What do you think is the most important stage in a product’s life cycle?
The product life cycle (2021)
Now that you have covered the basics of the product life cycle, complete the following exercise.
Instructions: Determining the most important stage in the cycle
- Reflect on what you think is the most important stage in this cycle.
- Write your answer in the discussion below, and explain why you think your chosen PLC stage is the most important.
- Try to find a real-world example that you can use in answering this. It might be an example from your professional experience or one you’ve found elsewhere.
- Reflect on at least one of comments from random learners below. Do you agree with their response? How do their experiences differ from yours?
Molly Campbell
What comes to mind as the most important stage for me is the decline stage. With the ever changing tech landscape, I feel that apps/websites etc have such a difficult task of staying relevant. Social media apps are what I thought of in this situation. Apps/sites such as Facebook or Instagram are now competing with SnapChat and TikTok, so both have updated their functions to include more video and filters, etc to be relevant in that market. They are trying extremely hard to prevent their decline and become obsolete. I do agree with others that development is very important as well, and the example I gave may have to go back to the development stage in a sense to redesign and update things to meet consumer demands.
Christina Bek Larsen
As it is a cycle, I find it very difficult to point to one stage as the most important one. One stage doesn’t exist without the previous one, I suppose. I think each stage requires something specific from the PM. With competition and evolving needs in mind, I am thinking about the growth stage as being a tricky stage. To keep relevant and ensure your rpoduct is growing seems like a challenge.
Ibukun Oni
I think the “Development stage” is the most important phase because if the right product is not developed to meet the needs of customers, then efforts during the other stages become futile.
I recall developing a digital product, the first assignment of the project team was to ensure that the product met the needs of our customers.
Chibuzo Anazodo
I think the Development stage is the most important because that is where you figure out what fits your consumers needs as well as trends in your industry to adapt or avoid to build a product that will thrive through all stages and still remain relevant after Maturity.
Peter Scheinsohn
I would say introduction, is most important step in the product life cycle. Even, if product was properly developed, but not good enough introduced and advertised or not clear enough introduced for which group it is, it will significantly influence its further growth. However, i also agree that proper development stage and growth stage are also very important, but good start (“introduction”) is vital in my humble opinion.
To me, all the stages are very important as the mistake made in any of the stages can only be discovered at the maturity stage which is crucial to the durability of the product in the market before it begins to decline.
Dangote company as a notable case study, started with the buying and selling of household necessities. The first product launched was Dangote cement which became known in Nigeria. The product was meticulously sustained at the growth level making the product continually remain in the market. At the maturity stage, the company started to divert into household commodities until nearly is there a Dangote product that was not purchased by a family. This delayed the decline stage or rather transposed into the growth of another product which in turn has given the company continuous recognition and consistent demand for its product.
From my observation, the growth stage is the most crucial for continuous satisfaction of the customer’s demand and expansion or name-building of the company to be forever relevant in the market.
The Introduction stage stands out for me amongst other stages in the PLC. Its forms the basis for other stages to thrive aside the development stage. it is a strategic stage as it positions the product for visibility and acceptance by its target market which in turn leads to the growth and increased sales experienced once the product has gained a strong market presence. The introduction stage is a never ending stage because as products are being rebranded, redesigned or upgraded, the announcement, advertisement, market research must be on going. For example I believe the Coca cola brand still retains its market presence despite several changes, product upgrade and popularity because they are constantly introducing their brand through advertisement and so much publicity.
I think growth stage is most important because that is where the products get to undergo changes and fits in for consumer taste before undergoing maturity and decline
The important stage for me is the development stage.A product well developed brings about the well needed growth and people’s interest in it.Using the social platforms,Whatsapp for example.With the new developments on the app,new features are added which makes it more interesting and unique.It also pique people’s interest and they will want to see more.
Although the introduction/development stage make a good cases as important stages in the product cycle, the Decline stage is a big factor that differentiates a big business from a short money making scheme.
The Decline stage allows the successes of the initial stages become even more unique. The ability to continuously extend a product life cycle beyond it’s expected endpoint requires even more hard work and creativity than required in other stages.
An example is Coca Cola, the ability to navigate the product over the years through decline periods has solidified the company to an almost eternal like level.
In my opinion, the “Development” is of most importance, the design of a product from the onset will eventually show how fortunate/unfortunate a product will decline.
For instance, during the development stage of “Apple” a lot of thoughtful innovation were considered as to enable the products of “Apple” relevant in the ‘future’ – which we are in today. Yes, I believe the view of growth stage also being a determinant factor, it comes with a lot room for improvement.
i believe the growth stage is very important, you rarely see a new product get into the market at the development stage in its perfect state but during the growth phase it must have passed thru rebranding and the current market realities giving room for a knowledge of what the decline state looks like.
I believe the most important stage is the develpmental stage,reason been that when a reasonable solution is not given to the problem , the product produced wont meet it needs and as a result of this a product might reach decline stage before reaching growth stage
In my opinion, the development stage is the most important in the product cycle. A product has to first be made to meet a need, so introducing a product that won’t meet a need will definitely not grow.
I think the development stage is the most important stage as products that are well built and will meet the consumer’s needs are what will bring profits and increase business growth on the long run. In the skin care industry for example, building the skin care products has to be done in a proper way, because if people do not need a particular product for their skin, they won’t purchase it when it’s developed even if it’s introduced to the world in a glorious way.