yah.. like what ben said, this is a very general question.
broadly speaking, once a NEW product has penetrated the market
succesfully, the next stage is to plan how to continue maintaining
and better still, capture larger market share.
shld the product penetrate based on being a niche product, the
company wld have to ensure that its product or services are not
easily imitated/copied. Esp when a product tends to command a
higher price should it be a niche product, the company needs to
adds value to the core product. For instance, to provide superior
after sales service/technical support, making it tougher for
competitors to imitate. With such efforts, the customer will be
more willing to pay the high price (should there by no close
competition) even though a product is in the growth stage.
else, shld the product be a more general commodity where
competition is rampant, the company may have to adopt a different
pricing strategy in order to retain market share. for instance,
throw in promotions to entice customers to purchase in bigger
quantities or extended service contracts. another way to retain
interest during the growth stage is to launch complementary
products/services so that consumers will be "locked in". for eg,
Sony products are rather proprietary as they are designed such that
the different equipment can be easily communicated with one another
to faciliate consumer's use. so a product in a growth stage has
extended life cycle as it can be used with its newer products from
the same "family".
