″Project Dropstrat″: Product Elimination and the Product Life Cycle Concept Available to Purchase

This research represents the first attempt to examine the product elimination decision over the Product Life Cycle (PLC). Two research hypotheses were put forward proposing that: (a) a product may be dropped from a company′s product line irrespective of its position on the PLC,and (b) the stage of the PLC does influence the product elimination process. These exploratory propositions were assessed against data from a cross‐sectional sample of British manufacturing companies. The data were secured by means of a mail questionnaire and involved 156 recently discontinued products. The results of our study confirm both research hypotheses. Products may be eliminated irrespective of their position on the PLC and the elimination decisions made at the early stages of the PLC are triggered by different problem situations and involve different evaluation factors and elimination strategies than those made at the later stages of the PLC.