Every product seems to go through a life cycle.

This product life cycle presents two major challenges:

1. Because all products eventually decline, a firm must be good at developing new products to replace aging ones (the challenge of new-product development).

2. The firm must be good at adapting its marketing strategies in the face of changing tastes, technologies, and competition as products pass through life-cycle stages (the challenge of product life-cycle strategies).

 

NEW-PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

A firm can obtain new products in two ways.

1. Acquisition—by buying a whole company, a patent, or a license to produce someone else’s product.

2. New-product development efforts.