The Importance Of Product Life Cycle

As a marketing major, I have always studied the product life cycle from the aspect of marketing a new brand, building brand resonance, experiencing saturation and decline. The theory as it applies to the international economy tells us that a product will be manufactured in the area of its invention during the beginning phase. A maturing product will be exported to other areas and other countries, which will begin to reproduce the item. Once this process begins, the product will be mass produced in the area with competitive/comparative advantage. This moves the manufacturing out of the area of origin. The labor force in the area of origin is then free to focus on other goods or services. Throughout the book, The Choice, we are told that US workers stopped making televisions so they could develop drugs. Or at least, that is the over-arching theme, but a very simplistic explanation. In Chapter Five, Dave explains that Proctor & Gamble became an international powerhouse because its engineers are constantly innovating and developing new product lines that they export around the world. If the line isn’t a winner for them, they get out of that business. The book somehow ties this success to the fact that Japanese imports ran Jack Clements’ Ford dealership out of business. Again, this is a very simplistic connection …show more content…
On page 29 we are told that the inhabitants of Clarksville retired or moved to where there were new jobs once the economy declined due to imports shutting down the auto factory. As we discussed in our discussion question earlier in the course, this is similar to the circumstances facing many small manufacturing towns in North Carolina over the last twenty years. Many plants have shut down and many people lost their jobs. Their children could no longer rely on working for the same company their parents and grandparents had. Did all these workers retire or move to where new jobs