, tools and processes. ...

Even though its validity is questionable, it can offer a useful 'model' for managers to keep at the back of their mind. Indeed, if their products are in the introductory or growth phases, or in that of decline, it perhaps should be at the front of their mind; for the predominant features of these phases may be those revolving around such life and death. Between these two extremes, it is salutary for them to have that vision of mortality in front of them. An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents something, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ...

The most important aspect of product life-cycles is, however, that - even under normal conditions - to all practical intents and purposes they often do not exist (hence, there needs to be more emphasis on model/reality mappings). In most markets the majority of the major (dominant) brands have held their position for at least two decades. The dominant product life-cycle, that of the brand leaders which almost monopolize many markets, is therefore one of continuity. The product lifecycle goes though many phases and involves many professional disciplines and requires many skills, tools and processes. ...

In the most respected criticism of the product life cycle, Dhalla & Yuspeh [cite] state;

"...clearly, the PLC is a dependent variable which is determined by market actions; it is not an independent variable to which companies should adapt their marketing programs. Marketing management itself can alter the shape and duration of a brand's life cycle."

Thus, the life cycle may be useful as a description, but not as a predictor; and usually should be firmly under the control of the marketer! The important point is that in many, if not most, markets the product or brand life cycle is significantly longer than the planning cycle of the organisations involved. It, thus, offers little of practical value for most marketers. Even if the PLC (and the related PLM support) exists for them, their plans will be based just upon that piece of the curve where they currently reside (most probably in the 'mature' stage); and their view of that part of it will almost certainly be 'linear' (and limited), and will not encompass the whole range from growth to decline. A description consists of an enumeration of the quantitative and qualitative parameters which seek to provide a definition of some thing, such as what that thing looks like, sounds like, or feels like, distinguishing one state from another and general characteristics commonly noticed which in popular culture define or distinguish... Prediction of future events is an ancient human wish. ... Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. ... For other uses, see Linear (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Product management
• New Product Development
• Software product management
• Technology lifecycle
• marketing
• products
• Planned obsolescence
• Extending the Product Life Cycle
• Product lifecycle
• Material selection
• Toolkits for User Innovation

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. ... Software product management is the process of managing software that is built and served as a product as opposed to a service // A software product is typically a single application or suite of applications built by a software company to be used by *many* customers, businesses or consumers. ... Most new technologies follow a similar technology lifecycle describing the technological maturity of a product. ... For the magazine, see Marketing (magazine). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Planned obsolescence. ... This article should belong in one or more categories. ... The product lifecycle goes though many phases and involves many professional disciplines and requires many skills, tools and processes. ... An important aspect of design for mechanical, electrical, thermal, chemical or other application is selection of the best material or materials. ... Toolkits for user innovation (the process) is a innovation process in which the user itself does part of the innovation within a set environment. ...

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• list of business theorists
• list of economists
• list of corporate leaders

This is a list of articles on general management and strategic management topics. ... This aims to be a complete list of the articles on economics. ... Topics in finance include: // Finance an overview Arbitrage Capital (economics) Capital asset pricing model Cash flow Cash flow matching Debt Default Consumer debt Debt consolidation Debt settlement Credit counseling Bankruptcy Debt diet Debt-snowball method Discounted cash flow Financial capital Funding Financial modeling Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Fixed income analysis Gap financing... Organizational studies - an overview Organizational development Management development Mentoring Coaching Job rotation Professional development Upward feedback Executive education Supervisory training leadership development leadership talent identification and management individual development planning 360 degree feedback succession planning Skills management performance improvement process improvement job enrichment Training & Development managing change and also change... Following is a list of accounting topics. ... Management information systems an overview E-business Intranet strategies Database management system Data warehousing Data mining Document warehousing Customer relationship management (CRM) Sales force management system Enterprise resource planning (ERP) Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) Business performance management Project management software Integration management Middleware Groupware and collaborative systems RSA Computer... This is a list of business law topics within the field of commercial law. ... Manufacturing and manufacturing systems manufacturing factory Craft system English system of manufacturing American system of manufacturing Mass production Batch production Just in time manufacturing Toyota Production System Lean manufacturing Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) Mass customization Theories of production Taylorism Fordism Theory of constraints Productivity Productivity benchmarking cost accounting experience curve... See business ethics, political economy and Philosophy of business for an overview. ... This is an annotated list of important business theorists. ... This is an alphabetical list of notable economists. ... List of corporate leaders: Joe Ackermann - Deutsche Bank William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook- newspaper magnate Arthur Andersen - Arthur Andersen Kunitake Ando - Sony John Jacob Astor - Fur trading and real estate Nitchell Baker - Mozilla Corporation Percy Barnevik - Investor Bernard Baruch - Financier, Investor, Presidential advisor Andy Bechtolsheim - Sun Microsystems Silvio Berlusconi...

References

• Box, J. (1983) Extending product lifetime: Prospects and opportunities, European Journal of Marketing, vol 17, 1983, pp 34-49.
• Day, G. (1981) The product life cycle: Analysis and applications issues, Journal of Marketing, vol 45, Autumn 1981, pp 60-67.
• Levitt, T. (1965) Exploit the product life cycle, Harvard Business Review, vol 43, November-December 1965, pp 81-94.
• N. K. Dhalla and S. Yuspeh, Forget the product life cycle concept, 'Harvard Business Review' (January-February 1976)

Madan

External links

• PWGSC
• Environment Canada
• ISO