2-9-产品生命周期阶段、经营战略和经营绩效 Stage of the Product

^AcademyofManagementJournal1984,Vol.27,No.I,5-24.StageoftheProductLifeCycle,BusinessStrategy,andBusinessPerformance^CARLR.ANDERSONUniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHillCARLP.ZEITHAMLTexasA&MUniversityThisstudyempiricallyexaminesdifferencesinstrategicvariablesbetweenstagesoftheproductlifecycle(PLC),aswellasdifferencesamongthedeterminantsofhighper-formanceacrossstagesofthePLC.TheresultssupporttheuseofthePLCasacontingencyvariableduringstrat-egyformulation.ImplicationsforincreasingmarketshareandROIarediscussed.Foranumberofyears,businessstrategyresearchershavesearchedforaconstructorcontingencyvariablewithbroadexplanatorypower.Theat-tractivenessofthiskindofconstructisself-evident.Itwouldsimplifystrat-egyformulationandimplementation.Thissearch,however,hasledre-searchersinanumberofdifferentdirections.Someofthemorewidelyre-searchedvariablesincludeenvironmentaluncertainty(Anderson&Paine,1975),marketshare(Buzzell,Gale,&Sultan,1975),andthestageoftheproductlifecycle(Hofer,1975).Otherresearchershaveexaminedcombi-nationsofthesevariables,particularlymarketshareandstageoftheprod-uctlifecycle(Hambrick,MacMillan,&Day,1982;MacMillan,Hambrick,&Day,1982).Althoughthereisempiricalevidencesupportingallthesecontingencyapproaches,nonehasemergedaspredominantinthefield.Thisprobablyisduetothelargenumberofstrategicallysignificantenvi-ronmentalandorganizationalvariablesthataffecttheperformanceofbusi-nessstrategiesandtothenumerouswaysinwhichtheycanbecategorized.Ofthevariablesinvestigatedtodate,perhapsthemostattentionhasbeendevotedtothestageoftheproductlifecycle(PLC).ResearchinmarketingaswellasinstrategicmanagementindicatesthatthePLCislikelyafunda-mentalvariableaffectingbusinessstrategy.(SeeRinkandSwan,1979,andDay,1981,forcomprehensivereviewsofthePLCandrelatedconcepts.)*TheauthorsgratefullyacknowledgethegeneroussupportoftheStrategicPlanningInstitute,Cam-bridge,Mass.,inthecompletionofthisproject.*'AcademyofManagementJournalMarchHofer(1975)developedthemostextensivetheoreticalprofileofthePLCasitaffectsbusinessstrategy.TwopropositionssuggestedbyHoferareofparticularinterest;1.Themostfundamentalvariableindetermininganappropriatebusi-nessstrategyisthestageoftheproductlifecycle(1975,p.798).2.'*Majorchangesinbusinessstrategyareusuallyrequiredduringthreestagesofthelifecycle:introduction,maturity,anddecline(1975,p.799).Inaddition,HoferdevelopeddescriptivepropositionsforeachstageofthePLC,environmentalandorganizationalcharacteristicsthatexertamajorstrategicinfluenceateachstage,andnormativepropositionsforthematuritystage.Recently,Hambricketal.(1982)examinedstrategicdifferencesbetweenbusinessesinthefourcellsoftheBCGMatrix,andMacMillanetal.(1982)identifiedstrategiesrelatedtoprofitabilityineachcell.ThesePIMS-basedanalysesofindustrialproductbusinessesfocusedonhighandlowmarketsharefirmswithintwostagesofthePLC,growthandmaturity.AlthoughsomestrategiesvariedbetweenthesestagesofthePLC,Hambricketal.commentedthatotherstrategiesvariedprimarilyaccordingtomarketshare(1982,p.520).Furthermore,MacMillanetal.(1982)foundthatanumberofstrategieswerestronglyassociatedwithperformanceinalloftheBCGcells,althoughseveralindividualstrategieswereassociated(moreweakly)withperformanceinspecificcells.Thisresearch,however,con-centratedononlythegrowthandmaturitystages,providingarestrictedtestofPLCsignificance.Todate,thepresentauthorshavefoundnocom-prehensiveempiricaltestoftheHoferpropositionsorofthestrategy-per-formanceimplicationsofthePLC.Inspiteofthelimitedattentiongiventoempiricalresearchrelatingbusi-nessstrategytoperformanceforstagesofthePLC,anumberofstudieshaveconceptuallyrelatedthesevariablesbothdirectlyandindirectly.StudiesthatinvestigatestrategyandperformanceandthathavePLCimplicationsaresummarizedinTable1.ThetablereviewsresearchpublishedsincetheHofer(1975)surveyandincludesHofer'smajorrelationshipsandfindings.Itisobviousthatmostinteresthasbeenfocusedonthematuritystageandthatmanyofthevariablesareinexact,forexample,buyerneeds.Never-theless,thisresearchprovidesanoverviewofcurrentstrategicthinkingforeachstage.Twostrategicperformancevariablesareincludedinthetable,returnoninvestment(ROI)andmarketshare.ROIhasbeenastandardnieasureofbusinessandcorporateperformanceforanumberofyears.SincethepublicationofthePIMSfindings,whichunderlinedtheimpor-tanceofmarketshare,thisobjectivehasbeenpursuedbymanybusinesseseitherinconjunctionwithorindependentlyfromROI(Buzzell&Wier-sema,1981).Althoughsomeofthefindingsarecontradictory,themajortrendsinTable1aresummarizedbelow.Introductionstage.Strategiesfortheintroductionstageemphasizeabuyerfocus,buildingonadvertising,andincreasingpurchasefrequency.Prod-uctdevelopmentwasseenasimportantbyHofer(1975).1984AndersonandZeifhamluOHoon0301).2*5i)E^U3«X)COifa.U•(0..tS3SCOKgflJ3M.H00^^.Ec'Efl3a°e^..=ooI-fl.QSiOC3tnOCc3Mllliillic—rio—._•~3.—,Was^ii:J=_^3CUi-^•fg.1XtJ2;~^3.—|.|3ilr-k^^•£•!=;*a33*o'5y00E^S|-§ooipo.s^.•£O.2£3oc^•=*t3.S.2^-ki'S^-r^00QoQOi;4SSo't:.ooi!lUfl°o^2£-S-g5.Esg25|-B^flJi!^g-=^E^c.^aoa3-^fl-ga-=«2£-53o£XD-QZX;—j._g.3^VlWfl.-JCrmauCC-Coribuist-a