Abstract
The present study, paying attention to product lifecycle and uncertainty, formulates product lifecycle strategy as optimal stopping problem and examines the properties of the optimal lifecycle strategy Main conclusions are summarized as follows. The more the market uncertainty or the stronger the product against other firms' invention is, the longer is the product cycle. As for the relationship with Boston Matrix, 'Cash cow' has the longest product life cycle. Product life cycle becomes shorter as product shifts from 'Cash cow' to 'Dogs' or 'Star'. 'Problem child' has the shortest product life cycle.
