How Corporations Grow, Age and Die!

The corporate lifecycle involves ten stages of organizational development from the inception of the organization through its rise to Prime - the peak performance stage - and the aging of organizations away from Prime towards Death.

My son wets the bed every night. Is that normal or abnormal?

The answer to this question clearly depends on my sonšs age. If he is a year old, it seems normal. If I add information that my son is 15 years old, the answer quickly becomes "abnormal!"

Just as in human development, normal problems at one stage in the corporate lifecycle can be abnormal at other stages. For humans, bedwetting is normal for children, but if a young adult starts bedwetting again, it is an indication that something is seriously wrong, and medical attention should be sought.

In the case of organizations, it is normal for the founders to personally handle all tasks at the earliest stages of growth, for example. Later, if the organization grows substantially but the founders still try to handle everything themselves, something is seriously wrong that threatens the continued growth of the organization. Outside intervention may be required to correct this abnormality and enable future growth.

At every stage on the growth side of the corporate lifecycle, there are normal problems faced by organizations. These problems are simply the natural challenges of growing up, appropriate to each stage of development.