Product Life Cycle Theory
Raymond Vernon explained that from the invention of a product to its demise due to a lack of demand, a product goes through four stages: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The duration of these stages is not fixed. The duration of the product phases depend largely on the demand for the product in the market and, to some extent, the costs of production and the revenues that the product generates. If the product remains in demand for a long period of time and the costs of production steadily decline, the life of the product will be longer. On the other hand, if the costs of production are too high and the demand is largely limited, then the product will die sooner. Hence, it is not possible to predict the cycle's duration.