The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development

33.6. The Last LCM Step: Executing Product Discontinuation and Final Exit

Almost all products naturally will evolve to a decline phase of their life cycle unless some overt, proactive event or action precipitates an early withdrawal from the market. Similar to the business or market "triggers" that usually define when a product moves from one phase to another on the life-cycle curve (e.g., from growth into maturity), many companies and teams define key "trigger events," which serve to signal that a product is in the decline stage and worthy of being considered for a near-term exit from the marketplace. If these trigger events begin to occur, the product team meets to decide if a product exit is called for, and begins doing the necessary planning for final product withdrawal. Some companies actually make the creation of a draft exit plan a requirement for approving a product development project, before the final business case for development funding has been completed (the go/no go decision). While this may seem early, the rationale is to ensure that everyone is aligned on the long-term product plan from the very beginning, including an estimate of how long the product should exist for active selling, and how the product will eventually be taken out of service (see Chapter 34).

NOTE

The product exit is simply an implementation of a plan that should have been documented much earlier in the product life cycle.

Key steps for a typical product exit include many of the following: