The product life cycle theory and product line management: the case of mobile phones

This paper applies the product life cycle theory to the issue of product line management with two goals in mind: 1) to understand how product line management evolves over the life of an industry and 2) to compare Klepper´s model (1986), which emphasizes economies of scale, with the traditional model of the product life cycle, which emphasizes dominant designs. We find that Klepper´s model of the product life cycle theory in combination with the concept of product line management provides a better explanation for the evolution of competition in the mobile phone industry than the traditional product life cycle model. We use Uzumeri and Sanderson´s classifications of product variety and change (Uzumeri, 1995) to generalize from the industry case.