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A Two‐Decade Test of Product Life Cycle Theory
Author(s) -
Mercer D.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.407
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1467-8551
pISSN - 1045-3172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8551.1993.tb00063.x
Subject(s) - marketing , product (mathematics) , product lifecycle , value (mathematics) , position (finance) , test (biology) , life cycle hypothesis , economics , element (criminal law) , work (physics) , advertising , new product development , business , political science , engineering , mathematics , macroeconomics , law , paleontology , statistics , geometry , finance , biology , mechanical engineering
SUMMARY The product life cycle (PLC) has represented a central element of marketing theory for four decades. Following its development in the 1950s, and its subsequent popularization in the 1960s, it has remained a stable feature of marketing teaching; despite evidence of its limited applicability and the growing awareness, amongst leading academics at least, of its flawed nature. This paper critically re‐examines its practical value in the light of the 20‐year history of 929 brands spread across 150 fast‐moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets in the UK. The main conclusion is that the ‘life cycle’ of the brand leaders is indeed more stable, and much longer, than some of the previous work might have suggested; and that the PLC would have predicted. As a credible aid to marketing decisions the brand life cycle is, therefore, of little value in the majority of FMCG markets ‐ and cannot justify its long‐held position as a theory that has general practical applicability across the whole field of marketing.