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.
The Development Stage, for me, is the most important stage. This is the stage where products are conceptualized, designed, and developed. This is also the same stage where companies need to assess what we will lose if we do not introduce this product to the market rather the the gains the company will get when the product is introduced. Although at this stage no sales occurs and no profit it gained, it costs are incurred for research, design, and planning. This stage also determines whether it will be profitable for the company to launch the product to the market or not.
I find it a bit difficult to pinpoint one stage as the most important one. No stage exist without the other. But for he sake of this question, I would say that the development stage is the most important stage. Reason been that this where a lot of investment into the product takes place. If the product is not developed properly, meeting all requirements, launching it into the market becomes a difficult task.
Adedamola18
Growth is the very important stage in the product life cycle. I choose that because after the product as been Introduced to the market it’s growth that will determine the remaining levels , the market can not fail from the development stage and the introduction stage because it as more energy at the beginning, it’s the way one keep that energy that determine how fast and developing the product will be.
In my own opinion “Introduction stage” is the most important stage in product life cycle. This is because its lays the foundation for the product success and also failure. It also make it first impression in this stage. A successful ” Introduction ” lead to a strong growth while poor Introduction launch can doom a product
Adedamola18
Growth is the very important stage in the product life cycle. I choose that because after the product as been been Introduced to the market it’s growth that will determine the remaining levels , the market can not fail from the development stage and the introduction stage because it as more energy at the beginning, it’s the way one keep that energy that determine how fast and developing the product will be.