A Reference Process Model for the Evolution of Product Portfolios
Ingrid Wiederkehr, Denis Tissen, Christian Koldewey, Roman Dumitrescu, Michael Schlegel, Albert Albers · 2023
The evolution of product portfolios is driven by constantly changing customer needs and existing competitive pressure. In response, companies often develop new products and include them in their product portfolio: Then, many products are hardly used or not used at all, as the new product replaces its predecessor. This is because products are often a further development of a predecessor product. As a result, the product portfolio becomes larger and larger and comprises many elements. The reason: companies lack a structured process which, like a guide, shows the evolution of product portfolios step by step and brings together the previously established product portfolio with the intended further development of the product portfolio. Against this background, existing process models are examined and aggregated to form a reference process model for product portfolio evolution. This article illustrates the approach and the result.