OVERVIEW

Innovation can and should be found throughout the life cycle of new product development, from concept exploration through design and delivery. Even in the afterlife of product support, warranty, and ultimate disposal, there are opportunities to make more money and increase public and market goodwill. Opportunities to excel, to beat your competition, to gain customers, to increase positive public perception, and ultimately to increase valuation occur at every phase and are often hidden in the hinterland between the phases. We discuss the concept of product development life cycles further in Chapter 14, "Solving the Risk vs. Innovation Dilemma," and a basic definition is provided here to set up the rest of the discussion.

Business life cycles are broader than product life cycles. Business life cycles often include multiple product life cycles, organized in a sort of portfolio, with new entrants at their infantile beginning on the left and mature cash cows nearing the end of their profitable runs on the right. A level above the portfolio view is the overall organizational life cycle view. Here we see businesses in the development, growth, plateau, and decline phases. Understanding how all of these phases interact and how to optimize their contributions toward keeping the organization in the prized "growth" stage, just ahead of plateau, is an important concept.

On the surface the focus on product development phases appears...