Product Life Cycles in Corporate Finance

Abstract

We develop a novel 10-K text-based model of product life cycles and examine firm investment policies. Conditioning on the life cycle substantially improves the power of q to explain investment and reveals a natural ordering of investments over the life cycle. While R&D and CAPX sensitivity are high early in the cycle, acquisitions arise as firms mature, and divestitures and product extension investments arise as firms decline. q-sensitivities that condition on the life cycle can vary by as much as 400% from traditional sensitivities. The life cycle framework further reveals an enriched relationship between competition, investment, and corporate profits.