Certified Production & Operations Manager (POM) 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

Cost minimization is most appropriate during the decline stage of the product life cycle because, at this point, the product typically experiences decreasing sales and revenues. Businesses need to focus on reducing costs to maintain profitability or at least minimize losses. As demand for the product dwindles, companies often look to cut expenses related to production, marketing, and distribution to sustain the remaining profit margins.

In the decline phase, firms may leverage strategies such as streamlining operations, reducing overhead, and possibly discontinuing or reducing marketing efforts to reduce costs further. This is critical for companies as they must strategically manage their resources to either shore up profits as the market contracts or exit the market in a controlled manner.

Other stages like introduction and growth require investment in marketing and production to build awareness and capture market share, while the maturity stage is often characterized by competitive pricing and maintaining market share rather than aggressive cost-cutting; therefore, they do not prioritize cost minimization in the same way as the decline stage.