Abstract
Many firms’ products fail not because they are poorly designed. They fail because firms do not successfully manage their products over time. This chapter introduces the product life cycle theory, which divides the life of the product into four major stages (Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline) and discusses its design implications. Subsequently, Ansoff’s Growth Matrix is used to illustrate how firms can extend the life of growing and mature products. The chapter leverages Beats Electronics’ design strategy to illustrate the intricacies of the product life cycle.
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Notes
- 1.
The statistics for the premium headphone industry was extracted from the New Product Development website. The report in question can be accessed here: https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/blog/2015/summers-end-no-match-for-stereo-headphone-sales/.
- 2.
Market share information on Beats Electronics was extracted from this website: http://www.statisticbrain.com/headphone-industry-market-share-statistics/.
- 3.
Market share information on the premium headphones category was extracted from this website: http://hometheaterreview.com/trying-to-beat-beats-in-the-headphone-category-remains-a-challenge.
- 4.
A detailed version of the Arm & Hammer baking soda story can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/16/business/baking-soda-maker-strikes-again.html?pagewanted=all.
- 5.
The Nestle Lancaster story can be found here: http://www.businessinsider.com/hersheys-new-lancaster-caramels-2013-10.
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Chen, S. (2019). The Product Life Cycle and Product Design. In: The Design Imperative. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78568-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78568-4_9
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