For existing products, the farther that you move the product, or the bigger the change in the MTBF specification, the longer the project. However, the simulation makes a distinction between incremental improvement and quantum jump. If you move the product a very long way on the perceptual map, say six units, the project will complete in less than three years. An incremental project might take two years to move 3.0 units on the map.

For new products, all projects take at least one year, even if you make the specifications identical to an existing product, because it takes at least one year to buy the associated production capacity. This aside, project length is driven by the distance your new product is from existing products

If you abandon a segment, then decide later to reenter the segment, the project length is a function of the distance from your closest project to the new product. Usually this implies a "quantum jump" project which takes 2.5 to 3.0 years to complete. Therefore, it is easier for High Tech companies to reenter the Traditional and Low End segments than it is for Low Tech companies to reenter the high tech segments.