For instance, manufacturers of desktop computers, or fertilizer industry or producers of clothing and similar goods. Such industries attempt to be highly competitive, mature, and often parallel to commodity-type products where price is an important buying norm. Moreover, technological advances are commonly espoused by all players in the industry, and we observe quick convergence in product performance or design. Since advantages are tiny, only a few approaches are present to achieve them. Hence, the possibility for competitive advantages is limited. The presence of entry barriers means that there will be less competition.Here, there is a little gain from scaling up or further specialization. Cash cows tend to grow at a slow rate, but they are usually market leaders in the industry where there are lot of entry barriers. The company can also use the cash to pay dividend to shareholders as well as buy back shares. It can be used to fund research and development, grow market share or service corporate debt and reduce the overall debt burden on the company.

Cash generated from cash cows are used to fund other product portfolios of business. Under the growth share matrix model, a business can either become a cash cow if it becomes a market leader in the industry or a dog, which represents a low market share and a low growth rate. A business becomes a cash cow or a dog depending on its performance in the growth stage. A cash cow is a term used in the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix. Once the company recovers its initial investment, it does not have to put in more cash to keep the business growing. A company does not have to invest much in the business apart from the initial outlay. The rate of return from this business is usually greater than the market growth rate. It is referred to an asset or a business, which once paid off, will continue giving consistent cash flows throughout its life.ĭescription: A Cash Cow is a metaphor used for a business or a product, which exhibits a strong potential in terms of returns in a low-growth market. Definition: Cash Cow is one of the four categories under the Boston Consulting Group's growth matrix that represents a division which has a big market share in a low-growth industry or a sector.

Bcg matrix explained