What is a cash cow?

This is especially true with product lines at different points in the product life-cycle. Cash cows and stars tend to complement each other, whereas dogs and question marks use resources less efficiently. Dogs – Dogs are the low market share and low-growth products that neither generate nor consume large amounts of cash; they are basically going nowhere. They are cash traps because the money already invested in them is being tied up in a business that has low or no potential.

  • Although this precise term dates only from about 1970, milch cow was used in exactly the same way from 1601.
  • Lastly, dogs are the business units with low market shares in low-growth markets.
  • They are marked by high-profit margins and strong cash flows.
  • They are cash traps because the money already invested in them is being tied up in a business that has low or no potential.
  • The profit generated by these offerings is more than what is required to maintain the business.

If consumers buy a total of 100 bars of soaps, 30 of which are from your company, we can conclude that your company holds a 30% market share. A cash cow is something that brings in a lot of money. They have plenty of cash left over after meeting their necessary annual expenses.

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Other Idioms and Phrases with cash cow

This company owns 42% of the global market share and has been ruling this market for over 20 years. The printing division alone earned the company a revenue of 17.64 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, making it one of its most important business segments. These markets have a sustainable demand but do not see significant growth or innovation any longer. These companies’ strong market share bring in strong revenues every year. They also thrive in sectors with competitive barriers to entry. It’s printing division has brought the company substantial revenues.

Depending on the strategy adopted by the firm, question marks can land in any of the other quadrants. These companies are mature and do not need as much capital to grow. They are marked by high-profit margins and strong cash flows. Cash cows can also be slow-growth companies or business units with well-established brands in the industry. A cash cow is a metaphor for a dairy cow that produces milk over the course of its life and requires little to no maintenance.

Origin of Cash Cow

The profits from Swiss Village Tours help Travelers Gateway offer more tours in Switzerland. This growth allows more people to have wonderful experiences in Switzerland and gives the company new opportunities. Cash cows can be also used to buy back shares already on the market or increase the dividends paid to shareholders.

Cash Cows – Cash cows are leaders in a more mature market. These are successful products that enjoy a large market share in a well-established market. Since a cash cow demonstrates a return on assets greater than the market growth rate, it generates more cash than it consumes. These products should be ‘milked’ by extracting the profits and continuously managing them so that they keep generating strong cash flows, which can be further used to fuel stars. A cash cow is a company or business unit in a mature slow-growth industry. Cash cows have a large share of the market and require little investment.

Market growth, on the other hand, is used as a measure of the attractiveness of a given market. A growing market is basically a market experiencing increasing demand, which makes it easier for businesses to increase their profits, even if their market share remains unchanged. A low-growth market, however, leads to cutthroat competition between the companies. It may get  harder to retain your market share without aggressive discounting.

Examples of cash cow in a Sentence

The term cash cow is also used to describe a division or segment of a company that consistently generates substantial amounts of excess cash. When a product reaches the end of its business cycle, marketing executives adopt a harvest strategy. The tile business grows at a rate of about 3% annually. For example, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has found for itself a centre spot in the cereal industry, making it the market leader of a mature market. The money generated from this division is high enough to support other innovations by the company. A dominant player in the printer market is HP or the Hewlett-Packard company.

There is no large investment requirement, and they don’t generate large cash flows. Often, dogs are phased out in an effort to salvage the organization. These generate a huge amount of cash due to their large market share, but also require large investments to sustain their high growth rate. If they’re able to maintain their market share, they will eventually become cash cows once market growth slows down. Question marks are the business units experiencing low market share in a high-growth industry. They require large amounts of cash to capture more of or sustain their position within the market.

Cash cow businesses can also return their free cash flow to stockholders. They do this through bigger dividends or share buybacks. All three of these products belong to a market that witnesses slow growth.

Translations of cash cow

The model was the BCG matrix, and firms still use it to planning long-term product strategies. Cash cows are known to be a company’s most valuable and competitive product or business divisions as they contribute to a significant chunk of a firm’s operating profits. These profits are a result of dilutive securities example of how dilution impacts share prices low investment and high revenue gains from such products. By expanding into new geographical regions and targeting new customer segments, the company can increase a product’s usage among customers. It will further cement the cash cow’s market position and build success in untapped markets.

Meaning of cash cow in English

The business needs to monitor industry trends, innovate when necessary, and invest in maintaining the quality and relevance of its products or services. Optimize the cash cow’s profitability by focusing on operational efficiency and cost control. It could include streamlining processes, renegotiating supplier contracts, or implementing lean practices to cut costs. Let us look at Gillette and analyze how the company has introduced several product lines that act as a cash cow over the years.

Even so, it remains a useful tool in portfolio analysis. A dependable source of profit, as in The small-appliance division is this company’s cash cow. Although this precise term dates only from about 1970, milch cow was used in exactly the same way from 1601.

Video – Is your brand a cash cow?

A BCG matrix divides the product portfolio into four types and assigns cash cows a spot wherein the growth rate is low, and the relative market share is high. A cash cow is one of the four categories (quadrants) in the growth-share, BCG matrix that represents a product, product line, or company with a large market share within a mature industry. Products or business units with high market shares and consistent profitability over an extended period will likely be cash cows. A cash cow is often a profitable product or service that dominates a market and generates far more cash than is needed to maintain its market position.

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