Uillypad Toys is a manufacturer of educational t that can be used to introduce children to a number of foreign languages. Three months ago, the company produced a working prototype, and last month the company successfully aunched its new device on the commercial market. What should Lillypad's managers prepare for next? a. a prolonged period of uncontested succes b. a difficult struggle to move from invention to innovation toys for children Six months ago, the company's research and development division came up with an idea for a unique touchscreen device c. a sharp decline in demand for the product d. increased competition from imitators

B) a difficult struggle to move from invention to innovation toys for children

Explanation:

The four stages of a product's life cycle are:

Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

Currently, Uillypad's tablet is in the introduction stage and this is a stage where sales are slow, marketing efforts and expenses are great, and if everything goes right the product will enter the growth stage. During this stage the company must invest a lot of resources in convincing their target market into purchasing their product, generally early adopters are the first ones to do so, but more customers are needed.

It is always hard to introduce an invention and make people adopt it as an innovation and start gaining market share.

Answer: The answer is option D. Increased competition from imitators.

Explanation: From the scenario given above, we can conclude that the launching of the device by Lillypad Toys was successful and will be accepted by many people.

The success of this device will no doubt attract a lot of attention, and in no time, other manufacturers will want imitate the product and even produce it at a cheaper rate and lower price.

In order to prepare against this possibility, Lilypad Toys should patent their technology in order to earn profit off of this technology for as long as they wish and also save themselves from the cost of competing against imitating companies.