Assessing product life cycle strategies in the Japanese market

It is becoming increasingly clear that in order to reduce lifecycle impacts, manu- facturers need to go beyond product design considerations alone. Important fac- tors to be considered also include nontechnical factors such as business models, market attributes and consumer behaviour. This paper provides a comparative case study of five categories of products in the Japanese market—photocopiers, household appliances, disposable cameras, personal computers and automo- biles—and shows how these factors affect lifecycle outcomes. Based on the case studies, we draw general conclusions about the design of appropriate lifecycle strategies.