Successful and Unsuccessful Phases of the Corporate Life Cycle

Abstract

An empirical study of successful and unsuccessful phases of the life cycle revealed two very significant differences. First, successive successful phases showed gradual and continual increases in the sophistication of their information processing and decision making methods. Unsuccessful phases showed no such continuous development. Second, successful phases revealed few differences in innovation-related variables, while unsuccessful phases demonstrated more significant differences, alternating between greater extremes of innovation and stagnation.