Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Concept of the Product Lifecycle. Choose Some Case Studies Familiar to You. How Does the Theory of the Product Lifecycle Drive Marketing Strategy in These Cases?
Title: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of the product lifecycle. Choose some case studies familiar to you. How does the theory of the product lifecycle drive marketing strategy in these cases?
With the development of technology and the evolution of society, the competition of market has become more and more intense. This phenomenon drives the new ideas of products to come up constantly and makes the time gap become extremely short between the launch and the decline of new products. At the same time, the rate of elimination of a new product is going to increase.
In 1966, Prof. Raymond Vernon released the Product Lifecycle (PLC) theory in ‘International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle’. The product lifecycle refers to the four stages in the life of a product which are : introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Raymond Vernon, 1966) This theory has some advantages to help company in developing its product marketing strategy, but the product manager or company operator must find out their target customer group and understand the demand level of their products.
Although the PLC theory might have its weakness or not fit in certain products, it indicates the different level of visibility during the four stages and help the enterprise make the strategy clearly and precisely as well. The purpose of this paper is to explain and evaluate what the strengths and weaknesses of PLC are, why use PLC theory, and how the theory affects marketing strategy.
Product lifecycle consists of four stages. In the first stage, the Introduction Stage, new product is just released and enters the market with almost no visibility so that the number of sales is extremely low. Advertisement and sales promotion cost almost account for the most part of the total expense and there is no profit in this stage. (Porter, 1980; 1985; Kotler et al., 1996; Blackwell et al., 2001; Grant, 2002; Kotler and Armstrong, 2004).
The second stage of
With the development of technology and the evolution of society, the competition of market has become more and more intense. This phenomenon drives the new ideas of products to come up constantly and makes the time gap become extremely short between the launch and the decline of new products. At the same time, the rate of elimination of a new product is going to increase.
In 1966, Prof. Raymond Vernon released the Product Lifecycle (PLC) theory in ‘International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle’. The product lifecycle refers to the four stages in the life of a product which are : introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Raymond Vernon, 1966) This theory has some advantages to help company in developing its product marketing strategy, but the product manager or company operator must find out their target customer group and understand the demand level of their products.
Although the PLC theory might have its weakness or not fit in certain products, it indicates the different level of visibility during the four stages and help the enterprise make the strategy clearly and precisely as well. The purpose of this paper is to explain and evaluate what the strengths and weaknesses of PLC are, why use PLC theory, and how the theory affects marketing strategy.
Product lifecycle consists of four stages. In the first stage, the Introduction Stage, new product is just released and enters the market with almost no visibility so that the number of sales is extremely low. Advertisement and sales promotion cost almost account for the most part of the total expense and there is no profit in this stage. (Porter, 1980; 1985; Kotler et al., 1996; Blackwell et al., 2001; Grant, 2002; Kotler and Armstrong, 2004).
The second stage of
References: Raymond Vernon. (1966). ‘International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 80, No. 2 (May, 1966), pp. 190-207. The MIT Press. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1880689 (accessed on16 March 2009). iPhone Product Life Cycle http://www.collegeessaysamples.org/product-life-cycle-iphone/ Raymond Vernon. (1979) ‘The Product Cycle Theory ‘, The Wright State University Press. Available at http://www.wright.edu/~tdung/product_cycle.htm (accessed on21 August 2013). Louis T. Wells, JR. (1968) ‘A Product Life Cycle for International Trade ‘, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 32 (July, 1968), pp. 1-6. American Marketing Association. Available at http://wenku.baidu.com/view/0a0d6c1f6bd97f192279e90c.html Porter, M.E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press. Porter, M.E. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: Free Press.