Product Life Cycle

Introduction A product goes through a life cycle, called the Product Life Cycle, in which it goes through four stages. These four stages are Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. The product may have a very short life, associated with fads (yo-yo, hula hoop) or some may have exhibited a very long life cycle, (refrigerators) because of how useful they may be. Some ay even have a ‘repeat’ life cycle (bell bottom pants). All product have gone through or still in their Product Life Style.

Instructions You are to do a web quest type search on a product and figure out it’s Product Life Cycle. The product may still be in its life cycle (i.e. credit card is in its maturity stage; and the check book is in its decline stage)

You are to look up dates of particular products and try to figure out the four stages of its product life. Key questions to ask yourself: When was it first invented? What other products are similar and may cause for its demise? (i.e. the 8 track tape and the cassette tape) Try to find the peak sales of the product.

Once you’ve found all your information, put it into a time line telling us when you think this product was in the different stages. Be ready to defend you findings with facts and resources.

Helpful Hints Go to a search engine like: http://www.ask.com http://www.answers.com and then look up the history of the product. You may also want to look up “examples of product life cycle”

Standards to be covered: 1.L 4.I 6.H 13.J 4.J 13.K This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0402616. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0402616. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Science Foundation (NSF).