Product Lifecycles
McDonald's Corporation Overview
of Product Design, Development and Product Lifecycles
McDonald's Corporation relies on the intersection of continual product design innovations, new product development, and an extensive supply chain and strategic sourcing system to continually fuel the development of new menu items globally. Their approach to product design, product lifecycle management, and the different issues pertaining to product development they manage are explained in this analysis.
Product design is applied to the decision-making process within McDonald's using an accelerated New Product Development and Introduction (NPDI) process that allows for the company to continually keep their new product pipeline moving forward. This NPDI process is tightly integrated to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems of record and the continual in-bound information from supply chain management (SCM), pricing and procurement systems so a 360-degree view of the new product design process is achieved (Martin, 2002). In this way the product design can be more defined…...
mlaReferences
Hickey, K. (2004). McDonald's tall order. Traffic World, (0041073), 1-10.
Hoffman, W. (2006). There Lovin' Logistics. Traffic World, (0041073), 1-20.
Martin, R. (2002). Keep your eye on supply side ball when swinging for a new-product home run. Nations Restaurant News, 36(27), 25-26.
Petrak, L. (2005). Shining the golden arches. National Provisioner, (0027996), 60-61,64-65,68-69,72-73.
This practically also pays big dividends for manufacturers as they continue to strive to keep their Energy STA Compliance ratings on products, leading to lower costs for power supply, electrical system integration and less product wear due to more efficient use of energy. Studies also indicate that Energy STA compliance, when designed in as part of the DfE initiatives in a PLM system, can have an exceptionally high accumulative impact as well (Preston, 2001).
Integrating DfE into PLM frameworks then not only alleviates the unnecessary and often high costs of noncompliance to federal and global mandates, this integration has also been shown to reduce the net amount of new product components necessary, further creating higher levels of reliability in products over time (Mascle, Zhao, 2008).
There are many additional benefits to integrating DfE product development practices into the broader PLM frameworks manufacturers use for designing, launching, managing and discontinuing products. The…...
mlaReferences
Abramovici, M. (2007). Future trends in product lifecycle management (plm). Springer-Verlag Publishing, London, UK. (pp. 665-674).
Mike Adami-Sampson. (2007, February). Design for environmental compliance. Control Engineering, 54(2), 12-14.
Vidhi A Chaudhri. (2006). Organising Global CSR: A Case Study of Hewlett-Packard's e-inclusion Initiative*. The Journal of Corporate Citizenship,(23), 39-51.
Deathe, A., MacDonald, E., & Amos, W.. (2008). E-waste Management Programmes and the Promotion of Design for the Environment: Assessing Canada's Contributions. Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, 17(3), 319-334.
Making the most of the differentiation available in an entirely new product, in addition to introducing an entirely new product generation will lead to new markets potentially is the strategic objective. The growth phase of the product lifecycle concentrates on getting sales to increase, increasing trial and use of the specific network component, working with distributors and dealers to more illustrate the performance advantages, and also concentrate on the opportunities for earning gross margins through the channels of distribution as well. The maturation process is one where the products are typically competed against based on price, and this is certainly the case with network components. In the case of routers and switches, the basic functionality is evaluated first by customers to make sure the specific product will meet their needs, yet price and availability are what typically win sales in this phase of the product lifecycle. Finally, the harvesting…...
mlaBibliography
Burkett, M (2006) Use Suppliers at All Phases of NPDI to Improve Product
Launch. AMR Research Alert. May 10, 2006. Accessed from the AMR Research website on December 11, 2007.
For second-tier PC manufacturers this is the phase of the product lifecycle where pricing becomes the competitive weapon of choice, and in many cases, the other aspects of the marketing mix are ignored. Pricing as the only differentiator used during this phase often impacts the largest, most capital-intensive vendors the greatest. Prior to their acquisition by HP, Compaq was well-known for having one of the highest cost structures in the industry, which inevitably lead Compaq to offer price protection on inventories that are obsoleted due to lack of sales through distribution channels (Lee, Padmanabhan, Taylor, and Whang 2000).
The next phase of the product lifecycle is typically called the maturity phase. For products that have been successfully launched and nurtured through their lifecycles, this is the phase where sales are at their peak, the cost per customer is low, and as costs of the products' development have been covered in…...
mlaReferences
Barry L. Bayus (1998). An analysis of product lifetimes in a technologically dynamic industry. Management Science, 44(6), 763-775. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 32306221).
Jim Burruss, Dorothea Kuettner. (2002). Forecasting for short-lived products: Hewlett-Packard's journey. The Journal of Business Forecasting Methods & Systems, 21(4), 9-14. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 305703281).
George Deltas, Eleftherios Zacharias. (2006). Entry order and pricing over the product cycle: The transition from the 486 to the Pentium processor. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 24(5), 1041. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1152034371).
Mika Gabrielsson, VH Manek Kirpalani, Reijo Luostarinen. (2002). Multiple channel strategies in the European personal computer industry. Journal of International Marketing, 10(3), 73-95. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 212269951).
Operations
The Impact of the Product Lifecycle on Supply Chain Management
The management of the supply chain is an important element of operations. The supply chain configuration, including issues such as make or buy decisions, as well as type of supply chain deliveries, needs to match the products that are being supplied and may be heavily influenced by the lifecycle stage, and the type of demand and production that emerges during the different stages (Aitken et al., 2003). To consider this it is necessary first to look at the product lifecycle and then at how it may impact on the supply chain management,
The lifecycle is traditionally presented as having five stages; development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013). The development stage is the stage prior to the product being released on the market, the introduction is the time when the product reaches the market and sales start, but are…...
mlaReferences
Aitken, James; Childerhouse, Paul; Towill, Denis, (2003), The impact of product life cycle on supply chain strategy, International Journal of Production Economics, 85, 127 -- 140
Fisher, M., (1997), What is the right supply chain for your product? Harvard Business Review 75, 105 -- 116
Kotler, K, Armstrong, (2013), Principles of Marketing, Pearson
Applying the Stages of the Product Lifecycle to Household Moving
Applying the Stages of the Project Lifecycle to Household Moving
In defining the processes and steps involved in moving a household there are many comparisons possible to managing a highly complex project as well. The project management frameworks and sequence of steps is comparable between moving even the simplest household vs. completing a commercial or private project. The goal of this paper is to apply the stage of project lifecycles to moving a household. As with any successful project, the most foundational step is to ensure everyone has the same set of expectation and that objectives are defined in common terms everyone can understand. Project lifecycles are the most successful when there is a very clear series of expectations and requirements shared across all teams (Pasian, Sankaran, Boydell, 2012). The most successful projects are those that set attainable, realistic and clearly defined…...
mlaReferences
Cagle, Ron F.. (1990). Controlling Projects by Life Cycles. American Association of Cost Engineers. Transactions of the American Association of Cost Engineers, I.5.1.
Ali Jaafari. (2000). Life-cycle project management: A proposed theoretical model for development and implementation of capital projects. Project Management Journal, 31(1), 44-52.
Khang, D., & Moe, T.. (2008). Success Criteria and Factors for International Development Projects: A Life-Cycle-Based Framework. Project Management Journal, 39(1), 72-84.
Pasian, B., Sankaran, S., & Boydell, S. (2012). Project management maturity: A critical analysis of existing and emergent factors. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 5(1), 146-157.
Strategic Review -- Simulation
A 4-year strategic review of the Company's X5, X6 and X7 Tablets has been requested by Sally. The strategic review contains product, financial and market reviews for all 3 products over the 4-year period from 2011 -- 2014. As the report will show, the X5 behaved admirably but is now in shakeout, the X6 continues to perform best of all the products and the X7 has performed horribly in all 4 years. Consequently, I recommend discontinuing the X5 and X7 and allocating R&D and other resources to the X6 for 2015.
Generally in 2011, the cumulative profit score is $81,571,138. The X5 costs more than most other products in its category and last year it was in the growth phase of the product lifecycle. The performance of the X6 is better than that of competing tablets (Sun, Tablet Development Sim - View Summary, n.d.).
A. A review of the…...
Peer Discussion I agree with your assessment related to the value of pricing and its important within the overall business dynamic. Here, the right pricing is critical to not only generating adequate revenue, but pricing is also used to articulate a compelling value proposition to the consumer. Here, pricing can be used as a psychological indication of value to the consumer. Higher priced items for example, are often associated with higher quality products, even if this is not the case. Likewise, lower priced items are often seen as lower in value, which again could be an incorrect assumption. I also agree with you assertion that different markets require different pricing models. Certain markets such as the United States and Europe can absorb higher price increases, while developed markets may be unable to properly do so. It is critical for pricing to adequate reflect the ability of the consumer to pay…...
Product Costing systems (ABC, job costing, put costing, .) advanced topic managerial accounting the thesis statemenit a position body paper show evidence support position. The paper discuss opposite point view discuss position valid.
Product costing systems
Product costing system is a management tool which identifies the actual cost of producing each product. It identifies the profits and loss which can be gained or incurred on each product, hence giving companies the opportunity of identifying and promoting of profitable product while dropping, re-pricing or redesigning of unprofitable products Brierley, 2008.
Product costing is a highly sensitive area for managerial accountants, recently, most of them have changed their focus such that they give their attention to appropriate treatment costs which are directly associated with resources that are committed to support activities, which within the company do not vary proportionally to production once the initial capacities have been set. In such as an event, it is…...
mlaReferences
Brierley, J.A. (2008). Toward an Understanding of the Sophistication of Product Costing Systems. [Article]. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 20, 61-78.
Brierley, J.A. (2010). The determinants of overhead assignment sophistication in product costing systems. [Article]. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance (Wiley), 21(4), 69-75. doi: 10.1002/jcaf.20597
Brierley, J.A. (2011). A Comparison of the Product Costing Practices of Large and Small- to Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Survey of British Manufacturing Firms. [Article]. International Journal of Management, 28(4), 184-193.
Drudy, & M. Tayles. (2005). The British Accounting Review Explicating the design of overhead absorption procedures in UK organizations, 37(1), 47 -- 84.
The strengths of this model are that early iterations of the projects are the least costly and enables the highest risk to be addressed at the least overall cost ensuring upon increase of costs a decrease in risks and secondly that each iteration of the spiral may be custom made to satisfy the needs within the project. Weaknesses in this model are the ambiguous natured milestones, activities performed in parallel are subject to miscommunications and mistaken assumptions and unplanned interdependence is a factor that can create problems.
The "Staged-Delivery" Lifecycle Model
The deliverables in this model are covered in the early stages of the project. In this form of the lifecycle the design is "broken into deliverable stages for detailed design, coding, testing and deployment." The strengths in this model is that it can put useful functionality into the hands of customers earlier than were the project delivered by the project…...
mlaBibliography
Project Lifecycle Models: How they Differ and when to use them (2004) Ebusiness [Online at www.business-esolutions.com/islm.htm.
Expert Project Management (2005) Edmund Fish Online available at: www.maxwideman.com/guests/plc/intro.htm
Project Management Wisdom (2005) A Generic Third Level model" Online available http:/ / maxwideman.com/guiests/plc/model.htm/
The strategy would prove successful in assisting the rapid proliferation of the Norton Antivirus packages. Accordingly, ikipedia (2010) reports that "Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, a related product, held a 61% U.S. retail market share for security suites as of the first half of 2007." (ikipedia, 1) In addition to casting a dominant shadow over its sector of the technology industry, this would make Symantec a leading developer of antivirus technologies.
Maturity:
The maturation of Norton Antivirus is marked both by the annual or multi-annual release of newer or more refined versions of its software. A constant research and development phase is required so that Norton can remain abreast of advances amongst hackers and developers of malware, spyware and viruses. This is demonstrated by continual re-release of the Norton packages. According to available research, "Existing users of the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 versions can upgrade to the latest 2010…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Fisher, L.M. (1990). Company News; Symantec to Acquire Peter Norton. The New York Times.
NetMBA. (2007). The Product Life Cycle. Business Knowledge Center. Online at http://www.netmba.com/marketing/product/lifecycle/
Wikipedia. (2010). Norton Antivirus. Wikimedia, Ltd. Inc.
PLC
Product Life Cycle
When we talk about the strongest multinational companies of the world then Nestle is definitely one of the names that triggers in everyone's mind. Nestle is the world's No.1 food manufacturing company. Nestle is a Swiss multinational company whose product are available almost in every part of the world. Most of the Nestle products are in a market leading position. Nestle company was established in 1866 and since that day, it has proved itself as one the leading companies of the world with its improved quality, innovative ideas of marketing and attractive packaging (Nestle, 2007).
Nestle launched its first juice in 1996 and since then it has spread its product largely. The consumers' response to the flavored juices of the Nestle Company was upbeat. This further strengthened the position of the Nestle Company in the market as the unbeatable leader. Later on, the company innovate the product with the…...
mlaReferences
Franzen, G., & Moriarty, S. (2009). The Science and Art of Branding. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.
Jennings, M.M. (2012). Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H., & Zentes, J. (2009). Strategic International Management. Wiesbaden: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Gabler.
Nestle, M. (2007). Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley, Calif. [u.a.]: Univ. Of California Press.
Tablets
The Market Lifecycle
The best way to see into the future is precisely the one that we have been allowed to experiment with for this exercise: A time machine that takes us to an assigned point, lets us look around at the things that are the most relevant to us, and then returns us safely to our chronological point of departure without having undermined the entire space-time continuum. The analysis that we have performed for this assignment has provided us a model for the ways in which a product can realistically be assessed, even when our time machine is in for repairs.
This analysis is specific to the data that we have been given for this exercise; however, the overall dynamics of the market explored here are relevant to the sale of electronics in general and to a not-insignificant degree to all markets that are keyed to novelty, which is to say…...
mlaReferences
Evans, M. (2012). The PLM Debate. Retrieved from http://www.cambashi.com/the-plm-debate-outsourcing-upsets-the-it-integration-pillars .
Karniel, A. & Reich, Y. (2011). Managing the dynamic of new product development processes. A new product lifecycle management paradigm. New York: Springer.
elevance and Application of the Product Life Cycle Concept in Budgeting
Company and business unit budgets often lend financial expression to strategy, inspire managers to attain generally understood targets and offer a logical framework for the analysis of outcomes. On the other hand, many companies suffer from badly conceived or incompetent budgeting processes which do not inspire accomplishment of targets and are of little value for operational management (Corporate Budgeting, n.d.).
Life cycle budgeting comprises approximations of a product's revenues and expenses over its complete life cycle starting with research and development, going through the introduction and growth stages, into the maturing stage, and in conclusion into the harvest or decline stage. Life cycle budgeting adopts a life cycle approach. It is planned to account for the expenses at all stages of the value chain. This knowledge is significant for pricing choices because revenues must cover expenses acquired in each stage of…...
mlaReferences
Corporate Budgeting. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2011, from Web site:
http://www.pwc.com/en_UA/ua/assets/pwc_corporate_budgeting_eng.pdf
Product Life Cycle. (2011). Retrieved February 26, 2011, from Web site:
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Op-Qu/Product-Life-Cycle.html
Outsystems
Technology and Product eview for Application Lifecycle Management Tools: OutSystems
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools are important for ensuring software quality and trustworthiness. They track applications throughout their entire lifecycle, from requirements definition and design to development, testing, execution and maintenance (Search Software Quality, n.d.). ALM also entails documenting and tracking modifications to applications. This ensures all software components meet the acceptable configuration requirements all through an application's whole lifecycle. More importantly, using ALM software can minimise time to market, enhance collaboration across the software development process, increase compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards, and enhance project visibility and stability (Search Software Quality, n.d.). With growing operations, it is important for Aberdeen Software to adopt a suitable ALM tool, particularly against the backdrop of increased cyber security risk. The organisation must ensure its software products are properly configured and of the expected quality.
There are numerous ALM tools out there in…...
mlaReferences
Capterra (2016). Outsystems. Retrieved from: management-software/spotlight/103549/OutSystems%20Platform/OutSystemshttp://www.capterra.com/application-lifecycle -
GetApp (2017). OutSystems pricing, features, reviews & comparison of alternatives. Retrieved from: platform/#questionshttps://www.getapp.com/it-management-software/a/outsystems -
OutSystems (n.d.). Platform overview. Retrieved from: https://www.outsystems.com/platform/#_
Search Software Quality (n.d.). Application lifecycle management tools: a buyer's guide to ALM software. Retrieved from: management-tools-A-buyers-guide-to-ALM-softwarehttp://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/buyersguide/Application-lifecycle -
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