What Does Lifecycle Mean
The notion of life cycle can be used in different fields. In biology , the life cycle is understood as the alternation of generations . This means that, in eukaryotes, sexual reproduction exhibits an alternation of nuclear phases: meiosis results in a haploid phase and the fusion of gametes generates a diploid phase.
The marketing or marketing uses the concept of life cycle to analyze the conditions of a product on the market . This assumes that a product goes through various stages from its birth to its end (when it ceases to be produced).
In the development stage, the product is very expensive as it does not generate income. Upon entering the market, the product begins to sell, although with a low level of sales. In the product growth stage, costs begin to be reduced by production at scale and profits increase. The cycle continues with a stage of maturity where the maximum levels of sales and the highest profitability are reached. Finally, the decline stage begins, where sales, prices and profits fall.
In this case, it is essential to underline that when any company carries out the life cycle management of a product that it has on the market, it resorts, for its development and good results, to such useful tools as, for example , marketing.
However, other instruments that become essential when it comes to achieving optimal results are budgets, since they allow to carry out the promotion of the product itself, and also what advertising is.
Sometimes there is the fact that the expected sales and benefits are not obtained, so those responsible will find it necessary to take "action on the matter" to end this situation. Hence, they are strongly committed to developing actions such as the relaunch of the product itself, the extension or the update.
According to the terms of the environment , the life cycle is a concept that measures the environmental impact of a product from its raw materials are extracted from nature until he returns to it as a waste.
In addition to all this, we cannot ignore the existence of the Ibero-American Life Cycle Network, which has the following slogan: “For a sustainable world”. And it is that that entity, made up of organizations of different types (educational, governmental, professional, technological ...), has among its main objectives to get today's society to act to achieve the elimination of the different existing environmental impacts.
Finally, we have to state that there is a song entitled "The cycle of life" and that it has already become part of our cultural heritage. It is the title song of the animated film "The Lion King."
Finally, for engineering and computer science , the development cycle is the period that begins with the implementation of a technological standard and ends with the development of new, more efficient tools.