IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijatma/v8y2008i1p22-41.html

Managing product life cycle in the auto industry: evaluating carmakers effectiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Volpato
  • Andrea Stocchetti

Abstract

This article analyses the evolution of Product Life Cycle (PLC) policies of main carmakers in the three main European markets (Germany, Italy and France) through sales data regarding 212 models of 13 major carmakers for the period 1970–2006. A subsample including more detailed data (sales and features) of 125 car models along the period 1984–2005 has been investigated with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of product innovation and product line extension. According to our results, PLC is getting dramatically shorter, but the reduction does not apply to maturity and saturation phases. Carmakers tend to support sales with a policy of product line extension, while no evidence of effectiveness of such policies emerges. Product innovation seems related to increase in sales, although the introduction of new models and versions is generally delayed with respect to the optimal Life Cycle (LC) timing.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Volpato & Andrea Stocchetti, 2008. "Managing product life cycle in the auto industry: evaluating carmakers effectiveness," International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1), pages 22-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijatma:v:8:y:2008:i:1:p:22-41
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=18766
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Annika Becker & Raik Stolletz & Thomas Stäblein, 2017. "Strategic ramp-up planning in automotive production networks," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(1), pages 59-78, January.
    2. Vujadin Vesovic & Dragutin Jovanovic & Milos Arsic & Zoran Avramovic & Svetozar Sofijanic & Boban Djorovic & Natasa Gospic & Nena Tomovic & Dragan Milosevic & Mladen Dobric & Sinisa Arsic & Dragan Kos, 2022. "Identification of the Right Moment for Motor Vehicle Replacement—Life-Cycle Analysis in Serbia and Montenegro," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Bersch, Christopher V. & Akkerman, Renzo & Kolisch, Rainer, 2021. "Strategic planning of new product introductions: Integrated planning of products and modules in the automotive industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    4. Volpato, Giuseppe & Stocchetti, Andrea, 2009. "Old and new approaches to marketing. The quest of their epistemological roots," MPRA Paper 30841, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gaël Le Mens & Michael T. Hannan & László Pólos, 2015. "Organizational Obsolescence, Drifting Tastes, and Age Dependence in Organizational Life Chances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 550-570, April.
    6. Wochner, Sina & Grunow, Martin & Staeblein, Thomas & Stolletz, Raik, 2016. "Planning for ramp-ups and new product introductions in the automotive industry: Extending sales and operations planning," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 372-383.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijatma:v:8:y:2008:i:1:p:22-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=2 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.