THE “S‐CURVE”: AN AID TO STRATEGIC MARKETING

Both the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and a new version, the Product Evolutionary Cycle (PEC), are more than just descriptive marketing tools based on historical sales data. Rather, they represent dynamic instruments to enable an entrepreneur‐or coporate manager‐to estimate market development. The S‐curve, the growth part of the PLC and the PEC, makes it possible for an entrepreneur to time capital requirements, labor force recruitment, promotional efforts, distribution channels, target markets, and pricing. In the case of new products, research can be utilized to construct an S‐curve in advance of an innovation's introduction in the market‐place. Such information is invaluable to an entrepreneur, since it serves as a guide to future market development.