Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Alternative Product Life Cycle Patterns

The product life cycle theory has its share of critics, who claim that life cycle patterns are too variable in shape and duration to be generalized and that marketers can seldom tell what stage their product is in. A product may appear mature when it has actually reached a plateau prior to another upsurge. Critics also charge that, rather than an inevitable course, the product life cycle pattern is the self-fulfilling result of marketing strategies and that skillful marketing can in fact lead to continued growth.52

Not all products exhibit a bell-shaped product life cycle pattern.53 Three common alternative patterns are shown in Figure 17.3. Figure 17.3(a) shows a growth–slump–maturity pattern, which is ...