Like living organisms, the company goes through various stages: birth, growth, maturity and disappearance. However, societies have the capacity to be reborn and to experience several lives. These different phases are part of business life cycle and are essential to know in order to deploy a long-term strategic vision.
The 6 stages of the business life cycle
Discover the succession of the 6 known, predictable and inevitable stages that a company experiences during its existence.
1. The creation
Creation corresponds to the definition of the business model during the life cycle of a business. This theoretical embryonic stage precedes the application of concrete measures relating to its administrative constitution. This is when the company enjoys a tangible status, materializing its birth on the market.
At this stage, it is not yet generating sales; it is a question of laying the foundations and defining the vision that will guide it throughout the Life of the company. This gestation generally takes place over two years, before the company enters the post-creation phase.
2. The launch
At the end of this first stage of the Life of the company, the company is exposing itself to the market through a communication campaign that formalizes the beginnings of its activity. Depending on their budget and strategy, businesses have multiple ways to get started with the general public. It is at this point that the company faces the appreciation of its customers and begins to generate sales.
3. The development
During this decisive stage of business life cycle marked by growth, the company has been in business for an average of 3 years. In addition to achieving a constantly increasing turnover thanks to the development of its reputation, it is beginning to make a profit. Internally, it knows how to emulate new recruitments and the loyalty of the first customers.
During its development, the power of its brand image allows it to take a place with competing organizations. But despite constant growth, it remains a young company and must make strategic choices in order to maintain this momentum.
4. Stabilization
After a growth of about two years, it enters the longest phase of business life cycle. It can benefit several decades from this maturity where turnover is constant: it is a prosperous phase for the company, which is experiencing financial and managerial stability. During this comfortable phase, it is building on the foundations that made it successful. It operates well and its processes are well-established; it does not need to make significant investments to maintain business.
This lull is a good time to prepare for the future and to guard against an inevitable decline. Managers must think about renewing themselves and innovating to bounce back from this announced downturn, but also to start the transmission process and thus maintain this heritage.
5. The decline
This stage is characterized by a slowdown in activity, the departure of employees, a decrease in the number of customers and in turnover. It may be due to the immobility shown by the company in the face of innovative competition or to a lack of prospects for development. The downturn during the business life cycle is a preventive signal and not the pure, simple and permanent extinction of the activity.
To recover, businesses must seize opportunities and invest in technology. Digital signage is one of them: on internal communication screens or at points of sale, it modernizes brand image and conveys corporate culture through new experiences. For businesses that want to accelerate their digital transformation and thus resume growth, the Cenareo solution dedicated to digital signage is ideal for broadcasting an infinity of content on all types of screens. Its centralized and remote management of the screen fleet, its intuitive and accessible platform and its powerful algorithm for contextualizing campaigns make it a partner of choice for developing an impacting communication.
It is through innovation that the company can hope to overcome the decline and return to the phase of development or stabilization, instead of heading for an even more severe downturn.
6. The transmission
This final stage marks the end or renewal of the Life of the company. She must have started the succession process to bounce back, at the risk of precipitating her fall. Its survival is at stake, especially among potential buyers who are wary of the idea of undertaking the takeover of a company whose value would be reduced and whose activity would be difficult to relaunch.
To perpetuate the existence of the company, the company manager can engage in a sale or in mergers and acquisitions. The company will live a new life on a different trajectory, avoid total decline, and bounce back to new growth.
Businesses can count on the power of the Cenareo solution dedicated to digital signage in business to deploy innovative projects with a high ROI. Maximize the impact of your campaigns, brand image and internal messages and develop unique and engaging digital communication in the physical world.
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