ABSTRACT
The inventions and innovations become commoditized and the market growth for products incorporating them slows to the point at which almost all competitors move on. The chances are good that something will have come along with better features or price-performance, obviating the value or advantage of the aging inventions and innovations. However, because Teflon has so many applications, there remain hundreds of companies that are still profitably producing products that employ it, from consumer cookware to industrial applications. In 1968, the BCG developed a portfolio management strategy for multi-line companies. The logic behind the approach is that a company should get into promising markets early and compete hard to establish substantial market share. As markets mature, marginal competitors exit, creating the opportunity for survivors to realize high profitability with limited requirement for investment capital and a high cash throw off—a ‘Cash Cow’.
