Managing Products Along Life

Cycle
Dr.Sanjay Patro

Agenda
Different stages of PLC
Competition in different Stages and Challenges
Pros and Cons of being a Pioneer
Pros and cons of being a Follower
Knowing where are you in the PLC
Limitations of PLC Concept

Product Life Cycle

Different stages of PLC
Challenges Before the Pioneers
Diffusion of Innovative Products

Adopter Categories

Challenges before the Pioneers

What are the Challenges before the Pioneers?

This season there is something at the seaside

worse than sharks,
declared a newspaper in 1890
in1893andtheetiquetteofbeingphotographedbya
womanhadnotyetbeenestablished.Female
photographerswerenicknamed'Kodakfiends.'

Adopter Categories
Innovators
Early Adopters
Early Majority
Late Majority
Laggards

Whataretheadvantagesof
beingaPioneer?

First Mover Advantages

1. Experience Effects
2. Patents as barriers
3. Access to best of the resources
4. Switching Costs as Barriers
5. Market share penalty for later entrants

Ideas, messages and products spread like virus

after a point
Malcom Gladwell

The Tipping Point-It is the moment of critical

mass or the threshold.
Value of the first fax machine

Free Rider Effects

1. Lower Costs of Incubating the Market
2. Technological Leapfrogging

3. Learning from others Mistakes

Options before pioneers

1. Obtain Patents

2. Match/Surpass Product features of followers

3. Do what the imitators are planning to do

Agenda
Different stages of PLC
Competition in different Stages and Challenges
Pros and Cons of being a Pioneer
Pros and cons of being a Follower
Knowing where are you in the PLC

Product/Service Bundle for products that

requires maintenance and repair support

In which industries sale of spare parts and after

sale support far exceeds the sale of product itself ?

Managers need to focus on the profitability in its

entire PLC than at the time of transaction

Strategies to tap into stream of after sale profits

Howdoyoudecidewhatstageoflifecycle
yourproductisin?

Different Levels of Product

Product Category Level

Product Form Level

Product Brand Level

What is happening to PLC over a period of

time?

Case of Scissors

Criticism of the Concept

1. Not an independent variable
2. What is the product-market for analysis
3. Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Product Managers shouldnt blindly plan their marketing

strategy around the classic PLC.
it is not unusual for products to gain second lives or
even reincarnation.
Number of PLC Patterns have been found

Exploit The Product Life CycleTheodre Levitt, HBR 1965

Forget the Product Life Cycle

Thank You