Great Throughts Treasury

"Men with power have an extraordinary capacity to convince themselves that what they want to do coincides with what society needs done for its [own] good."

"THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE: The logic here is straightforward - - there are four stages in a product 's life cycle: introduction, growth,maturity,and decline, and the location of production depends on the stage of the cycle. Stage 1: Introduction - New products are introduced to meet local (i.e., national)needs, and new products are first exported to similar countries, i.e.,countries with similar needs,preferences,and incomes. If we also presume similar evolutionary patterns for all countries,then products are introduced in the most advanced nations. (e.g., the IBM PCs were produced in the US and spread quickly throughout the industrialized countries.) Stage 2: Growth - A copy product is produced elsewhere and introduced in the home country (and elsewhere) to capture growth in the home market. This moves production to other countries, usually on the basis of cost of production.(e.g.,the clones of the early IBM PCs were not produced in the U.S.)Stage 3: Maturity - The industry contracts and concentrates -- the lowest cost producer wins here. (E.g., the many clones of the PC are made almost entirely in lowest cost locations.)Stage 4: Decline - Poor countries constitute the only markets for the product. Therefore almost all declining products are produced in LDCs. (e.g., PCs are a very poor example here, mainly because there is weak demand for computers in LDCs. A better example is textiles.)"