Background

The Market Development Life Cycle model, also called Moores Life cycle was developed by Geoffrey A. Moore. The review of the model is based on the article “Darwin and the Demon – innovation within established Enterprises” published in Harward Business Review July-August 2004 the model provides an insight into innovating within established enterprises. Geoffrey Moore is an American organizational theorist, management consultant and author, known for his work Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Geoffrey A. Moores has his experience in connection with Hightech enterprises. But as he states high tech can be viewed as a microcosm of larger industrial trends.

Moore received a bachelor's degree in American literature from Stanford University (1967) and a doctorate in English literature from the University of Washington (1974). Moore began his professional life as an English professor at Olivet College in Michigan, before moving to California, where he took a job as a corporate trainer and executive assistant at a technology company. Prior to working with the McKenna Group, Moore was a sales and marketing executive. He heads his own consulting firm, Geoffrey Moore Consulting, and is a venture partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures and Wildcat Venture Partners.

The title Darwin and the Demon refer to the fact that leaders often have a hard time overcoming the resistance to constant innovation. Moreover, innovation comes in products, processes, marketing, business models, and more. What kind of innovation you should pursue depends on where your product is placed in the life cycle.

About the model

Moore’s model contains different stages in the market life. You must align your innovation with each of these stages.

To have a successful innovation in different stages, you must also choose the right leader and sponsor for the innovation project.

You have to get in front of this Darwinian process and leave the Demon of inertia against innovation behind you.

Dimensions and phases

Moore’s Life cycle consists of two dimensions. On the horizontal x-axis, we find time going from left to right and on the vertical y-axis is revenue growth going from bottom to top - the higher, the more revenue.

Moore's model is divided into three main phases on the horizontal timeline.

The first phase is about emerging markets - getting acceptance of a new product 

In the second main phase, the customers and users know the products and are generally satisfied. 

And In the third main phase, the customers are looking for alternatives. 

Each main phase consists of individual stages and various forms of innovation. 

Criticism of model

The model does not consider the environmental impact on the products or services. This could be about legislation or consumers' concerns about environmental issues.

The model discusses what position the Team leader and executive sponsor must-have in the organization. There is no discussion on which human types are best suited for the different roles. 

There is no definition of when the product or service moves from one stage to the next. We see the transitions clearly when the product or service has gone through the entire life cycle. Here is one of the main reasons why the examples in the review of the model are older.

The model does not consider the environmental impact on the products or services. This could be about legislation or consumers' concerns about environmental issues.

The model locks the individual stage together with a specific form of Innovation. There may well be other options.

The model discusses what position the Team leader and executive sponsor must-have in the organization. There is no discussion on which human types are best suited for the different roles. 

There is no definition of when the product or service moves from one stage to the next. We see the transitions clearly when the product or service has gone through the entire life cycle. Here is one of the main reasons why the examples in the review of the model are older.

The advantage of the model is that it indicates an ongoing movement, and the management must allocate resources to various forms of Innovation. The company must be ready for change.